Weaning Bottle Babies

[BYFarmer]

Hello. I have two pygmy bucks(wethers now) that will be 8 weeks tomorrow. I've had them since 2weeks since mama abandoned, and these are our only goats. They are still eating two bottles a day, 20 oz. each. They are eating some grain and foraging a lot on tree branches, etc. When and how do I start cutting these guys back more....they seem to really still need these two bottles a day, am and evening? I've heard some say they can be weaned at 8weeks and others say 12 weeks. I'm trying to guage it by them too. Any advice or info would be appreciated. TIA!!!

 

[Roll farms]

I usually feed ours 3 - 20 oz bottles until 8 weeks, then they go to 2 - 20 oz bottles for 2 weeks, then 1 - 20 oz bottle for 2 weeks, then at 12 weeks they get no bottle.

You might cut them back to 2-15 oz bottles for a week, then 2- 10 oz bottles for a week, then 1 10 oz bottle for a week, then nothing.

Just keep an eye on their grain / hay / browse intake and make sure they're getting enough to cover the 'loss' of the milk.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I usually start weaning my bottle babies at 7 weeks, and by 8 weeks they're totally weaned. For example, this year with my bottle kids I had been feeding them 3 18 oz bottles per day. On the first day of the 7th week I cut down to 2 bottles per day (about 12 oz each). Then two days later I cut down to two 6 oz bottles per day. Then I fed 4 oz for a day or two and then stopped feeding. They were already grazing really well and eating grain and hay, so they did fine.

It's really a personal thing. Wean the way it works best for you. Some feed longer, some don't.

 

[haviris]

I wean around 12 weeks, I'd just stick w/ the two bottles aday until then, and then slowly lessen the amount in the bottle for each feeding, or you can go cold turkey. It's easier when all bottle babies are weaning together, mine are more staggered, have one fully weaned, working on two, and the other will still get a bottle for awhile, I plan to keep my calf on a bottle for another 3 months. Harder to wean when they still see a bottle coming out each day.