When I started raising goats almost fifty years ago, the few books around recommended raising bottle baby kids. Now I let my does keep their kids and everyone is much happier.
There are times when raising bottle baby kids is unavoidable. The third of triplets, small kids, rejected kids, sick mothers are all reasons. And the bottles and nipples appear on the sink.
Supplies I Use
After trying several methods, I settled on one easy for me. I usually use lamb nipples, although the ones for a lamb bar are easier to put on a bottle, but harder for me to get locally.
Soda bottles work well. I prefer the 20 ounce size. If one gets too dirty or doesn’t work well, it’s easily replaced. Different brands have different shapes, so I can use one bottle every time for one kid marking it for the amount of milk.
There is a supply of frozen colostrum in my freezer replaced every kidding season.
Raising Bottle Baby Kids
I’ve used replacer, but prefer fresh goat milk. Newborns get colostrum for twelve hours.
Newborn kids don’t drink much at a time. I feed them often that first day or two, whenever the kid is hungry. Temperature is important for them, about 100 degrees.
Once a kid drinks six ounces at a time, it’s ready for a four times a day schedule. There was a time when I did this every six hours. Now I leave an eight hour gap at night so I can get some sleep.
Bigger kids eat more, up to eight ounces a time. Using fresh milk lets me feed as much as a kid wants each time.
Once the kid starts eating at around ten days old, the bottles of eight to ten ounces can show up three times a day. The kids are sleeping through the night so I generally do bottles at milking times and noon.
At about six weeks old a kid is ready for twice a day, twelve ounces a time. And so am I.
The Problem with Raising Bottle Baby Kids
Dam raised kids are friendly when handled a lot. Bottle babies are pets.
And I must sell all my kids now, even the bottle babies.
