new mom to two nubian/kiko cross goats and I don't think I know what I'm doing.

[Spanishchick]

Most people wean their kids at about eight weeks of age. At five weeks your kids should be eating hay and grain fairly well.  I offered mine a good alfalfa hay and a calf starter grain at about a week of age. I am curious as to why you think whole milk has its fat removed. Whole cow milk from the store has about 3.5% butterfat.  Most dairy goats produce milk with about the same butterfat.  Boer goats and mini goats often produce a richer milk than that.  The formula with milk, condensed milk, and buttermilk works well for kids, particularly Boer goat kids and mini goat kids.  You take a gallon jug of whole milk from the store, pour off some of the milk from the jug and then and add a can of evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk) and a cup of buttermilk to the jug.  You then add enough of the milk you poured off back into the jug to fill it.  I have never heard of adding an egg.  You can also feed just plain whole milk as is if you like.

Well my husband said his father skimmed the fat to make butter and cream. That's what I always thought. Whole milk is normal skimmed milk, anything less than that is skimmed even more. My thing is I can't believe these two are not eating yet. They're drinking a gallon a day between the two of them and are still.....of course, hungry. They wouldn't get that much from their mother at that age.
Its true that they don't know what to do. I got the little one to eat some bermuda out of my hand yesterday but the larger sister wants nothing to do with it. I put hay with a pellet or two in her mouth until she ate yesterday. I got something in her stomach. The smaller sister will now lick the hay from my hand.
What I did when I got home from work was give them five ounces of milk, leaving them hungry and forced the hay with a pellet or two. The brown one was a battle. She will eat ivy! But I'm not happy with that.
I gave her some just to get her to eat something and then gave them a full bottle before bed.
When they forage in the woods they eat ivy. But that's not what I call eating. Babies who are growing need more than leaves.
All of this is my instinct plus what information I have gathered from reading and from you all.
I'm going to see if they got any alfalfa at the feed store this morning.
If not I'll buy another type of hay for them. I only have a bit of bermuda and I use it for the floor of the coup turned barn lol! Thank god we built that thing so big.

I also have to say after the force feed they were jumping and running and I coud see a burst of energy.
The woman who sold them her husband was in bed recovering from surgery and her daughter was out of town.
The grown goats they had were eating pasture.
I don't think she had much time fr them and she also told me that she had very little experience.
I'll be home for the next four days with a half day irrigation job on Saturday.
We'll see how my force feedings go for the next few days and I'll continue they're milk without cutting that down but I'll do like I did yesterday. Cut down the afternoon bottle to make them hungry. At any rate they didn't get that bottle before and get a full bottle at night.

If I'm doing something wrong let me know!

 

[Spanishchick]

Btw none of my animals go out on the pasture. We bring it to them by shoveling it right out whole. The reason for that is the field is not fenced.
They forage in the woods including the chickens who just want worms and bugs anyways.
Btw the bermuda we cut and store ourselves, its clean but very short. I wouldn't rely on it for feed.
We try to do as much as we can with what we have. Which if your creative can save a lot of money and keep you away from the tv which I wasn't allowed to watch growing up.

 

[Spanishchick]

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]Update, my feed store who are very good told me to sprinkle dry milk on the feed....not much and gave me timothy hay because if I bought a bail now he said it will go bad. Blessed by these people. Its dry but green. He, the owner also said thank god I took them. They absoluetly should be eating by now.
An egg in milk stops diahrrea which they don't have but good to know.

 

[cassie]

Your husband's comment about how his father skimmed off the cream brought back memories. When I was a kid I lived with my aunt and uncle on a small farm in Idaho. They milked a few cows. The milk was separated and the cream was sold. A small amount of the cream was reserved to make butter and for pouring on cereal etc. The skim milk (that is what you have after the cream is skimmed off) was fed to the pigs, the chickens, and us kids. Whole milk is milk as it comes from the cow. Skim milk is what you have left after the cream is removed. Milk in the dairy case is whole milk, about 3.5% butterfat, unless it says otherwise. If it is 2% butterfat, 1% butterfat, or skim it will say so on the label.

 

[cassie]

A comment on Bermuda hay. If it is cut when it is fine and short, it ought to be nutritious. That said, when I lived in California we had Bermuda grass pasture and some Bermuda hay. My goats didn't care much for the Bermuda but the horses and cows liked it.

 

[Spanishchick]

A comment on Bermuda hay.  If it is cut when it is fine and short, it ought to be nutritious.  That said, when I lived in California we had Bermuda grass pasture and some Bermuda hay.  My goats didn't care much for the Bermuda but the horses and cows liked it.

I have no idea what a cattle rancher does when he runs out of hay due to drought or winter bieng longer than expected.
Well I do, they die if there's not enough water and everyone has bought all feed reserves which happened to my father in law last year.
The price of regular hay is insane. The price of alfalfa $27 a square bail and timothy $17..... if you didn't plan on it wow! Disaster.
If you can pay to truck it in from a distance, you will loose $50,000 or much more for a week with a few thousand cows.
I love the life but its very hard and here in GA ranchers are selling their cows because they can't survive. Sad.
Btw's fil ranch is in mexico. When my husband was young he hated it. Now he loves it. I told him the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Me, I'm from barcelona originally.....a big city.

 

[Spanishchick]

Here's a lovely twist.....my husband saw my anxious attempts and concerns for my babies not eating and told me that he grew up around goats and they're not even three weeks old. He did say they were just born when I brought them home but I ignored him because the seller said five. I'm a little ******. She knew I did not want to feed 4-5 times a day because I work. No wonder they barely eat!
I think my husband didn't want to disapoint me.
Id rather know the truth.
The same thing happened to me when I bought my first chickens. I realized when it took three extra months for them to lay!

 

[cassie]

Kids do fine fed milk just twice a day no matter what the age. The exception is really small kids and preemies.

 

[Spanishchick]

But.....I'm over feeding them. That's what makes me the most angry. I could have made thrm sick. I feel better now. You've been a super help cassie. Thanks.