Bottle feeding... or not...

[TroutRiver]

So... I've put myself in a little bit of a dilemma

I have 2 does in milk right now, both still have kids on them. One is only nursing 1 buckling, I am getting about a half gallon a day from her right now. The other is nursing triplets and I am getting... well... a squirt or two... but practically nothing.

This is my first year doing the whole thing myself (these does were in milk when I bought them last year, but I have never freshened or dealt with kids and weaning before). My plan was to bottle feed the babies and milk the mommas, maybe cut the goat's milk with raw jersey cows milk for the babies (which I can get for free from the farm I work at). But I did not realize that you have to start bottle feeding IMMEDIATELY. I waited 3 days before I tried to bottle feed the triplets... and had no luck at all getting any of them to take the bottle.

So now what? Do I have no choice but to leave all 3 of them on the doe and wait 2-3 months before I can really get any milk from her? Is there anything else I can do? I can't sell the babies until they're weaned if they can't be bottle fed... I am stumped. I know this was my mistake is there any way to fix it?

[Alice In TX/MO]

You can eat all the bucklings. Yeah, they are rabbit size, but they sure would be tender.

[LoneStrChic23]

My Alpine doe did a stealth kidding. Had babies clean, dry & full tummies before I got to the barn...

Around 4 or 5 days old I pulled them, kept them away from mom for about 4 hours then started working on teaching them the bottle with a pritchard nipple. It was work, but they caught on. I started taking them every morning, keeping them all day, feeding 2-3 bottles & let them with mom at night. Was able to sell one as a bottle baby by doing this.

How old are yours? You'll have a good chance of bottle feeding up until 2 or 3 weeks....just gotta make them go a few hours without food.....Hunger is great motivation for learning the bottle.

[Rechellef]

A lot of folks separate their kids at night from the mommas and milk them in the morning and leave the kids with them all day and that way everyone gets what they want.

[TroutRiver]

Crystal, I tried that a few days ago, they were separated from mom for almost an entire day and still wanted nothing to do with the bottle. I was worried about causing damage to their little rumens, so I put them back in with mom in the late afternoon.

They are a little more than 1 week old, maybe I will try again... or maybe I'll eat one of the bucklings. I already have one "sold" (reserved), and he would be a lot more valuable to me as a buck to sell than as a rabbit-sized piece of meat. The other buckling might not be so lucky, though.

Are they too young to separate at night? I have thought about that, but wasn't sure if they were too young.

[Alice In TX/MO]

At two weeks, you can separate for the night.

[LoneStrChic23]

How were you feeding them & what nipple?

I've found the easiest way to get dam raised kids on a bottle is with the pritchard nipple.... I tried everything else, including human bottles with no luck....they would have starved if not for those pritchard nipples!

Milk must be warm.... 101°... If off by even a few degrees they wouldn't take it.

Wait 4 hours, keep them out of sight from momma so they don't hold out hope of momma saving them.

Hold kid between knees, tilt head up..... I grasp under the jaw at the corners of their mouth, pry open, insert nipple & use the hand I opened their mouth with to gently keep mouth closed & on the nipple....If they scream, it only makes it easier to get the nipple in. On the pritchard nipple, dont cut the entire tip off, the milk flow will be too fast.....It takes some fiddling to get the milk flow just right.....

This worked on my babies born here & on the two week old I bought....The 2 week old had a bottle at the breeders, but the last 3 days there he stayed with mom, so bottle feeding was a pain that first day.

It can be done, just takes persistence, some fiddling & lots of patience! One of my does caught on after the 3rd try...the other one didn't really nurse well until our third day of fighting.

[TroutRiver]

Thank you for the information. I think I am going to give bottle feeding one more try. If it doesn't work, I will separate them at night starting next week.

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by TroutRiver

Thank you for the information. I think I am going to give bottle feeding one more try. If it doesn't work, I will separate them at night starting next week.

I have faith in you.....if I can do it, I KNOW you can It's frustrating & annoying, but being able to give coccidia meds easily & sell early make it worth it. Be persistent, patient & adust nipples/milk flow...

And if all else fails & you get a head full of it before they figure it out, you have a backup plan so it's not the end of the world.

Good luck!!!

[freedomfrom4]

I moved some at a month to a bottle. No access to any feed until they decide they really like the bottle. It was the next day for mine. I followed Vicki's advice on this thread from Dairy Goat info and it worked for me.
http://www.dairygoatinfo.com/index.php?topic=18374.0

[julieq]

For some reason our bucklings have never been as smart as the doelings when training to a bottle. Even though we pull the kids and bottle feed at birth, we've still had bucklings that take a couple of days to 'catch on'. They tend to get smarter when their bellies are empty though! And even with the long term hold outs, we've never lost a bottle fed kid because they refused to eat for awhile.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I wait another week or two & seperate at night, milk in the morning then turn the babies back loose with their momma's. You & the kids still get milk from the momma's & everyone's happy.

[Cheribelle]

If the kids are that young, isn't it a bit early to drink the milk anyway? Will there be a colostrum taste to it?