A month ago my husband woke me up to tell me he'd got a surprise for me. There was a dogie calf tied down on the back of his truck that he had found while checking the pastures. He suggested I try to mother it up with my doe Dizzy, and I thought he was out of his mind. I got her out of the pen and he was so hungry he went straight to her udder and started nursing. She just stood there and let him, and didn't even need a feed bucket! We put him in the pen with her, and figured we'd have to hold her 2-3 times a day for him so that he could feed. Again we were wrong, and she raised him like her own! After a couple of weeks he got too big to feed from her, as they can damage the doe's udder by butting. We put him in his own pen, and let him out to nurse from her on the milk stand twice a day. He knew where she was, we didn't even have to lead him, we just opened the gate and let him go! We'd switch out goats once she was empty, and let him feed from the other one. It makes life so much easier than milking then bottle feeding!
Now he is too big even to do that, he puts his front feet on the milk stand and tries to climb up there with the goats.
Last Monday my FIL brought me another calf. He'd found her following a bull trying to nurse from him. He had to carry her into the pen because she was so weak. She had the scours really bad, and could not get up. Her skin was cracking and bleeding from being so dehydrated. I stayed up all night giving her electrolytes by syringe every two hours, and was scared to check on her the next day because I was sure she would be dead. Instead she was up and trotting around the pen! The goats are raising her now, and she is doing great. Doris will be the start of our personal herd, until now we only had bulls and steers.
We bought another goat yesterday to help keep us in milk, as the two we had couldn't make enough to keep up. Rose went to a new home, and we replaced her with our 'supergoat' Dot. Now we have enough for a third calf!
My husband and FIL cannot believe how well the calves are doing in comparison to milk replacer babies. The bull calf doesn't look like he was ever an orphan, he is enormous. He has tripled weight in a month. The heifer would probably never have made it. I think part of it is that it is so much easier to get them to feed to begin with, rather than wasting a day or so trying to get them to feed from a bottle. It's also a lot more natural for them to nurse from an udder. The goat's milk is a lot more digestable than the replacer, and doesn't upset their stomachs. My husband is so sold on raising calves on goat's milk that he took no persuading at all to buy another goat! I think we may try raising dairy steers for beef once these are weaned.
This is Alvin, the bull calf:
Doris the heifer, taken last week. She is now gaining weight well:
Now he is too big even to do that, he puts his front feet on the milk stand and tries to climb up there with the goats.
Last Monday my FIL brought me another calf. He'd found her following a bull trying to nurse from him. He had to carry her into the pen because she was so weak. She had the scours really bad, and could not get up. Her skin was cracking and bleeding from being so dehydrated. I stayed up all night giving her electrolytes by syringe every two hours, and was scared to check on her the next day because I was sure she would be dead. Instead she was up and trotting around the pen! The goats are raising her now, and she is doing great. Doris will be the start of our personal herd, until now we only had bulls and steers.
We bought another goat yesterday to help keep us in milk, as the two we had couldn't make enough to keep up. Rose went to a new home, and we replaced her with our 'supergoat' Dot. Now we have enough for a third calf!
My husband and FIL cannot believe how well the calves are doing in comparison to milk replacer babies. The bull calf doesn't look like he was ever an orphan, he is enormous. He has tripled weight in a month. The heifer would probably never have made it. I think part of it is that it is so much easier to get them to feed to begin with, rather than wasting a day or so trying to get them to feed from a bottle. It's also a lot more natural for them to nurse from an udder. The goat's milk is a lot more digestable than the replacer, and doesn't upset their stomachs. My husband is so sold on raising calves on goat's milk that he took no persuading at all to buy another goat! I think we may try raising dairy steers for beef once these are weaned.
This is Alvin, the bull calf:
Doris the heifer, taken last week. She is now gaining weight well:
