We bottle raise most of our kids, for many reasons.
CAE prevention, to ensure they're friendly, and because I don't have to worry at 3 am if the kids are warm enough or being
fed enough by a first time mom.
Some folks think it's 'cruel' to take babies at birth...
If a doe never 'meets' her kids, she won't cry for them nearly as much as she does when you wean
them at 3 mos., and babies won't go off feed / stress out from leaving dams they never met / bonded to.
One of the things I hear most about bottle feeding is, "Isn't
that a lot of work?"
Really, it isn't. It takes less than 5 minutes to
give a baby their bottle, 3 times a day. I'm in the barn that many times a day anyway.
Plus, I enjoy the time spent with the kids. I love
to watch them bounce and play, and to be their jungle gym.
We usually have plenty of goat milk to go around...
But when we don't, we use (and recommend) that you use Vitamin D (whole) milk.
We've tried replacer in the past and had kids scour.
After switching to whole milk, the kids did fine and grew as well as they did on goat milk.
If you can find milk on sale, stock up and freeze it. The kids won't mind if it
seperates, just shake it up before you fill the bottles.
I usually send kids home with some goat milk, to help them transition over to whole milk with no
sudden dietary changes...sudden changes for any goat, kid or adult, are a bad idea.
I like to switch them slowly, giving them half goat milk, half whole milk for a few bottles before
changing them over completely to whole milk.
We use empty soda bottles and Caprine (gray) nipples. We send kids home with the nipple
they're used to.
By the time the kids leave here, between 5-10 days of age, they're usually drinking 8-16 oz of milk
at each feeding. We gradually increase their intake until they max out at 20 oz. per feeding.
Some kids can take several weeks to reach that amount, some just a week or so.
I try to feed the kids every 6-8 hours. Our typical schedule is 8am, 2pm, and 9pm.
Feeding too often cause all sorts of health issues, like FKS (Floppy Kid Syndrome).
They need time to digest the milk between feedings.
Also, do not feed milk to 'cold' kids. If the kid has chilled, warm it up (at least
101 degrees) before offering milk. A tablespoon of molasses is a good pick me up that will help warm them and give energy.
Despite what you might read elsewhere, it is NOT necessary to feed kids every 3 or 4 hours.
I've been bottle raising between 30 and 50 kids a year since 2003 and have never fed more often than 3x a day.
Weaning:
At 8 wks of age, they go to 2 bottles a day.
At 10 wks they are dropped to 1 bottle a day.
We wean at 12 weeks.
Make sure they're eating their pellets / hay well before weaning completely! Usually taking
a bottle away will increase the consumption of their 'big goat feed'.
Keep fresh water and loose goat mineral available at all times!
Our babies are disbudded (if the buyers want)between 3 and 10 days (depending on breed / need).
We give them their 1st CD&T vaccination when we disbud. I furnish the booster shot when needed, to be given 21 days
after the 1st vaccine.
Registerable babies will also come with registration applications for their appropriate breed association.
Coccidiosis
I strongly recommend that kids be given some form of coccidiosis prevention, unless you can
raise them in a sterile bubble.
We raise kids on Purina Noble Goat, which has a medication (Deccox) in it to help prevent the disease,
BUT...Extremely young kids cannot eat enough of the feed to get the medicine up to therapeutic levels.
The medicated feed WILL NOT cure coccidiosis, it will only prevent it, and then only if they
eat enough to make the medicine effective.
Coccidiosis is more of a problem in warm, damp weather, so in addition to the medicated feed, we
also give our kids DiMethox (sulfa-based medicine) every 21 days for 5 days in a row all summer / early fall.
Typically by then the kids are old enough that they've not only built up some natural immunity,
they're also eating enough medicated feed to get protection from it.
I'd also suggest treating kids while they're at shows or when you introduce new kids from another
location.
We purchase DiMethox from Jeffers Livestock Supply
The dosage we use is 1cc per 5# on day 1, 1cc per 10# days
2-5.
Here are some links with info on coccidiosis...I like to read all I can and then go from there on
treatment decisions. You can never know too much!
Those are just a few sites, there are many more places on
the web where you can find more information.
I have a well-stocked medicine chest. Some of it I've never used...some of it I swear
by.
Here's a short list of some of the things I won't be without:
Probios - puts the 'good bugs' back in the rumen when stress, illness, medication, or diet
changes cause upset / scours.
Vitamin B Complex - appetite stimulant, great for giving a boost when a goat is 'off'.
Red Cell - supplement with lots of copper / iron, used when a weak goat needs replenishment.
PenG - Antibiotic - my 'go to' drug for wounds / rough kiddings.
Nuflor - (vet rx) - Antibiotic for URI - I rarely have to use it, but it's never let me down.
(Excenel is another good one if you can't get Nuflor).
BoSe - (vet rx) Selenium / vitamin E - Given to pregnant does and newborns, treatment for
White Muscle Disease.
Ivermectin injectable - Dewormer - given ORALLY (not injected). I dose at 1cc per 25#.
Use ONLY when you need to*
Safeguard Liquid - Oral dewormer - must be used daily for 3 days at 3x the label dose - only
used for tapeworm here.*
*see my 'rant about worms' below, please :)
My supply chest contains:
Digital Thermometer
20 ga, 1/2" needles - vaccines, B vitamin
18 ga needles - for Nuflor, Pen G, BoSe - anything thick should be given w/ a bigger needle.
3cc and 6cc syringes w/ luer locks
Drenching gun
My rant on worms....
I hear from a lot of folks with goats that are having problems and one of the most common issues
is parasites.
I am often told, "Well, I wormed him (or her) so that shouldn't be the problem."
What I have found is that a lot of people either don't know what dewormers to use for which
parasite, what dosage to use, or worse, they gave the dewormer "just because".
Dewormer resistance is a HUGE problem.
Make no mistake...if you give your goats the wrong dewormer, at the wrong dosage, over a long enough
period of time when they don't need it...it will NOT work when they DO need it.
I'm a firm believer in giving good care to prevent problems before they happen, but deworming on
a schedule will lead to parasite resistance.
Under dosing dewormer and constantly switching dewormers (as has been the common practice / recommendation
by vets for horses) will not work for goats long-term.
Some very good reading / information:
My first suggestion if you suspect worms is to take a fresh fecal sample to your vet.
Discuss with them how to best go about deworming, and decide on a plan to retest (usually in 10-21
days) to verify that your dewormer is working.
A goat who is seriously anemic / ill from a parasite overload will require a more aggressive treatment
plan...they may need dewormed several days in a row, and may also require supportive care with supplements to recover.
Our parasite management routine:
I check the eyelids of our goats often.
Every 2 weeks in spring / summer / fall, once a month in winter. Pale eyelids are a good indication
of anemia. If the goat shows no other signs of illness and is on good loose goat mineral, the anemia is typically (but
not always) an indication of a worm issue....generally it's going to be barberpole or stomach worms that cause the most problems.
I have fecals ran (or you can learn to do your own) by our vet to confirm diagnosis if I find a
goat with pale eyelids.
I deworm, repeat in 14 days, and recheck.
- Don't use dewormers unless you've verified you need to.
- Use the right class of dewormer for the problem you have.
- Recheck to verify the treatment worked.
- Consider culling animals that need constant deworming...Do you really want to breed / keep kids out
of them, and keep pouring dewormer cost into your operation?
