2 week old goat help please

daddygilbert · #1 12/26/12, 03:18 PM

I need help I've just gotten a 2 week old goat that has been bottlefed it's whole life they've been trying to give it hay and stuff it won't eat it. What should I start giving it? How long does she need to say on milk? How much milk should she be drinking? When do I need to introduce solids and what kind? I grow kale for my rabbits would that be an option?

mary,tx · #2 12/26/12, 03:32 PM

You need to keep her on a bottle for at least two more months. Three would be even better. She in not ready to wean to solids. She may or may not nibble on her hay, but her main feed should still be milk. Whole milk is best, but if you are putting her on a replacer, be sure it is milk based and not soy based.

Is this a full sized goat or a miniature? What breed? Depending on her size and appetite, I'd start her on three or four bottles a day, 8 to 12 ounces, and increase amount as her appetite increases.

The bottles should be served warm, 90-100 degrees,

I'm sure she'll love some kale in another month or two. Also at a couple of months, you can give her a little feed to nibble. But don't wean her off that bottle for awhile!

Backfourty,MI. · #3 12/26/12, 03:35 PM

I do not bottle feed my babies normally but the folks that do usually bottle feed them for 3 months, some do longer. At 2 weeks of age I would make sure the baby has access to a good grass hay although she/he will nibble at it they won't actually consume a lot of hay right now.

What kind of milk have then been feeding the baby?
Do you have other goats? 1 bottle baby in the house should really have another bottle baby friend. Goats are very social & need another goat.

Welcome to the goat forum & we Love baby goat pictures or any goat pictures for that matter when you can.

andabigmac · #4 12/26/12, 03:43 PM

What breed is she? A 2 week old will only just be starting to nibble at hay. Most of them need to be taught how though by an older goat. They'll figure it out eventually but they usually mimic the big goat when it comes to eating and drinking. Until she get's a lot older her main source of nutrition needs to come from milk. I bottle feed mine for about 6-7 months. In my opinion you should bottle feed at least 12+ weeks. As for a feeding schedule a lot of people use this one http://fiascofarm.com/goats/feeding.htm#bottle. This is for a full sized goat though. A mini, pygmy, or nigerian would have different needs.
She will also need cocci prevention and a friend. Goats do better as a herd.

What kind of milk are you giving her?

Ford Zoo · #5 12/26/12, 05:11 PM

Oh my daddygilbert, you have come to the right place to learn how to raise that baby into a delightful friend for life! And bottle feeding a kid will only strengthen that bond between the 2 of you! Do keep searching the forum for ideas, and welcome to the forum!

WV Farm girl · #6 12/26/12, 05:19 PM

Definately keep her on the bottle. Her rumen is not developed enough to gain enough nutrition from anything else. As others said she will nibble but thats about it.
I use to bottle my goats til 8-9wks by then she will be old enough to process grain and other feed stuffs. Just keep an eye on her. Bloat is often a problem and too often a killer in bottle babies.
She will be a attentive and loving addition to your herd.

Minelson · #7 12/26/12, 05:42 PM

Pictures??

CaliannG · #8 12/26/12, 07:42 PM

At two weeks of age, give her as much as she will drink. Whole cow milk from the store is best.

Cheap milk replacers will kill her. Expensive milk replacers she will thrive on, but they are more expensive than just buying whole milk from the store.

At two weeks, she will probably start nibbling on hay and grain, but they won't provide any nutrition for her as her digestive tract is not mature enough to process it.

The goat to human age ratio is about 6:1. At two weeks, she is about the age of a 3 month old human baby when it comes to maturity. You might put a little cereal in the bottle of a three month old human baby, but you wouldn't give her a loaf of bread and expect her to be able to survive on it.

For standard-sized, dairy does that I expect to be able to milk the following year, my bottle feeding schedule is something as follows:

Week 1 -- 5 bottles per day (during daylight hours! No need to get up in the middle of the night!), as much as they will consume.
Week 2 -- 4 bottles per day, as much as they will consume (generally about 10 ounces, but if they will eat more, I give them more)
Week 3-6 -- 3 bottles per day, 20 ounces. (They start out drinking less, so it is still an all-they-can-drink buffet.)
Week 7-12 -- 2 bottle a day, 20 ounces.
Week 13-16 -- 1 bottle a day, 20 ounces

The following is ONLY for doelings, who need all the help they can get to be large enough and mature enough to sustain a pregnancy and birth as yearlings:

Week 17-20 -- 1 bottle per day, 32 ounces.

At week 2, I make a small amount of hay, grain, and pellets available to them to mouth and experiment with...this continues until they are one month old.

At 3 weeks, they get coccidia prevention.

At one month, in addition to hay, grain, and pellets, I let them out to browse the pasture for short periods during the day.

At 6 weeks, they get coccidia prevention again, and they also get their vaccinations.

At 2 months, they get let out during the day to browse the pasture. This is also when they get *regular* feeding of grain and pellets.

At 9 weeks, coccidia prevention again, and their booster vaccinations.

At three months, they get free-fed hay, alfalfa pellets, minerals, and baking soda. They also get their coccidia prevention. At this time, it is important to separate the boys from the girls.

15 weeks, coccidia prevention again.

Four months, boy goats get weaned completely. Everyone gets a fecal test and wormed if necessary.

18 weeks, last round of coccidia prevention.

20 weeks, girls get weaned completely. Un-sold/non-keeper boys get butchered.

