# There has to be a better way...



## JearDOE Ranch (Aug 23, 2018)

We first bought ten pregnant nannies last January who kidded out shortly there-after. One nanny surprised us and had kids on the ground in the cold- we brought them inside to warm them up, both ended up fine. She took one back but not the other. We put her on the stand or I'd hold her to let her other little one nurse (4 Xs per day for four months). We had a C-section nanny in July and one this January. (We have since learned about taking further measures before taking them to our vet- we assumed they would exercise all avenues before going for a C-section, but that's another story..) I feel like I have spent 7 of the last 12 month with a kid glued to my hip like an infant. 

So, I now have a bottle baby.... again. What I did with the last one and what I should have done with this one is set up a pen inside from the get-go. This one has free range of the house. I slept on the couch to make sure I was there for 11 pm, 2 o'clock and 5 am bottle feedings. He cries when I leave his sight. He was a month old last week. I'm hoping to have him fully weened at three months (I know that's a little early but it did work well for the last one.)

I want to say we've learned enough that we will not be having any more bottle babies any time soon, but I'm also not ignorant to the fact things can always go wrong. Please tell me I'm doing this all wrong and there is an easier way!!! What's your bottle baby set up function like? I find myself wanting to buy a baby gate and play pen.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You can do the playpen or put diapers on.


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## Honey21 (Jan 26, 2014)

Depending on the reason I was bottle feeding I have always kept the kids with the mother and just set them on a schedule where I go out and feed. No mess and they stay with the herd learning to be a goat.


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

I use a dog play yard with a tarp under it hooked to a Great Dane size dog crate and it holds my ND doe and her triplets quite well. They go out during the day but this set up works well. We use pine shavings on top of the tarp changed daily completelyut we scoop wet spots right away.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

I post them on Craigslist for $40-$60

:heehee:

Sorry I know that's not the type of advice you are looking for. I've only raised one bottle kid all the way through, it's not for me, they don't integrate well in my herd and the work effort and cost put in isn't worth it for me. 

Mine stayed in the house for FAR too long. She slept in a large wire dog crate with pee pads next to my bed and I just kept a room temp bottle or two on my night stand. Putting her in the barn was so darn hard when it came time.


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

I think my wife is brain damaged, she looks for bottle babies.lol
We have two bottle baby lambs in diapers in the living room right now.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

Dwarf Dad said:


> I think my wife is brain damaged, she looks for bottle babies.lol
> We have two bottle baby lambs in diapers in the living room right now.
> View attachment 150841
> 
> View attachment 150843


But they are so beautiful!


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

We did the play pen for night and dipes durin the day. When it was warm enough for them to go out... they were three weeks old... out they went! But for a weekish we took them out a little longer every day. They got their own stall for a few days while the nosy nellies sniffed them out. Then they got to go in with everyone else. There are three of them. Now at five oclock feed they go into their stall til 8:30 feed. Then they go in with the other two kids who have been with mama. Mama goes into the main pen cause she gets milked of a mornin. The kids bein in with the other two has also helped them not be so skittish of us. The bottle babies learned quickly when to dart away from the big goats. But now they all are out in the pasture together and no problems. I have even seen my bottle babies snuggled up to the cow and other goats takin naps in the sunshines. 

Yea. At first they cry when you leave them. But just keep walkin. They will settle down pretty quick. After bout three days as soon as the light quit shinin so they could see it they were done. Now they dont even make a peep. They get their last bottle in their stall and walk to the other stall where their friends are and done. In the mornin they are all tellin me bout the dramas of the night lol!


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

Dwarf Dad said:


> I think my wife is brain damaged, she looks for bottle babies.lol
> We have two bottle baby lambs in diapers in the living room right now.
> View attachment 150841
> 
> View attachment 150843


Too cute!


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Ours stay in the house in an exercise pen in our living room for about a week. Until they are solidly established on the bottle. Then they go out with the rest of the goats. They transition just fine. They know the times for their bottles and see us coming and get ready by sticking their heads through the fence and waiting patiently for the bottle.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

Jubillee said:


> Ours stay in the house in an exercise pen in our living room for about a week. Until they are solidly established on the bottle. Then they go out with the rest of the goats. They transition just fine. They know the times for their bottles and see us coming and get ready by sticking their heads through the fence and waiting patiently for the bottle.


What is this... patiently waitin in the fence.... thing? Is it a new phenonemon? Lol! Ours see me comin amd are all tails a d ears flappin in the wind of them runnin amok to see who gets to me first. Lol! It IS adorable but holy cow there is no patient bout it.


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## JearDOE Ranch (Aug 23, 2018)

Honey21 said:


> Depending on the reason I was bottle feeding I have always kept the kids with the mother and just set them on a schedule where I go out and feed. No mess and they stay with the herd learning to be a goat.


