Orphaned twins

[trapperwife]

One of the ranchers my husband works with had a doe die last night. :waa: She had twins last week and he asked my hubby if we wanted them....so I came home from work and there they were! I have a bag of milk replacer and they are in a small former chicken coop we had cleaned out, laid some pine shavings down and have fed them once this afternoon and once this evening. The bigger one is not so fond of the bottle; the petite one drank about 3/4 of a cup at each feeding, the bigger one maybe a half a cup. This after I held her head a bit. The night time temps are in the upper 40's and I think they will be warm enough......any tips on raising these two cuties would be appreciated! I named them Matilda and Abigail.

[mpillow]

Be sure to feed at least 3 times a day, even 4 if you can warm milk like 100 - 105 degrees. If they are thriving at 2 weeks you can drop a feeding. Start offering hay, grain and water and dont expect them to eat right away but by 8 weeks they should be onto hay and grain. 32-40 oz a day on milk until 12 weeks but they can be weaned earlier if necessary. If temps go any lower a heat lamp or bring inside....a $10 tote from walmart will work to keep them in...and they will sleep all night at about 5 days old if its dark. Good luck and enjoy them while they are so little!

[marvella]

can't add a thing. keep them warm and fed, they should be fine. lucky! it's two does!!

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

If the milk replacer contains soy I would put it in the fridge and feed it after they are eating solid food and ruminating, about 8 weeks. I would use a non-soy milk replacer or grocery store Vitamin D whole milk. Soy and most uni-milk type replacers cause digestive upsets in small ruminants. Several small feedings each day are much better than 2, once about 8 weeks, they will already be consuming grain and hay if offered, licking at their minerals and drinking water, browsing when safe, so moving to morning and night bottles or slowly switching to milk replacer is fine. Grocery Store milk is alot closer to goats milk than ANY milk replacer. Honestly if you go back and read these boards during the spring, be it cows or goat...milk replacer = bloat/scours/death. Vicki

[elly_may]

I agree with Vicky, several small feedings of a couple ounces is better for their rumen. Milk that is allowed to curdle in their stomachs give them bloat and diarrhea. Make sure they are sucking good on the bottle. By sucking, milk goes directly into fourth stomach (abomassum) and to the intestines. This happens because the groove in their throat closes which allows this to happen. After about 8 to 10 weeks the groove starts to close. They should be eating hay and grains at that point.

Yes, by all means regular milk from the store will make a big difference. I have had very little luck with the replacers as has a lot of others.

[Milking Mom]

Oh wow, little twin does. How cute. I agree about the whole milk from the grocery store. I guess you don't know of anybody that has some goat milk they would share with you huh? Good luck.

[Al. Countryboy]

I'll agree with the rest. Feed small amounts as many times a day starting out as you can. The only time that I have had trouble with a kid having the runs was when I had one that thought he was a pig and decided to give him another half a bottle. As they grow, gradually increase their milk and cut back on the feeding times. Hope things go well for you and your new addition.

[southerngurl]

I think pictures are needed before you can be further helped. Yup.