bottle feeding question

mamajohnson · #1 03/05/08, 11:51 AM

ok, I have never bottle fed (not even a human kid! lol!)
so, I have my little 2 week old nubian buckling, brought him home Sunday night.
I have been giving him a 20 oz bottle of milk 3x a day. The first night, he didn't drink it all. Monday he drank all of bottle #1, half of bottle #2 and all of bottle #3. Yesterday he scarfed all the bottles, and acted hungry, looking for more.

SO... this morning when I put my nubian in the milk stand, I put him up there and said 'go for it' he did. Took him a min. to get it going, but he emptied one side. Then he jumped down and seemed happy. I milked her out the rest of the way, then put my little cross doe up there to milk. He sampled her milk also, for about 2 or 3 min...

Now, when I poured up what milk I got this morning I am one whole quart shy of what I have been getting every day.

Am I starving this little guy??? Should I give him more milk? Should I have 2 bottles ready for him, so he gets all he wants? Or do they pig out and make themselves sick if you do that?

I think I have no idea what I am doing.

thaiblue12 · #2 03/05/08, 11:58 AM

Well my BoerX was not into bottles much but my Nubian would have drank all he could get his mouth on.
Here are two feeding schedules that might help you. I personally did not follow either since I do not have that much time in a day. I weaned at 3 and half months old.

Day one- 6 oz. (per feeding) colostrum, every 4 hours.
Day two- 8 oz. (per feeding) colostrum/whole milk, 4 times a day
Day three- 10 oz. (per feeding) colostrum/whole milk, 4 times a day
Day four- 10-12 oz. (per feeding) colostrum/whole milk, 4 times a day.
For the next week- 10-12 oz. (per feeding) 4 times a day.
For the next 2 months- 10-12 oz. (per feeding) 3 times a day.
For the next 1 month- 10-12 oz. (per feeding) 2 times a day.
10-12 oz. (per feeding) once a day for two weeks.

OR

1 - 2 days ½ - 3/4 cup 4 times a day
3 - 7 days 1-1 ¼ cup 3 times a day
2 - 6 weeks 2- 2 ¼ cups 2 times a day
6 - 8 weeks 2 ½- 3 cups 2 times a day
8 - 12 weeks Weaning time for most goats

ChickenMom · #3 03/05/08, 12:03 PM

I would use the example of thaiblue12 (top part), start at the 12 ounces 3x day for 2 months, then go to 2x and then 1x day.
That's how we did the twins that we bottle fed.
I think he's just being a pig.

mamajohnson · #4 03/05/08, 12:07 PM

So, I guess 20 oz 3x a day is a bit much then.
I will continue with the bottles and tell him to stop complaining!

yarrow · #5 03/05/08, 12:08 PM

At two weeks old, my bottle babies (nubians) are consuming a 20 ounce bottle, 3x's a day for a total of 60 ounces. (before that we start out with 5-6 feedings of 4 to 6 ounces a day.. then up to 4 12 or so ounces at a time until they are polishing that off well)
At 3 weeks, I up that to 24 ounce bottles..still 3x's a day. They seem to really thrive on that extra 12 ounces a day. This is also the time we start offering hay and pellets. At 3 MONTHS, we go down to 2 24 ounce bottles per day. I will continue with the 2 bottles a day until they are 41/2 to 5 months old, then I go down to one 24 ounce bottle a day.. finally that last week, tapering off slowly to half a bottle that last week, finally no bottles at the 6 month birthday point... (I'm happy to be done...the kid is NEVER happy to be done LOL) I want the kids to thrive, not just survive... LOL
congrats on the new baby.. he's a cutie
susie, mo ozarks
ages ago acres nubians

mamajohnson · #6 03/05/08, 01:35 PM

Thnx suzie!
I think he is a doll too. :baby04:
I feel better about giving him 20 oz now too... I couldn't decide if I was starving him or making him fat.
I will need to write all this down and figure out a schedule I guess.
I think I just discovered how spoiled you can get with dam raising!

ChickenMom · #7 03/06/08, 07:30 AM

OK, he's definitely a pig!
I started milking his Mom and my milk doubled! Plus she's still nursing his sister, and I didn't even milk her out all the way. He's been drinking at least a gallon a day off his Mom.

I would stick with the 20oz too. I was bottle feeding 3 and 4 pound twins so they probably didn't have very big tummies.

mamajohnson · #8 03/06/08, 08:53 AM

ROFL! yeah, I was thinking yesterday, his poor mom will be happy to have this little piggy gone! His poor sister may drown in milk!
I put him on my nubian yesterday morning while she was in the milkstand, and he sucked down a quart or more.

Hope he starts nibbling hay soon! lol!

LynninTX · #9 03/06/08, 10:13 AM

{{blush}} most of mine are getting 80-100oz a day...

3x a day...

even my 2 little Mini Manchas are doing 50-60oz a day...

we feed milk free choice though... we do not SUDDENLY increase.. just from day 1 feed all they eat...

mamajohnson · #10 03/06/08, 10:35 AM

well, milk is usually a supply and demand thing, so that really makes sense.
If you nurse a human baby then they get all they want, because you don't know how much they are getting. Same with dam raised kids, we don't see how much they are getting, so how are we to know how much to give the little piggies?