How to train you bucklings (bottle advice)

LearningLife · #1 01/06/15, 05:50 PM

We have three bucklings that were born Christmas week - one set of twins and one single. We have a buyer who will take them now if I can get them bottle trained. They were about a week old when we started trying, and they will NOT cooperate. I've tried the Pritchard nipple and a regular baby bottle nipple. They are old enough now to separate from moms for a while at a time. We're milking both dams, so we separate them at night.They should be plenty hungry when we go out to milk in the morning, but they still fight like crazy when we try to bottle feed them. Is there a secret I don't know? I have gotten babies this age on bottles before, but these three just seem to be dead set against it.

Edited to add: I really wish I could edit titles. That should say "your" bucklings. Sigh.

billinwv · #2 01/06/15, 06:08 PM

They may need to get pretty hungry at this age. Cradle them between your legs, head away from you. Put nipple over tongue straight in mouth. Don't force milk. I haven't ever had one not get the idea if you keep them from nursing.

Backfourty,MI. · #3 01/06/15, 08:11 PM

So they are nursing off their dam's all day until you separate at night?

If that is the case, they aren't taking the bottle because they want their mamma's. You'll need to separate them completely from their dam to get them to take the bottle & at this point they will most likely have to be pretty hungry. Over night isn't hungry enough when they have mamma all day.

LearningLife · #4 01/06/15, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backfourty,MI.

So they are nursing off their dam's all day until you separate at night?

If that is the case, they aren't taking the bottle because they want their mamma's. You'll need to separate them completely from their dam to get them to take the bottle & at this point they will most likely have to be pretty hungry. Over night isn't hungry enough when they have mamma all day.

They aren't with their dams all day, no. We did put them in with their dams for a little while this afternoon. It wasn't ideal, but it's getting very cold, and I was concerned that they had not eaten enough from the bottles today to keep them warm and strong. In the past, I've been able to keep babies with dams and still supplement with bottles - sort of dual feeding. I can't really do exclusively bottles from birth because of work schedules, but I do like having them trained to the bottle to make sales possible, to help with taming, and to make giving meds easier. I don't know what is different about my techniques this time, but I'm not giving up yet. I will try to stretch the time away from the dams as long as I know that they are nice and warm. They probably do better with the cold temperatures than I do, but I still worry.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Frosted Mini's · #5 01/06/15, 11:44 PM

Out of site and sound of the dams is best. Cover their eyes with your other hand or even stick them under your leg to make them feel like they're under mom. Scratch bums like the mom licks. Hold nipple in their mouth until they start sucking-don't let it out. I find the pritchard teats too small and easy to spit out...haven't tried a baby bottle. I had one kid I pulled off his dam at a week old that was extremely stubborn, absolutely refused a bottle no matter what I tried. For like 3 days, he ate maybe a few ounces, not good! So, I put his dam on the milkstand and covered her teats with my hand, shoving the nipple in his face. He would take a little that way, but not well. His two sisters meanwhile were doing just fine on the bottle. At this point, I gave up and tried to give him back to his dam, but she wouldn't take him in the pen, so I just fed him on the milkstand for a couple days. FINALLY, he decided his sisters were getting something he wasn't and he wanted it and took to the bottle and never looked back! Goats are crazy!

creeklady2000 · #6 01/07/15, 06:23 AM

it can be hard with some of them I have had some that took several day's of just a little squirted in there mouth it is amazin how tough and stubborn they can be at times I had a baby once from the amish that would not eat for anything and I had no other choice but to be persistence with him and I thought I was going to loose him he lost weight and got a little week but I kept making him swallow and he finally latched on about a week later they are tough little buggers at times but I have never lost one ,, then there are some that say oh ya milk after only a couple of hours off there mom,, they are all diff. but don't give up.

**mygoat** · #7 01/07/15, 12:34 PM

I do it differently but very successfully... I sit on my butt against a wall for comfort. I face the kid toward me, and cross my legs at the calf behind their butt because they always want to back up and get away - young kids because when you cover their eyes they think they need to look back and up for an udder - its instinct... but older kids want to back up because they can't see/don't understand. I cover their eyes with my left hand, and usually touch the corners of their mouth with my forefinger and my thumb, which helps encourage them to look by covering their eyes and keeps the nipple centered with my fingers (and keeps their tongue in place - especially young kids their tongue sometimes slips out to one side or another and they loose suction. :P) Get the nipple in there and tilt it up. They will naturally swallow and if they're hungry, they'll suck.

Personally I hate prichard. If they're full size kids, try using a full size lamb nipple or my favorite, the grey lambar nipples. They really like having that nipple pretty deep in their mouths, the pritchard and human baby nipples just do not work well for this IMO. Maybe on smaller breeds when very young.

dozedotz · #8 01/07/15, 05:19 PM

Dear Dona, Sounds great. Just one question...how in the world do you cross your legs??? I haven't been able to do that since...oh, maybe 2011...Do you think it is age related or goat related?????

**mygoat** · #9 01/07/15, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dozedotz

Dear Dona, Sounds great. Just one question...how in the world do you cross your legs??? I haven't been able to do that since...oh, maybe 2011...Do you think it is age related or goat related?????

I'll blame the goats because it's always the goat's fault.

I suppose putting anything behind them so they can't back up would work, but would be more cumbersome than my method. :P I just never liked the standing up facing away from me method that some people have success with. Hard to cover their eyes for me, at least.

MDKatie · #10 01/07/15, 07:29 PM

I do it a different way too. I have them facing the same way as me, and tuck them under my right arm, so I can control them by keeping them next to me. Then I use my right hand under their chin to hold their head still, and use my left hand to hold the bottle. I can open their mouths with my right hand while I'm holding their head still.

They need to get hungrier, and be kept totally away from their dams. They are not too old to learn, but if you keep putting them back with their dams, they'll never learn. If it's really cold, you can put them under a heat lamp or put coats on them. They are not bitty babies and will be ok.