# raising bottle babies



## DRJ Ranch (Apr 3, 2010)

I have an idea I have been tossing around in my head. With kidding season upon us in some areas I have been thinking of trying to pick up some bottle babies (goats, cows or sheep) at the cheapest price possible then getting them off the bottle and on to grass as fast as possible which I currently have a surplus of hay in my barn and hay season is up coming also. 

Once I get some wait on them selling at the local auction. Has any of you attempted this and was it feasible and worth your time and effort?


I think I could turn in a profit depending on survivability of the kids since I have enough grazing room and enough hay which cost me about one dollar and fifty cents to produce in the barn to make a little cash off them.

anybody got some pro's and con's for me.


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## Shelly Borg (Nov 2, 2009)

Hello your just down the road from me. We are looking at bottle baby raising and selling also. The biggest problem we are seeing is in milk supplies. Keeping them healthy is also a problem. When you have high numbers of stock from lots of different herds there is a lot of sicknesses coming in. We thought about keeping different pens for the first couple weeks may help.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

kids need to be on the bottle for no less then 8 weeks -- so figure that into your cost


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## DRJ Ranch (Apr 3, 2010)

I would have them separated from my breeding stock for awhile probably until they our off the bottle and longer if need be.

I’m wondering the break down on how long a bag of milk would last the babies seems like the purchase of the kids and the bags of milk would be my biggest cost. If I had a bag here in front of me I could probably break down how much it cost to make 20oz of milk per feeding. Using 20 oz as an estimate would determine how long a bag would last.

Anybody know how much powder it takes to make 20 oz of milk ?


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I know I raised two dairy goats for 21/2+ months on one 50lb bag of milk replacer


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