Hope this helps.

daddygilbert · #9 12/26/12, 08:59 PM

She is a Nigerian Dwarf. We do not have any other goats right now. Raising rabbits, dogs, babies, and gardening right now. We have her on Mannapro Unimilk instantized milk replacer. Her name is Maggie and we got her from my dad's herd. They were unable to care for her right now.

daddygilbert · #10 12/26/12, 09:08 PM

Maggie had a twin that passed because of their mother neglecting them. My stepmother had never raised a kid on the bottle before and she gave her the milk at room temperature. Do we need to start heating it, or has she already became accustomed to the cooler milk?

BoerMomma · #11 12/26/12, 09:09 PM

You have been given great advice! We had our two boer babies on the bottle until they were 3 months old.

CaliannG · #12 12/26/12, 11:05 PM

Heat it still. Babies have to warm up milk to body temperature before they can digest it, they cannot digest cool or cold milk. So, if you feed it at room temperature, they have to use calories to heat it up before they can digest it, and it will chill them from the inside.

Warm milk is always best. Better for them to digest. Better for them to keep warm.

Since she is an ND, in my previous post, every time it says 20 ounces, cut that back to 16 ounces...and until she is a month old, don't let her drink MORE that 10 ounce. Katie might be able to help you more, or maybe Wags will see this and post.

CaliannG · #13 12/26/12, 11:29 PM

Okay, I looked up your milk replacer.

Manna Pro Unimilk Instantized Milk Replacer: First 5 ingredients are-- Dried whey, dried whey product, animal fat (preserved with BHA, BHT, citric acid, and ethoxyquin), soy protein isolate, dried skimmed milk.

First off, and the VERY big thing, this is a multi-species milk replacer. You are better off with a goat-specific milk replacer, or at least one for calves. A milk replacer that also includes puppies is NOT good.

Second, this product contains preserved animal fat. NOT preserved MILK fat, but rendered ANIMAL fat. Goats (and other ruminants) are not set up to digest animal fats, being herbivores and all, and how that will work in your little baby's system is that the animal fat will coat her digestive track and make it difficult for her to digest anything. If it coats it enough, she could starve to death while guzzling down bottle after bottle every day. It's not a pretty way for a baby to die.

This is why there is a saying among goat people "Milk Replacer kills kids", and we simply use pasteurized cow milk that you can buy from a store to bottle feed babies if we don't have goat milk available.

thaiblue12 · #14 12/27/12, 10:47 AM

If you can I would switch her over slowly to whole milk from the grocery store. I use it straight nothing added and my bottle kids all have grown out well, some a little too much

I heat it, I have 3-7 bottle kids per kidding season so I use the microwave since it is fast and I am in a hurry.

I would get her a friend close to her age and size, bottle kids do better in pairs, do not scream when left alone and are less clingy to us humans when having a friend to bounce, run and sleep with.

I would not give her any grain at this age, it can bloat her as can milk that is too cold. Hay is fine, they nibble on it, also at 2 weeks old I start giving them a bowl of water.

I bottle till they are 3 months old or so. Depends on the kid but 3 months is the earliest I wean. Since she is Nigerian I would offer her 6-8 oz four times a day, see how much she drinks and go from there.

mary,tx · #15 12/27/12, 12:28 PM

I have heard stories of goats dying on "unimilk." Soy is not the right milk for them. I'd switch. If you use a replacer, it should be milk based without soy. I'd think, too, that she would digest warm milk better. I always warm the bottles and temp them.

I don't know how well she is doing with the nipple, but I usually start the kids on a baby bottle, and graduate them to a caprine nipple at a couple of weeks. For a miniature breed, you could probably leave them on a baby bottle.

punchiepal · #16 12/27/12, 01:30 PM

If you don't have access to GM I would use whole milk from the store.
This is the schedule I use for my nigerians. HTH
d 16-21 6oz/3x
d 21-34 7oz/3x
d 35-48 8oz/3x
d 49-77 9oz/2x
d 78-84 9oz/1x
d 85-9 4.5oz/1x

WV Farm girl · #17 12/27/12, 03:24 PM

I used whole milk with a can of evaporated milk added in. Stopped using replacer when I lost a set of triplets. Kept bloating and wouldn't grow. Vet told me then it was the replacer she believed. Never had another issue after I switched.

I had to sell my herd after the divorce. I miss them terribly!

daddygilbert · #18 12/27/12, 07:27 PM

Also, Maggie has not lost her umbilical cord yet. Is this normal? We're kinda concerned.

Cygnet · #19 12/27/12, 07:56 PM

I will agree with the general consensus -- feed warmed cow's milk a minimum of 4 times a day. If you have time to feed her more often, give less with each meal. Mama goats normally let their babies nurse many times a day but they only let them have a few mouthfuls at a time.

Healthy kids are bouncy, bright eyed, curious, active, do not have the runs, have no sniffles and no raspy noises when they breath, and they will eat enthusiastically. If you notice anything "off" you need to take immediate action. If this baby didn't get colostrum at birth, you will really want to watch out for intestinal infections and lung crud.

As long as the umbilical cord is dry and there's no heat/lump/oozing from her belly, it's fine. It takes a long time to fall off. If it's more than a couple inches long, trim it back to about 2" so she doesn't catch it on something.

I would chime in with everyone else and say get her a buddy. If your family breeds goats, see if they have an extra wether kid. Just don't put a buckling with her past about a month of age -- Nigerian doelings can get pregnant at a very young age.

ani's ark · #20 12/28/12, 02:13 AM

Never bottle fed a kid, so have no advice to add. Just want to wish you and Maggie the best - good luck and welcome to the forum Daddygilbert. They are the sweetest little animals to have about. When she's older are you planning to breed and milk her?