Weaning The 'boys'

cayenne47 · #1 08/15/06, 08:31 AM

I have my 2 little boer bucklings...well actually one is 'becoming' a wether as we speak (poor lil fella, thought DH was gonna cry,lol). They were born the first week in July so they are just around 6 weeks old. Right now they get 2 bottles a day--maybe 12 oz. They are on forage and have creep feed always available.
My question is...I want to take them down to ONE bottle a day.Is it too early?

Weaning The 'boys' - Goats

mary,tx · #2 08/15/06, 09:24 AM

I'd wait a few more weeks. I assume you want to get some size on them, and milk is the best way. I left kids on milk longer than usual this year, and was very pleased with how well they grew on it.
When you take them off the milk, seems like they just stop growing for awhile.
mary

AllWolf · #3 08/15/06, 10:00 AM

Everyone bottle feed different but here is what I do for my goats.

Our baby goats are given hay, grain & water free choice by a week of age. If they are little bucklings we give them hay, medicated feed & water instead of grain because of UC. Our bottle raised baby goats also have Deccox-M prevention for coccidiosis put in the bottles too. The kids are fed bottles 3-4 times a day first few day then we are on two bottles a day which is 16.9 oz bottles until 7 weeks of age. At 7 weeks they are cut back to one bottle a day. Then weaned off completely at 8 weeks. -

Do not forget about the CD/T shots.. That is very very important..

Good Luck with your babies.