# Has anyone else bottle fed



## lori (Mar 16, 2010)

the breeded i bought my goats from told me to bottle feed- especially if my daughter wants to do 4h with them. ella gave birth two a buck and doe. she is my quiet easy going goat and she is out in the barn crying. I feel horrible. Any input either way would be appreciated


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I don't bottle feed, but was wondering if your daughter will be showing Ella? Most who show does in milk will bottle feed her kids to keep the udder even...if she's going to show the kids the only reason I can think of to bottlefeed is because the kids need to be manageable...IDK?


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

here are some good topics to read.

Dam or bottle raising topics

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11063&hilit=dam+raised+bottle+raised

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10181&hilit=dam+raised+bottle+raised

personality of bottle raised vs dam raised

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7584&hilit=dam+raised+bottle+raised

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7351&hilit=dam+raised+bottle+raised

in short - if you need mom in milk to show then just separate the kids at night and milk mom in the morning. If you want friendly kids -- well just spend a couple hours a day playing with them and they will be friendly as any bottle baby without the obnoxious behavior bottle babies have.


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

:thumbup: And a happier mama too!


----------



## lori (Mar 16, 2010)

More then likely we will start by showing Ella but eventually we may want to show her doe. The breeded told me if I do not bottle feed her then she will not be controllable for showing. I was also told it was a way to keep CAE from your herd. All i know is that i'm listening to the baby monitor and she has been crying for the last two hours. I just went out for a little while with her and she was nibbling on my hair and nuzzling me more then usual.


----------



## lori (Mar 16, 2010)

So do you mean leave the kids during the day and take them out at night? Should i bring them to her now so she can lay with them for awhile. What do you mean by obnoxious bottle fed kids?


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

well for CAE prevention you need to feed the baby formula or heat treated milk from mom (you heat the milk up to a certain temp and then you cool it down). 

I do neither and I show my kids and my dams with no problems.


To answer your questions --- did you read the links I provided? that will give you all the info you need on bottle feeding verse dam raising and their behavior tendencies. There are "arguments" for both. SO you will get an idea of what you would like best.


once the kids are 2-4 weeks old I start putting them in a separate stall or I put them in a open dog cage at night. I then milk mom out and then let the kids nurse all day till I lock them up at night. Again this is all outlined in the links i provided to you.

I really suggest you read those links


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

If you are doing this to ensure CAE free kids...you cannot let the kids nurse from mom AT ALL , you need to heat treat the colostrum and bottle feed them.
Also, bottle feeding to ensure the kids are controllable isn't fool proof, it's the time spent with them to have them bond to you that makes them behave.



Bottle babies tend to see you as the food source and will continually think you have food for them each time they see you....some are good and some are just pains in the rear.


----------



## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

I have a dam raised 2 year old whom I got at 4 months. I spent a lot of time just sitting out in the pen with her as she was wild as the proverbial march hare. She is not a royal pain in the behind and most people think she was bottle fed from birth. She is friendly and very controllable. She walks on a lead, stands while I tend to her feet, coat, udder and what ever else I need to do. I needed to check her mouth and she held it open while I removed her cud, didn't even attempt to bite me.

Bottles do not a friendly kid make, time and attention do.


----------



## Shelly Borg (Nov 2, 2009)

Mom will stop crying after a couple days. All of my girls but two are bottle raised. The two are nice but just goats. My bottle girls are loving pets. My sons bottle weather loves to sleep next to him when the are together. You will not regret hand raising them.


----------



## 4kids (Jul 21, 2009)

We have done both an although I prefer one over the other I think you should know all the facts to make a decission. Bottle feeding is a lot of work. You have to be available 4x a day to give a bottle esp when they are young. Bottle babies (in my experience) also start yelling when they see me (a happy yell, with tag waving but LOUD) because they think I am going to feed them. I could be just going to the mailbox. Hence, we have a few LOUD goats here. Doe raising is easy- other than monitoring it you don't really have to do much except play with the kids.


