Bottle Feeding Goat

[nc_mtn]

I know this has been talked about but I don't have the time to sit on here and search.
I was given the chance to take a little (boy) goat. He will obviously need to be bottle fed. I was told 4 they need it 4 times a day, I also have heard of people feeding 2 times a day. I was wondering if this is because of age. With our work schedule, I could only be here to feed him 5:30 am and again about 5:30 pm when I'm home from work. Some day's my wife could get here closer to 4 but more than not, 5:30 is the time.

I was wondering, could I get a bucket feeder (or make something similar to hold a bottle) that I fill after feeding at 5:30am that would hold him over until I get home to feed another warm bottle?

I need to call the guy back tonight so I'm in a bit of a rush. We'd love to have one and take care of it but, I don't want to take it just to mis-treat it.

Thanks!

[6e]

Everyone has different ways of doing it and can raise some hackles on some because others do it differently. I start them out on every few hours for about the first week or so and I slowly wean them down to them getting it twice a day by the time they're 5 or 6 weeks old. I don't decrease the amount of milk, I just increase the amount at each feeding. There are some that free feed their baby goats milk, but I don't know how you'd keep it warm enough to keep them from bloating.
How old is the baby goat? I know some people haul the baby goat with them for the first week or so and feed it at their job if you work somewhere that's easy going enough to let you do that.

If you can't do that, if the goat is over a couple weeks old, you can get by feeding it at 5:30, then again at 5:30 and then again before bedtime. You'll probably have some people cry against that, but it will be fine, just might grow a tad slower than those that feed more, more often.

[Alice In TX/MO]

My MiniMancha bucklings are three weeks old, and I'm still feeding four times a day.

Pushing the bottle feeding down to bigger amounts fewer times a day too quickly will result in bloat and enterotoxemia and death.

[Sherry in Iowa]

LOL..guess I'll jump in and show my stupidity. I feed my newborns every 2-3 hours..only 4 oz. or so. I do that for a few days and then up the oz. SLOWLY. And feed every 4-5 hours. I get to 8 oz. or so 4 times a day and stay on that for quite some time. It would be nearly impossible to do this if you had a job outside the homestead.

Eventually we go to 3 times a day and then to 2 and then to 1.

I know that the good Lord watches over us here, but we haven't lost a kid yet. Oh, and just to blow your minds a tiny bit more, we usually start them out on ...wait for it... whole milk and honey. GRADUALLY, and I do mean gradually, we start replacing a bit of the whole milk with......milk replacer. Yep. Milk replacer.

There's a few things I believe strongly about bottle feeding baby goats.

Don't overfeed them. Feed them plenty of times a day..yep sleep deprivation will be a part of your life. And don't jump from one thing to another to another. I know people don't like milk replacer. But if you do use it, remember to use warm water and mix the heck out of it. Keep swirling it until you get it in the kids mouth so it stays mixed. And for goodness sakes, if you are going to go from milk to replacer or vice versa...do it gradually.

I try to think about momma raising a kid. When you are watching the kids, they get up, find a teat, suck for a few seconds to a minute and it's over. When mom starts out with colostrum, it gradually turns to milk.

Momma is always best. Always. But we have to use common sense when we step in as mommas. I'm no expert that is for sure. This is only OUR experience of 15 years.

[6e]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the way you do it. As I stated above, I've seen enough threads to know this is one thing that opinions vary. And yes, it is very hard to have a very young bottle baby and work a job outside the home. It doesn't tend to work real well. Hmmm....maybe there's a business for someone to "kid sit" bottle babies....sort of a goatie day care.

On the milk, I swear by Jersey cow milk...raw.

[Sherry in Iowa]

"maybe there's a business for someone to "kid sit" bottle babies....sort of a goatie day care."

WOW..lol..that's an excellent idea. And as for the Jersey milk..oh baby..we have Dexters and yet I still pine for a Jersey milk cow! Are you anywhere near my back yard?

[6e]

Nope, fraid not. Between us and a friend we have two Jersey cows and a Dexter bull.

[nc_mtn]

Thanks, guys, He's taking care of it right now but I (we) may get it from him. The wife is on board and the kids (mine) would really LOVE the thing to death.

There is a lady nearby that sells fresh cow's milk. I'm not sure on how much she'll charge but I also have been pricing online the milk replacer so we might try that route.

[nc_mtn]

I forgot to add it's a newborn. With the chance of cold rain this week, if we get him and keep him in the house, would a large dog cage work during the day? It worked well for a large dog we use to keep in the house. We crate trained her to stay in during the day and we let her out to play at night when we were there to watch
I don't have the room inside to keep him long but this could give him a good chance to get over this wet weather, which seems to take it's toll on new babies

[6e]

I would go with the raw cow milk long before I went with milk replacer.

A dog crate would work fine. That's what we keep ours in when they're in the house.

[Jyllie63]

I've always had pretty good luck with feeding new ones 2-3 x day. My work schedule just doesn't allow for lots of feedings. I've got twins that were born on March 17 and they are growing like weeds. I am feeding them a mixture of momma's milk and whole milk from the store. Tonight is their first night in the barnyard with the rest of the gang. They have been living in the house at night and with the rest of the goats during the day, but I had to cut the apron strings and let them stay with the rest