Bottle feeding a pygmy

[DKWunlimited]

I had a call from a lady tonight who is bottle feeding a 2 week old pygmy, the goat is eating about 1 ounce 3 or 4 times a day... she is grazing and eating pellets..... is this about average?

[nubiansinny]

I would not think thats enough. I have mini nubians so they are a bit bigger. Had a tiny one who could only handle 4oz at a time but i was feeding her every coulple hours.6-8x a day
I don't see how 4oz a day could be enough no matter how small. At 2 weeks they can't be eating or grazing enough to get what they need, they ... at least my guys are more mouthing everything than really eating.
I would think it would be eating at least 1/3 of what a big goat eats.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I have Nigerian dwarf goats & I have a set of twins that are almost 3 weeks old & still not eating grain. They chew on hay but I question just like nubiansinny just how much they are actually eating. Is 1 oz. all the little kid will eat or all she gives it? I wouldn't think an ounce would be enough. Is the baby gaining any weight?

[mygoat]

No, that is nowhere near enough. I get up to 16-20 oz before weaning my mini kids. At that age it should be getting at least 8-10 oz, possibly 12 oz, 3x per day. 1 oz is nowhere near enough, and a 2 week old kid shouldn't have to scarf down grain or hay at any rate at that age - my dairy doelings I'm raising right now are 4 and 5 weeks of age, and won't touch hay and will only nibble and snack on grain!

[DKWunlimited]

I spent the morning watching my nigerians in the pen, momma does would make a noise and babies would run to her and begin nursing, not once did the mommas let them nurse longer than 5 seconds before she would move away and they would go back to grazing. So I'm wondering how much milk they could be getting in 5 seconds.. it seemed to have worked out to about 5 seconds every hour or so....
I would guess that nursing babies eat many small meals per day as opposed to 3 big bottle feedings.