# How to feed a New Nigerian Buckling?



## Mandara Farm (Sep 12, 2010)

Hi Everyone!

We got our very first buckling! Yay! And... confusion is setting in about what to feed him. He's 8 weeks old and on a bottle twice a day right now with free choice grass hay, but I've been looking around the web and seeing that people feed their little bucks grain for the first year or two. Should I transition him to grain as we take him off the bottle? How long should he be on a bottle anyway? I was thinking we'd wean him totally off at 3 months, but is that too soon? And how much grain? What are good brands? Won't that cause urinary calculi to build up? Should I just ease off the bottle to grass hay only? Ok, you get the gist so I won't go on forevermore, though I could - lol. We love this little guy and want to make sure he's a healthy boy!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Offer alfalfa pellets. You can totally wean at 3 months.


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## LadySecret (Apr 20, 2013)

Lots of different ways to feed growing bottle kids. I'll tell you what works for me. I put water, grass hay, alfalfa hay and goat pellets out for them by 7 days old. They will only nibble at the food at this age but will slowly start to eat more and more solid foods. I feed the Dumor 18% protein goat pellet to my growing kids. My bottle kids also really love alfalfa pellets or cubes soaked in hot water. The hot water breaks them up and makes them soft for babies to nibble on. I like this because on days I have to work and they have to go 12 hours without a bottle, they stay hydrated better because of all the water from the soaked alfalfa pellets/cubes. (FYI soaked alfalfa pellets/cubes will mold in hot weather fairly quickly so I don't put out more than they will eat in 6 hours in summer.) Alfalfa pellets are too big for my kids to eat unless they are soaked first. If you don't want to mess with soaking, you can buy rabbit pellets instead. Rabbit pellets are usually mostly alfalfa. Check the label. Alfalfa should be the first ingredient and make sure the kind you buy doesn't have animal fat in its ingredient list. I have used Manna Pro Select Series PRO Rabbit Formula sold by Tractor Supply and was very happy with it. I don't use it any more because it's cheaper for me just to soak some of the alfalfa pellets I already buy for the rest of my goats.

Most will tell you not to wean before 3 months old but nigerian dwarfs are a fast maturing breed and you can wean by 8 weeks if you want but he'd probably grow better if you kept him on the bottle longer than that.


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## Mandara Farm (Sep 12, 2010)

Oh, thank the Lord! I was planning to wean at 3 months and I'm Soooo glad that's ok! I already have alfalfa pellets too! Yay!

Any recommendations on how much to offer? Free choice pellets, or is that too much?

Thanks, KSalvagno and Lady Secret!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You can start with offering half a cup. Increase if you see the need. Some people do offer it free choice.


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