Bottle Feeding Baby Goats Whole Milk
Mix gently each time before making up a bottle.
Bottle feeding baby goats whole milk. The american fainting goat association recommends several different homemade formulas based on the kid s age. If you do not we recommend whole cow s milk. What to feed a baby goat. This will be a 4 day feeding process.
Goats milk is obviously the best choice to bottle feed if you have it. Feed this mixture every two hours for the kid s initial few days at 0 5 to 2 ounces at each feeding. You want the baby to get that within the first two hours of life and every 4 6 hours the first 24 hours of life. If you have a mother goat that has too much colostrum milk her and freeze it.
For the first two to four weeks we give bottles at about 7 a m noon 5 p m and 10 p m. I personally find that it s easier to use there are less steps and thus less chance of making a mistake plus it s quite a bit cheaper in the long run. This can come from either your own farm if you have a milk cow or just from the grocery story. I recommend that all people new to bottle feeding use the powdered milk replacer.
If a goat specific milk replacer isn t available in your area then you may want to try the goat milk replacer recipe below. The first involves mixing 3 quarts of whole cow s milk 1 can of goat s milk 1 cup plain whole yogurt and 1 cup heavy cream. If it s store bought just be sure it is whole milk. Some people try to get kids down to only two bottles as soon as possible but in my experience baby goats are more likely to get diarrhea when given too much milk at a single feeding.
Day 1 use this exclusively in all bottles day 2 give 1 2 this solution and half milk regular whole cows milk from the grocer day 3 give 2 3 milk and 1 3 this solution day 4 give all whole milk. Either way that baby goat still needs milk and colostrum. We do not recommend milk replacer. We don t usually get kids down to less than three bottles ever.