pygmy baby goat help?

[dr8goons]

I'm new to the whole goat thing i bought my first baby on sat. she is now 4 days old. At what point can i give her hay and food? Also what kind of food? As far as hay since she is the only animal i have on hay is it ok to give her timothey alfa mixed hay that they sell in stores for rabbits and small animals? Also i have her on does match milk replacer is there anything i need to watch her for?

 

[aaronzclark]

I would not feed it that find a feed and seed store and buy a whole bale of just the greenish looking hay and you need to bottle feed it goat milk
you can put a bowl of goat feed out to let it pick but all it needs is milk

 

[mekasmom]

She needs to be on a bottle for now. Did she get colostrum before you got her? She needed it for the first day or two. Now she can use plain goat's milk or even whole cow's milk. She will start to nibble hay quite well by two weeks of age, but you can start giving her a little now. She might not chew it much yet. You can add a few goat pellets at three weeks, but not too much because you want to avoid bloat. Keep her on the bottle for a couple of months.

 

[dr8goons]

she did get clostrum the first and second day. At what age do they wean off the bottle?

 

[Chatychick]

Right now she should be getting at least 4 to 5 bottles of milk a day. when she is about 2 weeks old she can be introdueced to hay and a little grain, and water. It needs to be ket out all the time and she will get curious and try a little now and then. Make sure her bottles are warm as her normal temp is 102.0 Also I hope you are giving her milk??? either cows or goats milk is best for her and not replacer. COngrats...

 

[mekasmom]

Quote:
At about two months. She will start chewing hay pretty well by two or three weeks, then start chewing pellets. By two months she will be eating enough "hard food" to sustain herself without a bottle.

I have heard some people wean as early as five weeks, but I think that is a bit young and harder on the kids.