Question for those that bottle raise.

Donna1982 · #1 11/18/12, 09:12 AM

We have always used bottles but are thinking about using the bucket. So Rhodes who use a bucket how do you introduce it to the babies and when? Did you make your own, and if so care to share? How much milk do you put in the bucket at a time? How do you clean it?

andabigmac · #2 11/18/12, 10:58 AM

I'm trying these this year. Kid Feeding System Produces Growthy Kids, Aids CAE Prevention by Angela von Weber-Hahnsberg from the March/April, 2012 issue of Dairy Goat Journal. Presenting information, ideas, and insights for everyone who raises, manages, or just loves goats.
This will be my first year bucket feeding so I'm looking forward to the answers too.

houndlover · #3 11/18/12, 11:22 AM

Hoeger's sells valves for converting a five gallon bucket to a bucket feeder. In my experience, once you have more than two kids to feed, get a bucket, because while you can feed two kids with a bottle in each hand, the others will either be screaming or climbing on you. Then they're so frantic to eat when you get to them that they choke and end up with milk coming out of their little noses, plus it's pathetic. They don't need to be taught, once they know a nipple is food. I start newborns on a bottle and use the same pritchard nipples on my bucket. For the first several days I stand in the pen and hold the bucket to make sure they "get it", and then all I have to do is hang it. The amount is varies by kid number and age. I start newborns on slightly warm milk but move to room temp, it's easier to deal with. Square food service buckets hang against the wall better, just don't drill holes on one side. I don't like more than 6 kids on one bucket or they will fight too much for nipples. I just hang more buckets. Mine are very simple gravity feed, anything with tubing and a lot of apparatus takes just too much time to clean, and I'm already cleaning my milk machine. The simple valves with pritchards simply unscrew and pop out of the bucket for cleaning, and the pritchards can be used on bottles if necessary (and they're cheap). I have lambs too, and I have just found that the pritchards are more readily accepted by more kids and lambs than other nipple types. They can be leaky, but like I said, they're cheap to replace.

Hoegger Supply Co. :: Goat...

LoneStrChic23 · #4 11/18/12, 09:47 PM

I bought a few of the 2 gallon buckets from Home Depot in the paint section. Drill holes where ever you want the nipples with a 5/8th bit (I put 2 nipples per small bucket, clipped to cattle panel from handle, and secured bottom of bucket with a bungee cord)

Bought the grey caprine nipples & tubing from Jeffers. Bought the tiny red one way valves from Hoeggers as I find those make a huge difference in getting the lil ones started since they don't have to suck as hard....... Put it all together. Hose in nipples, pull nipple through bucket hole, push valve inside end of hose at the bottom of the bucket.

To start, I use the grey caprine lambar nipples on a soda bottle with a 1/2" 20g needle stabbed in for an air vent to keep bottle from colapsing. Feed this way for the first 2-3 days. Put lambar in pen on day three & force their mouths onto the nipple.... On some I sucked up a lil milk in each tube to get it started for them (one way valve prevents tube from emptying)...... Took about a day and they all figured it out. Since I use the lambar nipples on soda bottles as their first bottle, it's familar to them on the bucket once you show them how to latch on.

When I was doing 4 feedings a day I just rinsed well right after feeding (don't leave them sit) with the water hose & ran water through the tubes/nipples during the day & scrubbed with my dairy soap/bleach water in evenings. Once a week I took it all apart & soaked in the lambar bucket in acid wash.

Buckets are SO much easier than bottles, IMO, if you have more than 2-3 kids.

Once the babies were bigger, I moved them to the 5 gallon bucket lambar that held more milk.

Last year was my first time using the lambar & I loved it......

Small buckets were $2 and I think nipples were around $1 each.... You can buy the already cut tubing from Jeffers, or just buy tubing at Home Depot/Lowes.

The Tin Mom · #5 11/18/12, 10:01 PM

We bought one with a stand on sale last year. It was a life saver.

