# How long do you bottle feed?



## Citylife

I am hearing mixed reviews on how long to bottle feed baby goats.  So, I am asking for more mixed reviews..............  there is so much knowledge here, I would like to hear the imput.


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## SDBoerGoats

Well, this was my first year at feeding bottle babies, but I had so many of them I think I learned a lot. I raise Boer goats, and had 3 right off the bat in January, and just had 2 more last week. I fed the first group bottles until they were 3 months old. They were on baby bottles for the first couple weeks til they got bigger then I got one of those buckets with the nipples in them, then I could feed all three at the same time! Life got way easier then. 
The ones I have now are too small to use the bucket yet so I am still having to do the bottles. I do think some people wean them off the bottles earlier than 3 months but I wanted them to be really eating Boer goat developer and hay well before I took the milk away from them.


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## Bedste

8-10 weeks

I had triplets last year and quads this year

I gave as much as they would drink 5 times a day for the first week-- about 5 oz each feeding.



3 times a day for week two ---- three -- and week four  -- about 10 oz

then at 5 weeks old we went to 20 oz twice a day and offered med goat kid food also...... 

at 8 weeks old they only got their morning bottles.  always keeping med goat kid food available


somewhere between 9 and 10 weeks old I cut them off the bottle


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## Citylife

I appreciate you input.  Always nice to hear what others do.  We are not 100% on how old they are, but they are not to happy about 2 meals a day.  
They are starting to eat feed and have been eating hay sparsley.  But, they are also learning that goat food isnt all that bad.


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## Roll farms

I bottle feed for 3 mos, 3x a day for the 1st 2 mos, then 2x a day for 2 wks and 1x a day for 2 wks.  

We bottle feed all our kids.  Right now I have extra milk and so I have one 3.5 mo. old kid still getting 1 a day....I figure if I'm going down there anyway to feed others, why not let her have one too.

Here's my 'page' on bottle raising kids.....

http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=586


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