----------



## 7acreranch (Mar 8, 2010)

We had a doe kid out in March and abandoned the kids so my boys decided to bottle feed them, we also keep them inside because of the weather. They rearranged their schedules so they could feed at night they did the middle of the night and early morning feedings before school. For a while they had to go milk momma at midnight before feeding and it was freezing out. They may show these twins. They are back outside although their mom never accepted them she will feed if we hold her. It was a character building experience for the boys and also a lesson in being a parent LOL. The kids come a running for us whenever we are out side.


----------



## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

lori said:


> The breeded told me if I do not bottle feed her then she will not be controllable for showing.


 I hate to totally disagree with your breeder, but I NEVER bottle feed unless I have to. I have only bottle fed 1 goats in 9 years, and LOTS of babies, we show our goats, and they all walk on leads and show just fine.

Maybe if you never ever touch the goat it will not show well, but if you are in the pen and spending time with them, they will be just fine.

I am sorry, but that was a really dumb statement from the breeder.


----------



## lori (Mar 16, 2010)

well after reading everything i followed my instinct and brought the kids down to mama today. i thought that she was crying for them but now it seems that she is actually crying for me. As soon as i leave she starts crying. is the bonding process a mess now?


----------



## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

No you are fine. She just LOOOVVVVVEEEEESSSSSSS you. :ROFL:


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

With seeing such a difference in growth between "bottle babies" and those raised by their mom's , IF I ever had to make a choice between the 2, mom will always raise their babies....if you notice, babies from birth to just over a week old nurse very often, like every 15-20 minutes..it may just be a few ounces at a time but moms seem to know how often is enough....obviously we humans simply cannot mimick the way a doe feeds her kids, we can provide similar nutrition but who actually has the time to feed babies the way their mom would? Giving more milk than what they should have 4-5 times a day just isn't natural to me, I will supplement a bottle if needed but as far as raising a kid on a bottle, I would only do that if mom wasn't able.
I hope that Ella has taken her babies back...and yes, her calling out to you is normal.


----------



## lori (Mar 16, 2010)

I'm so torn - because the doe really never took to the bottle nipple last night she was able to take to Ella's teet very quickly. The buck on the other hand refuses it, even when he is clearly hungry. I have even tried opening his mouth and squiring milk from her teet in it. I'm afraid to leave them out there the whole night so i'm going to bring them in when it gets dark. But .... Ella will not stop crying - as soon as i leave the barn she wails like someone has taken her best friend. I don't understand - she has her babies and she only wailed like that when i first brought her home????


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

if you were there when she kidded then she bonded with you and accepts you as one of her kids. Mine do it too. 

if the boy wont take the teat it sounds like you have a bottle baby on your hands for keeps now. You can leave him with mom during the day but you will need to go out and feed him unless you see him nursing. 

Boys take SO much longer to figure out the teat thing


----------



## lori (Mar 16, 2010)

okay i don't mind bottle feeding him i just was afraid it meant she might reject him. thanks - nice when you can hear similar stories.


----------



## trailriding2dressage (Mar 25, 2010)

My buck and whether were bottle fed and are great! I love them to death!!

It just depends on what your needs are....we breed because we need the milk to drink...so we're going to be bottle raising these kids, A. Because we need the milk, and B. I can get rid of them asap, with out having to wean them from mama....yeah I'm going to feel bad taking the kids away, but after a day or so the mom will stop maaaing......I don't know why so many people "HATE, LOATH" bottle baby's....I've never had trouble with them....
And as for the "they don't know how to be a goat" this will only happen it they aren't raised with other kids.....(my buck and whether are half brothers, and were raised together)

onder: I think all goats can be naughty and annoying...saying "bottle babies are bad" is like saying "all pit bulls are evil"

Just my thoughts :shrug:


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

alright - dont make this into a war 

you can have your opinion but dont go off and say that someone else is wrong


----------

