I have two 3 week old goats, I don't think the mother has enough milk for them. Can I give them regular milk or do I have to use some kind of replacer. Also when can they start eating grain and be weaned? Thanks Ronya

p.s. She is the only one fresh at this time.

-- Ronya Hammnds (surenuffbusted@juno.com), February 02, 2002

Answers

Ronya,

No problem with "store bought" milk. You will find that it is not cost effective, but it will work just fine.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), February 02, 2002.

Hi Ronya, Is mom getting plenty of hay and increased grain to be able to make sufficient milk?? If the kids have been nursing from her all of this time, it may be hard to get them to take a bottle now, but I suppose it's worth trying. Whole (cow's) milk from the store usually works well without the threat of diarrhea in most cases, as compared to replacer, but keep an eye on that, for sure, if they do take to the supplementing. Three weeks is definately too early to wean, but certainly they can be offered some grain and hay to start nibbling on by this time. Also deworming and coccidia-preventative would be appropriate at this age. Good luck with them :)patty Prairie Oak Miniatures http://www.minifarm.com/prairie_oak visit our message board! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Littlegoats moderator

-- Patty Putnam (WI) (littlegoats@wi.rr.com), February 02, 2002.

Hi,

When our last doe died giving birth (she had a c-section at the vet's) but died anyway, we had an orphan kid and no milk. We milked out a little colostrum from doe, then had a choice of trying to feed cow's milk, milk replacer or goat's milk in the can at the grocery store. Well, we chose using the goats milk from Myerburg in the can at the grocery store. Little buck did just great, grew and thrived on it even though it was pasturized. But boy did it cost. One can was $2.49 and it made a quart I believe (you add one can water to one can milk). I am not sure if we just got lucky on this baby or not, but it did work. by the way, my Mom fed this little baby every 2-3 hours a couple of ounces round the clock. He followed her around her house just like a puppy! Gradually he went longer without the bottle, but even after he was grown he'd look for the bottle!

They sure are cute though. Good luck.

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), February 02, 2002.

We have five that are 2 to 3 weeks old, doelings whom are going on straight cows milk from the grocery store tommorrow. I just sold all 3 milkers I brokered so leaves me without milk until my does kid in March. The replacers are more expensive, and if you read the directions on Purina Kid Milk Replacer it wants you to feed them 8 ounce 2 or 3 times a day to make them eat grain sooner. Yeah! Its because if you feed them more than 8 ounces the whey will give them scours! :) Go for the grocery store milk!

I start putting some grain out at 3 weeks old, they are nibbling hay and eating leaves already. I sit and run my fingers through the grain and they come over to see what MOM is doing. In a more natural setting put your grain feeders low enough so their own mom can teach them. Biggy is to not wean early, they need the calcium from the milk to grow. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 02, 2002.

Where are you located? I have tons of milk that I am having to feed to the dogs.

-- Bear (Barelyknow@aol.com), February 02, 2002.

You can use the following and it will be fine for them. Mix together: 1 gallon whole cow's milk (from the store), 1 can evaporated milk and 1 cup butter milk. This was posted on another list and have a friend that had to use it, plus I supplemented what goat milk I was getting with it. The kids have been healthy and grown just fine.

-- Leslie in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 02, 2002.

I don't know what's in those cartons of goat milk in the supermarket, but they sure don't look or smell like what comes out of a goat! I didn't have the guts to taste it! -G-

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), February 03, 2002.

We have had to bottle feed quite a few boar goats who just weren't thriving right away. The does were impregnated at the wrong time, so we have had two winter seasons of kids. we've lost a few sice my husband couldn't tell that the does were close to delivery, and didn't put them inside. They lost their babies due to the cold. We put propane heaters and heat lamps on them right away. We've put kids on top of a wood stove and by heat vents to warm them up. We've even slept with them in our arms. It's awful to wake up and find the baby dead, fortunately, this hasn't happened often. Some appeared to have pneumonia and just wouldn't thrive. We are reading often to find out why we've had these loses.

We have had success bottle feeding with evaporated milk diluted with pure well water. The kids also try to eat hay after a couple of weeks. We do put them back in with their moms as soon as they appear to be thriving, within a day or two. We sometimes even supplement if they don't appear to be getting enough from their moms. We haven't had any problem with them going back to their moms teats.

We have had success with orphaning. A new mom who had lost one of her two kids accepted a kid from another doe who we think became traumatised and wasn't able to be a good mom. It took a little while, but the orphan did not go hungry and her new step-sister doesn't mind sharing. They act like sisters now.

Lastly, we have a doe who had two kids, but one of them was quite undernourished. We decided to give her healthy baby to some friends to see if the tinier one would gain weight. She did, and her brother now enjoys an unusual life. He is bottle fed, sleeps in their basement, lives in the house when they are home without accidents, sleeps in their arms and lounges like a dog. It is also quite affectionate as it nuzzles at their face and ears. They put it outside to do his business and then he comes back in. these friends also have two pigmy goats that roam around their house, jump up to look into a picture window as though they're looking into a people acquarium, and will walk in the house if you let it.

We own 38 boar goats, 3 donkeys for protection, 2 head of steer that are penned in with the goats and one donkey. We have many coyotes here in Southern Wisconsin. We haven't lost any to coyote yet! I could go on and on about our hobby farm that doesn't make us any money yet, although we are starting to search the market to sell some of them, and brings us and our 2 children lots of therapy and laughs. Feel free to e-mail us and trade stories, advice, etc.

-- Cheri Jacobson (jakeco@mhtc.net), February 08, 2002.

Every goat book that I have including my vet book does not recommend giving cow's milk to goats. It does not have the recommended vitamins, minerals or nutrients & can give them scours so bad they could die. The only milk I give mine is Purina milk replacer for kids & lambs only. I don't use the ones for every pet. I am throwing away cow's milk that I have excess of because I know it isn't enough for the kids. Once you choose a milk don't change in midstream or the scours may occur. I haven't had scours or anything but healthy kids.SD

-- susan dunn (sld5825@comteck.com), February 08, 2002.

Hi Susan, which vet text? If you are afraid your cows milk is to rich than heat it, add some rennet to it, scoop out the milk solids and feed the whey to the goats, with some vitamins added. That is exactly the ingredient in Purina Kid Milk replacer.

If I had acess to whole cows milk than I would decream it and feed it to my kids, we have used vitamin D grocery store milk many times, it is the only product we recommend when somebody purchases a kid from us and they don't have goats milk. To throw away a wonderful farm fresh product like your cows milk to feed something synthetic, Purina is whey and about 15 vitamins and minerals added, isn't good ecomonic sense. There are probably hundreds of testimonials on the benefits of feeding cows milk or grocery store milk over replacer on all the goat lists! But of course goat milk is the best, and my 5 little ones (3 purchased and 2 on doe kid back programs) will be very happy when the does start kidding in March! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 09, 2002.

"Bullhockey" I know several bredders and meat goat producers that have used cowsmilk from the store successfully. I even had to use it in Nov of 2000 when we had a group of 5 does have double kiddings. The does kiddded 2 times that yr, their milk production was down, so we had to supplement with something. I do not like to use replacer unless I really have to. I have heard so many horror stories about goats bloating and dieing from replacer. there are only 2 replacers I would suggest, Land O Lakes and the new replacer at www.springbriar.com made specifically for goats.

Many breeders who practice CAE prevention use cows milk if they can't get goats milk for whatever reason.

Replacer also causes scours. But a litle Immuno-G or ID-1 should help that, we started using it 3 yrs ago, no scours, healthy kids and can drink as much as they can without scours.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 09, 2002.