kinda sorta weaning And NOW with PICS!!!!!

[farmerlor]

Okay, so it's been a year since my goats were bred. I'm pretty sure that even though they gained weight and filled up their udders it's not a case of me getting my dates wrong. So last weekend we went out and bought a doe in milk and two of the babies from the farm who are not related to the doe in milk. Now the babies are 1 week and 3 weeks old and are eating from bottles three times a day. How and when can I attempt to stop that mid-day feeding so they're down to just a morning and evening feeding?
Oh, and we sold the goaties who were pretending to be pregnant? to this really, really cool guy from the Ukraine. He talks just like Dracula and says his whole community lives on goat milk and products made from goat milk so he KNOWS that he can fix my goats. I was so grateful to him that I sold him one of my other favorite goats too.
And the new goats are Sables? Is that a real breed, is it a good milking breed? They're beautiful and big draft goats like I like so it wasn't even a hard decision to shell out the bucks to buy them. Yes, I know I could look up all this stuff on google but I've just been diagnosed with cancer and I get tired so easily that I can only take being on the computer for a few minutes to a half hour at a time.
Thanks

 

[farmerlor]

Could someone please, please tell me what the rules are for dropping that third feeding for little tiny month old goaties? We're having several back to back snowstorms here and I really need to know. I know it's too early to actually stop the midday feedings but should I be cutting down on the amount of milk they are getting or any other advice I should know about?
Thanks so much,
Lor

 

[Mamaboid]

I wish I could help, but I don't do bottle babies, or have not so far so I am no help. Hope somebody comes along soon to help. You could try PMing Roll farms she is wonderful with bottle babies, raises all hers that way.

 

[Egg_Newton]

When I got my NDbuckling he was two weeks old and only getting 2 bottles a day 12 hrs apart. He's always only gotten the two. More smaller feedings are better but they will do just fine on 2. Now he is 8 weeks old and down to 1 20oz bottle. just stopped giving him the second one. So he ate a little more from the one he's still getting. I'd say just stop giving them the third bottle and make sure they have water and hay to take place of the bottle.

 

[woodsie]

I am no expert on bottle babies but I think the 1 week old should probably still get the 3 bottles a day, the 3 week old should be fine with the 2 bottles.

Here is a feeding I found online for you. http://adventuresinthegoodland.blogspot.ca/2012/04/how-to-bottle-feed-baby-goats-or-be.html


Feeding Schedule *this is meant as a general guide, some babies will need more*

1st week~ 4 feedings per day, 2-4 oz. per feeding for small goats and 4-6 oz for large goats, colostrum for the first 24 hours!

2nd week to 8 weeks ~ 3 feedings per day, 5-12 oz. per feeding for small goats and 6-20 oz for large goats, you will be gradually building up to the larger amount of milk

8+ weeks ~ 1 or 2 feedings per day, 10-12 oz. per feeding for small goats and 15-20 oz for larger goats, gradually reducing the amount in the bottle until weaning is complete

*we aim for about 1 oz. per lb body weight for the 1st 3 weeks*

We recommend using Whole Vitamin D Cows Milk from the grocery to bottle feed your baby. At 4 weeks of age, we add .5 ccs of Poly-Vi-Sol to a bottle every day for additional vitamins and minerals.

Always warm the milk to about 102* (a little warmer than you would for a human baby) a baby goat cannot digest cold milk. The microwave is fine for this, but make sure to shake the bottle before feeding it to eliminate hot spots in the milk. You should start introducing water, hay and goat feed around 4 weeks of age. They probably will do little more than play with it at first, but they will eventually get the idea about solid foods.

Kids usually will drink only until they are full. If they are usually drinking a 12 oz bottle and for one feeding they only drink 6 oz, that is ok. Be careful not to overfeed them. Don't give them more than 12 oz per bottle for the small goats and 20 oz per bottle for the large goats.
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[farmerlor]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! That's JUST what I needed. We got a pretty bad snowstorm with very, very cold temps a couple days ago and since then Bigger Tigger has been sorta off his feed. He's drinking but only about 6 ounces at a feeding whereas before he was inhaling a 20 ounce bottle. We brought him in the house to warm him up while the brooder room in the garage warms up and oh, he had SO much fun jumping off every piece of furniture I owned, playing with the cats, chasing the little dog but loving on the too big dogs. It was sure havoc because of course we had to bring in his sister (who's not actually related to him) so she was chasing the KIDS around. I loved every second of it as I fell again this morning and I'm a little short on entertainment.
Do you think Tigger will be better once he warms up or is this the beginning of something terrible that Ajax won't wash off? The other goat (Jar Jar Binks) is eating 20 ounces per feeding no matter what the weatherman says and Tigg was always the better eater. I'm just worried. Can someone pat me on the head again? I'll include picks of my purebred Sable babies!!!!

 

[OneFineAcre]

In your OP you asked if Sables were really a breed.

I think "Sable" is a name given to a Saanen that isn't white.

 

[goatieisthebest]

SOO CUTE!