# Bottle feeding vs dam raising



## tbrice (Dec 1, 2013)

Hello I want to get some opinions on Bottle feeding/ dam raising kids I have my first doe due this spring and we will be raising these goats for dairy and show To sell I would like to bottle feed I enjoyed when my mom has bottle raised but is there some big cons I need to consider and also I am a stay at home mom so I will have more then enough time to do it but just want to do some research before hand lol thank you so much


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## Pats_Perfect_Boer_Goats (Oct 24, 2013)

Cons of bottle feeding:

- Labor
- Labor
- Labor
- I've also noticed that if you decide to dam raise later, the does will have "lost" some of their maternal instincts and may not take the kids as their own again.

Pros of bottle feeding:

- Usually they are friendlier; they take you as their "mom", so to speak. This is not always the case, but it's what I've found to be the biggest difference.

Cons of dam raised:

- Sometimes the mom will reject a baby; therefore, you may have to bottle feed anyway. Most of the time this doesn't happen, but it can on rare occasion.

Pros of dam raised:

- It is much, much less labor for you.
- The goats get to bond as a family.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

What breed? Its my understanding that a lot of dairy folks bottle feed.
Meat goats we tend to let dams feed their own kids.


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## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

I bottle feed all my babies as I really like how they turn out beside the dam raised I have Babies ready to be handled and easy to milk by the time they are 6 months old you can do anything with my bottle fed babies now the dam raised i have a little trouble with they don't seem to be as tame but a problem with bottle fed are that they sometimes get too tame like my son's she seem to think she's a puppy feet on your clothes and everything else she still chews on me when i go out there and she's almost a year old


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Bottle babies are SUPER friendly and view you as their mom. This bond lasts their whole life. It's a fun pastime if you have the time and willingness to do it. It also helps prevent the spread of CAE THROUGH colostrum.

On the other hand, it's a lot easier to just let the mom do her thing, and its fun to watch nature take its course as the baby eat, grows, and bonds with its mom.if you spend time with them, the baby will be just as friendly but not pushy and crying all the time like a bottle brat.
Doelings that are dam raised are more likely to be good moms to their kids.
So, it's up to you what you want to do. There are pros and cons to each side.
I prefer dam raised, but everyone has their preferences.
You'll have to find out what works best for you......


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## tbrice (Dec 1, 2013)

nancy d said:


> What breed? Its my understanding that a lot of dairy folks bottle feed.
> Meat goats we tend to let dams feed their own kids.


Sorry forgot to put the breed the babies are Nigerian dwarfs and will hopefully be double registered I have noticed that Wish (the doe) was suposta be bottle fed and she is really take but my mini Lamancha was dam raised and she is not as tame she still walks on a lead fine but you have to catch her to brush and pet and handle


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

I've had dam raised kids that are plenty friendly, you just need to make sure you spend lots of time with the babies as they grow. I like that they aren't as pushy and needy as bottle babies - I recently kept a friend's bottle baby for a few weeks who was just past weaning and she drove me NUTS!


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## tbrice (Dec 1, 2013)

Oh and we live in a rented house and have community corals so our animals are a 10 min drive away but hubby and have descussed that if we choose to bottle feed we will bring them home and have them here if they are out at the corrals it maybe more hard to be checking on them often we would just be feeding and milking in the am and pm


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## tbrice (Dec 1, 2013)

So I guess we may lean more towards bottle feeding just so I know we can keep an eye on them and keep them friendly mother registered name in both NDGA and AGS is WhiteTankMinis Mother's Day Wish. Father of the babies is in the middle of being registered and we are naming him Twisted Jax or SOA Jax not sure what his breeders herd name is though






this is Jax I'll get a good photo of mom later lol


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## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

I prefer dam raising. 

I have done both bottle feeding and had dam raised goats and I really prefer my dam raised girls. Now don't get my wrong. I love the bottle babies , but they're 10x louder than any of my dam raised girls, I'm still having to go through the hassle of teaching them not to jump in me all the time, and I just feel bad they've never had a mom. Not to mention it has been a huge pain to start teaching them to be set up for shows because they're always trying to stare at my hand and jump on me. I've never had any problems like that with my dam raised babies.

