Weaning Advice

[anythingbutsandy]

My bottle baby is a Spanish/Boer and is approximately 8 weeks old. She's on a milk replacer (Ultra 24) and she's doing well. She gets a bottle in the morning and one in the evening. She is also eating grass and leaves and grain. When and how should I go about weaning her off the bottle?

 

[mully]

For a few days i would just give one feeding then skip a day for several days then quit. Give more hay than grain. She should do well !!

 

[anythingbutsandy]

Thanks for the advice. I'm guess I'm going to have to abide by tough love if I reduce her to 1 bottle a day. She sure does let me know every morning & afternoon that it's time for HER BOTTLE!!! I guess it will be kind of the same way I let my 2 legged baby cry when I made her sleep in her own bed? And she has hay to graze on in her pen but she ignores it.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I am just reducing the amount I feed at each feeding. That way they still have the comfort of us going out and feeding them their bottles. We have one more week to go. I think for the last couple of days I will skip feedings.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Mine were used to me sticking a bottle in their faces as soon as they saw me. So I started weaning by setting down their bottles and giving them a handful of hay first and petting their heads. Then each day I did more chores before bottle. I Cut down to one btl a day for a week, so when it was time for that evening bottle we went for a walk instead. Back to the barn, evening chores, no one even missed bottle time. I cut off the morning bottle with little complaint from them. They got lots of grian and hay.

It's been a couple of weeks and they're just to the point where they don't try to suck my hands when I pet them. They're growing up