Keeping a bottle calf with goats...

DRR Fainters · #1 09/23/08, 08:35 AM

DH brought home a bottle calf. Not from a feedlot or dairy - a pasture calf. Mom died from fever a couple of days after he was born. DH thought he would put it in with my goats - but I wanted to check with you all first.

Is this a good idea? I don't want to expose my goats to any diseases.....

Bottle fed calves usually get the scours....scours in goats mean cocci to me....

Any advice?

TennesseeMama23 · #2 09/23/08, 10:06 AM

Good or bad, we've done it before.

The biggest problem we had was we couldn't feed the calf like we needed to without the goofy goats eating it. Pure aggravation unless you keep them seperate.

ETA none of the goats ever got sick. We use cocci prevention anyway, cocci is on your farm calf or not if you have had animals for any time at all.

Chaty · #3 09/24/08, 05:29 AM

Most of the time a calf gets the scours its from overfeeding. I make sure if I have to bottle feed I give it a CD shot. and only feed 2 times a day or you can make the feedings smaller and do it 4 times a day with milk not replacer. I have lost more calves to replacer than anything else. Yep the goats want to eat the creep feed and when you start it they will eat it. Sounds like times to build a pen for the calf.

ozark_jewels · #4 09/24/08, 07:40 AM

One of the diseases that it is possible to bring in with bottle calves is e-coli. Once its there in the ground you will probably have to vaccinate all goat kids at birth from then on for them to survive. One friend and my sister had this happen after keeping bottle calves with their goats.
Many calves have it, but also have their immunities to fight it. It won't affect your adult goats but can take a toll next kidding season.
That risk, plus the fact that calves are just so messy......I personally would and do pen my calves away from the goats.