Bottle-Feeding for Dummies? Help Please

[bcadybug]

I've always let the Dams raise their kids but, I really want to pull (if there is a doeling in there) kids from my FF Lamancha that is due next week. I've never pulled and bottle-fed before.

Can someone help me please? I need a step by step on this one.

1. Pull, clean and dry the kids.

2. Feed colostrum? How much? Just once?

3. Feed kids X oz, X often...?

I've bought bottle kids before but they've been older and down to twice at day feeding at that point.

Please help, I want to do this right.... I'm scared to death that I'll be doing more harm than good by pulling the kids.

THANK YOU!!!!
Val

[Minelson]

This is the guideline I used but it's for mini's ..... It says to double or Triple the amounts for bigger goats.....has some good tips that might be helpful for you
http://www.dillsalittlegoatfarm.com/generalcare.htm

[April]

I feed the pulled babies "all" of the colostrum. When my girls first kid they seldom give a lot of colostrum at the very beginning. I milk out all that I can get and divide it equally between bottles - one for each kid. I keep going back out and milking mom frequently until she starts to give a significant amount at one time. Then she goes into the twice a day milking string with the rest of the girls. I still keep her milk separate from the others and feed that to her kids because she'll have some colostrum for a while. Or - if I have an older doe who kids at the same time I'll use her colostrum instead as she has more immunities to pass on than a first freshener does. I don't have enough goats for that to happen frequently, though, so the kids usually get their dam's milk/colostrum.

That first 12 hours I try to make sure each kid gets around 20 ounces of colostrum. Sometimes I don't make it to that much if there are a lot of kids and I've never had a problem.

Once the kids get a couple of days old I like to give each kid a human baby bottle of really warm milk (100 degrees at least) 4 or 5 times a day at the start. That's about 9 ounces at a time. Eventually they get two bottles at a time 3 times a day and then on the lambar at which point who knows how much they're getting. Hopefully they are sold by that time, though.

It's really not as complicated as it seems. The danger lies more in giving them too much milk than in not enough. If they get diarrhea, then back off the milk some.

[dozedotz]

Honestly!! I assume that is what you want? It's all over the place. We had an almost 9 pound buckling born who took probably 8 oz of colostrum the first go...then over the next 12 hours he took 5, then 7 then 8. The smaller kids (nothing smaller than 7 lbs) would take 5 oz and then 3 ounces and then 4 - these were standard size Nubian kids. At one week of age the almost 9 pounder weighed in at 13 lbs and 3 ounce, his 5 pound sisters weighed in at 8 1/2 pounds and 9 lbs 4 oz. They are now on the Lambar and just today (they were born on the 20th of Feb) we are trying to get to 3 feedings instead of 4. If it does not work, no big deal. We just work toward that goal. It really does depend on the kid. I am filling the Mason jars with 20 ounces each, put them inside the Lambar and then when the kids are done (this can take more than an hour with all the jumping and running and coming back for sips) I weigh the remaining milk and get an APPROXIMATE idea of how much they are taking. They usually take the most milk right off the bat...the returns for sips (which may be on a different nipple) are minor after that first feeding. As they take more we make the decision as to if they stay at 4 feedings or cut back to two 3. We do not feed the newborns after 10 pm except for the first night when they eat wheneve they want...even if they don't want!...we feed about every 3 hours. After that if all is well, they get their last bottle at 10pm and then go until 6am. All of them are gaining nicely and are very active. We have not put any baking soda in the bottles...but we have it just in case. Sometimes I will not allow a little piggie to eat more than 10 ounces (like a 3 day old kid) just because they think that they can! There are tons of people who would disagree with that and feel the kid should eat all they want. Also, if we have a really slow drinker...I let them rest and come back to them in 10 minutes or so.... Keep in mind that we have 7 kids at the present and they are in the house. If we had 25 kids, in the barn, we could not be so aware and responsive. Please note I said WE...some other younger more active person could keep up 25 kids better than we could!

[bcadybug]

Thanks you! Thank you! Thank you!

Ya'll

Val