Bottle feeding vs dam raising goats.

[ValAnger]

So I've had one bad experiences before bottle feeding, but they're so sweet afterwards, I'm not so sure I'm ready to give it all up yet... Does anyone have experiences with bottle fed babies being less healthy than dam raised?

 

[9chickenwhisperer]

I have always bottle feed. After we let a Doe raise her own baby , the baby ended up awful because she was wild mean and had horns, which was never weaned until it was about 5-6 months old! Once we started bottle feeding the babies are much more calm and friendly. They also tend to be healthier because they get one on one feeding. I have never had a bottle raised kid that was weak due to being bottle feed. Also I have always used the does milk because milk replacer isn't good for all kids.

 

[cassie]

You said you had trouble with your bottle fed kids not being healthy. What were you feeding them? If it was milk replacer, that may be the answer. While some kids can tolerate replacer just fine, others cannot. We always bottle fed our kids as a control measure to prevent CAE and Johnes.

 

[sylviethecochin]

As a kid, we had so many health problems raising kids on replacer (we had meat goats: a few girls had triplets and one doe abandoned one of her kids) that we finally just tied up some of the dams who only had one kid and made them contribute.

Milk replacer is a terrible substitute for goat milk.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have raised all my goats on milk replacer. The key is to buy a good quality one and follow those directions, and don't over feed.

 

[Zoomie]

I only hand raise and will never dam raise again.

One thing about dam raising, the kids do not always feed on the teats evenly... and sometimes there is only one kid... this can leave the dam with one giant, engorged teat and one teeny one. I show my dairy goats, I would never want that. When I hand milk the does, the teats are milked out evenly, and I don't have any teeth in my hands so I'm gentle on the doe.

I raise my kids on vitamin D whole cow milk for prevention of CAE. If I use goat milk, which I sometimes do, I pasteurize it first. By hand feeding, this also makes it very easy for me to do cocci prevention treatment (weigh the kid, put the dose in the milk) or worming. Not to mention that when I do go in the showring I've been handling that kid all its life, so it feels calm and confident.

I raise quite a few every year, people wonder how I do it. I train them to a bucket milker at about 2 or 3 days old. By the time they are one week old, they reliably rush to the bucket and feed themselves no problem. I can fill the bucket and feed a bunch of kids, all at once. They still stay perfectly tame and easy to handle. My kids consistently grow very fast, big and tall, by this method of hand raising, and doing cocci prevention and regular worming. In fact I've never had bigger, healthier kids since I started this method of feeding.

 

[ValAnger]

You said you had trouble with your bottle fed kids not being healthy. What were you feeding them? If it was milk replacer, that may be the answer. While some kids can tolerate replacer just fine, others cannot. We always bottle fed our kids as a control measure to prevent CAE and Johnes.

I was using the milk replacer, but a more experienced goat farmer I knew said that it was hard on their bellies. Thus, I switched to whole milk.

 

[Peckadoodle]

Whole milk or pasteurized goat milk is all that I would recommend. All goats do NOT respond well to milk replacement and by the time you realize there is a problem, the GI tract is messed up. Keep it simple!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Whole milk or pasteurized goat milk is all that I would recommend. All goats do NOT respond well to milk replacement and by the time you realize there is a problem, the GI tract is messed up. Keep it simple!

Please don't make blanket statements. I have raised plenty of goat kids on milk replacer. Not a single one had a problem. I cannot be the only person who can feed milk replacer to goats successfully. I highly doubt companies would make a product designed to kill. It is all in the manner of how it is fed.

 

[Peckadoodle]

Sorry really did not mean ALL goats, just not each and every one. Some do not have as good a digestive capability.