How many times per day doing it this way do you go bottle feed? do you go at night?


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## JearDOE Ranch (Aug 23, 2018)

SalteyLove said:


> I post them on Craigslist for $40-$60
> 
> :heehee:
> 
> Sorry I know that's not the type of advice you are looking for....


Hmmm... that's actually NOT a bad idea. Maybe I can sell to Dwarfdad's wife? ha ha ha, just kidding! (Unless he wants him...) We plan on selling this one anyways.


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## JearDOE Ranch (Aug 23, 2018)

Dwarf Dad said:


> I think my wife is brain damaged, she looks for bottle babies.lol
> We have two bottle baby lambs in diapers in the living room right now.


Too sweet! your wife is an angel. And there is no way on God's green earth I'd ever sign up for that!!! Bless her!


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

We keep ours in the garage in a little dog pen. I only get up at night with them the very first night. Of course, we kid later than most folks (May, this year) and I have only had a needy kid once. I did get up with him for 2 nights... We let them play outside with supervision until they are about 2 weeks old. Then, assuming they are all strong and healthy, we move them out to their own little pen and shelter. Although we bring them back to the garage at night if the temps get lower than I like.


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## JearDOE Ranch (Aug 23, 2018)

It's been high's in the upper 30's here until this week. Yesterday is the first day I took him out to the herd because it's been a muddy slop. I'll take him again today. Thank you everyone for the suggestions, I surely will be implementing more than one into my routine if this happens again. _*Y'all have also reassured me that our situation both times I had to bring them in were special, and I'm not making it harder than it had to be, thank you.* _ The one last July was on death's door for two solid weeks after his birth; took him four days from birth to even stand (now I cannot wait to show him!!! He's one of our best looking goats!) And the one now took two days to stand, was blind (that cleared up) and had to fight joint illness- still has one back leg that doesn't work correctly, but he has learned how to run three legged and he can get after it pretty good! He is starting to use his forth leg, but is only putting weight on it to walk now.


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## NigerianNewbie (Jun 6, 2018)

:coolmoves::goodjob:


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## Honey21 (Jan 26, 2014)

JearDOE Ranch said:


> How many times per day doing it this way do you go bottle feed? do you go at night?


The first few days I'm out at least 5 times. The older they get the less I go out. They usually get on a schedule of morning lunch mid afternoon and bedtime feeding. But I've only had to pull because mom a wasn't making enough milk. So they were getting moms milk( or what she produced at night).


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## Honey21 (Jan 26, 2014)

Good:great:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Good work.


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## Robinsonfarm (Jul 17, 2015)

All my bottle babies stay in the barn from the start, for me I would prefer to go out in the middle of the night to feed them instead of having them inside. You have to find what works for you. 
From wake up to back to sleep is about 20 minutes for me, bottles are premade in the fridge and I have two human bottle warms, drop the bottles in there and they take about 3 -5 minutes to warm up. Off to feed and back to bed. Its been a few years since I've had bottle babies, but Im feeding some for some friends this year. 
The bottle warmers have been a lifeaver, pop them in with a thermometer in the top to watch temperature. Super quick.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Mine come in the house for the first week or so. They live in a large dog crate but are let out to run throughout the house. I pull all the doe kids and those bucklings that may be sire material and bottle raise them.

I have a pen set up for them in the barn. I make sure there are at least 3 kids when I put them out, to keep each other warm. I feed 4 times a day


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## WhiteFeatherFarms (Jun 29, 2017)

If I had a bottle baby again I would try my best to leave her with the herd & go out to feed as needed. I love, like a child love, my bottle baby Dalilah, but it definitely took her a while to understand that she's a goat & not my baby!! It was so much work to keep my house clean, keep her in diapers, whew, I still think back at how exhausted I was!! All that being said, when I see pics of those babes snuggled on the couch, I think back to her cuddles & it was so much love!!! Anyway, if at all possible, keep them with the herd is my advice bc she really did struggle with learning how to be a goat


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## Mmhyronimus (Sep 8, 2017)

So this is/was my part time winter set up. They were let out into my entry way during the day while I was home. Then they started jumping both the small pen and the baby gate, hence the top extension in the 2nd photo. The only reason I kept these bottle kids inside is that it was -10F or lower and I was afraid they would freeze. (My barn is only about 15 degrees warmer than outside. Once it got to above freezing during the day, they went outside during the day. Now that it is above freezing during the night as well, they are outside in the barn full time. They went outside full time at about 3 weeks old. Now I just bring the bottles to them out in the barn. 
My last 2 sets of bottle kids stayed in the barn full time last fall. It was still warm and I didn't worry about them freezing. It's easier to keep them outside since that is where they will live full time.


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