I feel that the goats love their babies and unless I have to pull them I'd rather not. My dam raised girls are JUST as friendly as bottle babies and I prefer their kind of friendly because it's respectful and not so "Oh my gosh surround the human, she may have a bottle". I respect that people say bottle babies are "friendlier" but I don't think they view me as mom or their best friend but as a source of milk. That's just my opinion.. 

I respect people that bottle feed. CAE prevention or running a huge breeding program or dairy that you need the kids off mom. There are more than a few valid reasons.  But, taking them off mom just to make them friendlier I think is a bit silly. They go through all that work with the babies just to have them taken away. 

Either way to each there own. Everyone has their ideas and only the person running their herd can judge what's right for it.  that's just my 2 cents.


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

I agree with the above post. I guess my motto is "why do more work than you have to?" If the mom is cae free, doesn't reject her kids, and has enough milk for all of them, I let them do what nature intended them to do.
Bottle feeding is like 10x more work, and its done mostly for friendlier babies, though in most situations you can get dam raised kids just as friendly minus the trouble .
I see bottle feeding as an emergency measure( rejected kid, sick/dead mom),
Or a hobby for the goat lover with a lot of time on their hands and wants them exclusively for pets......
Just my 2 cents.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

It still always comes down to what works best for your farm.


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## tbrice (Dec 1, 2013)

Hmm well thank you all it looks like we will have to see closer to time and see what my gut tells me and keep researching. If you do dam raising how do you milk with the kids nursing? Can you even?? We only currently have two pens and three goats a buck and 2 does will her and the babies need to be sperated from the other doe?? And won't her milk start really dropping as they are weaned


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Wait until they're at least two weeks old, then you can start separating them for part of the day and milk before you put them back together. I start with 3-4 hours and gradually increase to 12 hours; leave them on half the day until weaning. Mom can stay with the other does but you need a place to keep the kids during this time. I like to make sure they have hay and grain while they're separated too.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

tbrice said:


> And won't her milk start really dropping as they are weaned


As a person who doesn't really like to milk very much, my answer to your question is, "I wish". I'm down to only one dairy doe, but I had two last year and after weaning the kids at three months, both does were producing over a gallon a day. My Saanen doe Blanch, more like 1 1/2 gallons. I would call that peak production. These were does that appeared to have empty udders while their babies were still on them. It's amazing how much those older kids can and do drink.


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## tbrice (Dec 1, 2013)

Thank you guys for the all the info it's all very helpful!


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I only have one season and two kids under my belt, but I love the way I did it last year and will do it again for several reasons. My does tested negative for CAE, so I felt safe dam-raising the kids. I watched my friend and "goat mentor" bottle raise kids for years and it seems like that's all she does come spring. Too much work for me! 

I also helped her pull kids from their dams and I couldn't go through that heartbreak with my own goats. Most goats love their babies, and taking them away is, for me, something only to do if necessary. Delivering kids is difficult and painful, and to take away the only thing that makes it all worthwhile for the mother is something I just can't do without extenuating circumstances. Maybe with more experience I could get over this, but not now, and not with my sweet mamas who both adored their babies. I know that sounds sappy and sentimental, but it's important to me. 

My dam-raised kids are as friendly as any bottle babies. If you take the time to handle and play and bond with them, they will love you and you'll still be teaching them not to jump on you and chew your hair. Interestingly, my least people-oriented goat is the only one that was completely bottle-raised. The others were all dam-raised or switched to a bottle later on. Some of it may come down to their own unique personality. 

The other reason I was pleased with dam raising is that the kids ended up so big and healthy. They are much better grown-out than my friends' bottle babies or any of the other kids we saw at the dairy shows we attended last year. Judges and competitors kept double-checking with us that we were in the right division, because even though ours were junior kids, they looked like they belonged in intermediate or even the senior class! It helps that they were singles from excellent milk producers. At only seven months, the amount of "bone" on these doe kids already exceeds that of their mothers. 

I understand why people bottle raise for CAE prevention, if they need more milk, or to make it easier to sell kids early. But dam-raising worked well for me, and I love that I got to watch moms and babies play together. I still got nearly a gallon of milk per day from my two goats just from once-a-day milking, and I never pulled the babies to let mamas bag up a bit. Of course, with twins or triplets I'd probably have to do things a little differently so there is milk left for me!


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