We used the same nipples for the bottles that we used on the Lambar, the transition was easy.

Ugh! Our Internet is messed up and I am tired of typing on here becUse i have to keep correcting the auto-correct lambars are great Nd I am going to bed and that is that! So there and to heck with any mis-spellings or typos!

LoneStrChic23 · #6 11/18/12, 10:09 PM

Here is the link to the nipples & tubes:

Lambar Feeding Outfit

Mocha's breeder had an alley way in her barn with kid pens on each side... Each pen had 12-16 kids. On the outside of the pens, on cattle panel, she had rows of these small lambars clipped to the panel with the nipples positioned so they were in the pen through the panel squares.

She moved her kids to cold milk feedings by 2 weeks old. In the morning she'd fill up each bucket, place a frozen soda bottle in each one and that was all she did until evening, the kids had access to the cold milk all day long, and couldn't tear up the buckets because they were on the outside of the panel.

I was originally just toting the lambar in, letting them fill up, and taking it away until next feeding.... Mocha wouldn't eat like that though as she was used to lots of tiny meals throughout the day so here is a crummy pic of her 1st day here and her lil lambar I clipped to the fence... Rose, the piggy, jumped in on this pic..

Question for those that bottle raise. - Goats

Question for those that bottle raise. - Goats

Unlike what Mocha's breeder had set up, this crude lil fastening wouldn't be ok to leave out 24/7 as they would jump on it and probably make a mess.... Only used this route until she got settled in....I usually hung out with them while they ate, or just left it in while I did other chores then took it out. This year I'd like to have a set up more similar to what her breeder used.

Donna1982 · #7 11/18/12, 10:21 PM

Tin Mom I know how you feel me and auto correct HATE each other.

Ive read about the cold feeding and I like the idea since we show it would be easier on us. Now when doing a lambar do I just fill up the bucket with milk and let them get their fill?

LoneStrChic23 · #8 11/18/12, 11:08 PM

I put enough in the lambar for each kid..... And the amount goes up as they age. I wasn't doing free choice, instead I took milk out at scheduled feeding times.

So when they were eating about a quart per feeding, I put a lil more than 5 quarts in for 5 kids.

If you were doing the free choice feeding like Mocha's breeder, she tossed in a frozen bottle and filled each bucket to just below the nipples and they ate as they wanted. If I were to free choice feed, I'd start them that way from the beginning instead of a rapid switch from scheduled, measured amounts to free choice.

The Tin Mom · #9 11/18/12, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donna1982

Tin Mom I know how you feel me and auto correct HATE each other.

Ive read about the cold feeding and I like the idea since we show it would be easier on us. Now when doing a lambar do I just fill up the bucket with milk and let them get their fill?

Okay, said I was quitting, but here goes. Forgive auto correct. We determined how much was optimal per kid. Added a teaspoon of baking soda per qt and drew a line on the bucket. Filled the bucket to the line and watched to make sure no kid ate a ton more than their share. After we were down to just the number of kids that a qt jar would fit in the bucket (I think 5) we fed out of qt jars inwith soda in the jars.

We milked and then pored right into the bucket/jars. Never had to worry about transition of temp. Worked great for us. Now, I am really going to bed. No proof reading this. As I said, forgive auto correct. (()hugs)))

**mygoat** · #10 11/19/12, 06:51 AM

I use buckets and I made my own after buying the first one.

All you need is a food grade bucket with lid, plastic tubing, and the grey nipples. Those things are fabulous for feeding bottles, too.

I can usually get kids on a bucket in a day or two of age. I usually try to make sure their first few meals are proportioned. My kids are all the same age approximately, so they all get the hang of it at the same time. We just take an extra bottle down for any stragglers that don't 'get it'.

Instead of putting milk in the bucket, I tend to use a 1 gal icecream bucket. Easier to fit in the microwave to get it to temp.