newbie questions re: bottle feeding or not

[snowgirl]

Hi-
We bought 2 does last fall, and one is due to kid on 4/10. She's a Togg and a FF. I'm still not sure if I want to bottle feed the kid(s) or have Mina feed them. The breeders we bought her from bottle feed their kids and explained that there's less chance of CAE if the kids are fed pasteurized milk. I'm excited but also feeling a little overwhelmed. How many times a day do the kids need to be bottle fed in the beginning? We got goats partly because we'd like to have milk. Will there be enough milk for the kids and our family? Should I wait until they are weaned before we drink Mina's milk? How do people usually do this? Sorry if these questions are silly. Thanks in advance.
Erica

 

[poorboys]

nothing too silly, its if you want to put the time into it. bottle feeding requires alot of your time. i start mine at 4 to 5 bottles during the day, 4 0z to 6oz what-ever they will eat, i bump up onces as the days go by so at least by a week everyone is eating 3 20 0z bottles a day, i do not get up in the middle of night to feed. if you don't want them on the mom at all, you'll need to pull them as soon as their born and milk out her colustrum and pre heat it if your trying to rule out cae. you should wait at least 2 weeks before your family starts drinking it.the kids should get 4 to 8 oz colustrum within the first 4 hours or so. you want them to consume at least one pint before they go to regular milk. everyone does it a little different. you'll probably get some different respones. it's all helpful information, good luck.

 

[Ariel301]

I prefer not to bottle feed. I have all my does tested for CAE and other nasties that they could pass on and I keep a negative herd. I only bottle feed if the doe rejects a kid, I buy a bottle kid, or kids from a doe I have who is a terrible mother and screams at her babies and drinks her own milk.

When I bottle feed, I start out with about 6 small feedings a day for the first few days, they don't like to eat a lot at once when they're new. I put it in a human baby bottle at about 100 degrees. I gradually decrease to one big morning feeding and one big evening feeding, then cut out the morning feeding at about 7 weeks old, and wean them from there. You can feed them as much as they want to eat at a feeding if they can handle that without making themselves sick, some overeat but most are good about it.

 

[Roll farms]

I feed everyone 3x a day, at roughly 8am, 2 pm, and 9pm...even newborns, from birth until 2 mos old.
At 2 mos they go to 2 - 20oz bottles, at 2.5 mos, they're dropped to 1 - 20 oz bottle.

To truly raise them CAE prev., you have to heat treat the colostrum (I hold it at 140 degrees for an hour - It is tricky! too warm and it turns to pudding) and pasteurize the milk they're fed.

We've done it for 8 years and to me, it's easier than letting the dam raise them...maybe not 'easier'..but more worry-free.
I'm in the barn at least 3x a day anyway, and they suck the bottles down in no time.
I don't have to worry if the mom is feeding them, going to reject them, if they're warm enough or pooping right, etc.
I'm a better mom than most does, b/c I don't reject them, they're kept warm, fed right, etc.

 

[snowgirl]

Thanks so much for writing about your experiences. Still not sure what we'll do, but your replies gave me a lot to think about. Can dam-raised kids be as people-friendly as bottle raised ones? Aside from spending time with the kids, what can I do to keep them comfortable with us?