I just had my first babies born on Monday! The smallest one weighed 4lbs 5oz and the biggest one was 7lbs 7 oz. My question is this, how much should they be eating at one feeding? i have been giving the samller one's 5 to 6 oz three times a day and the bigger ones just an oz more. I feel like i'm starving them, some of them seem satisfied with that but then some aren't. I'v heard awful things about overfeeding babies, that you can lose them quickly if they start to scour. So how much can i feed them at one time? can i let them eat until they don't want anymore?? They are all strong and healthy but they just seem hungry all the time! thanks :)

-- Susan (dsowen@tds.net), March 14, 2002

Answers

It has been our practice to feed as much as they want up until they are more than a month old and on a twice per day feeding. At any time that they consume 1 quart per feeding, that's all they get. We have had no problem with scours when feeding goat milk this way. We did have some trouble when mixing goat milk and milk replacer, but watering down the replacer a bit fixed that problem.

-- Dianne Wood (woodgoat@pacifier.com), March 14, 2002.

Susan depends upon if these are full size goats or pygmy/nigerians. Depends upon if you are feeding goats milk or replacer. You do actually starve them on replacer because you want them eating grain and hay. You can nearly full feed on goat milk, wanting the opposite, them on full milk to grow well, then slowly introducing hay and grain. On goats milk my Nubian kids get a 16 ounce bottle for the first couple days, offered 4 times a day, and they can drink as much as they want. At 3 or 4 days old most are on the lambar, getting as much milk 3 times a day as they want. This is goat milk though and large breed goats. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

I had two babies born on March 3. Didn't realize that they were not nursing until 20 hrs later. By that time the weaker of the two was so weak. My neighbor (a goat lady) told me to mix a cup of formula (1/2 cup of milk replacer, 1/2 cup half & half, 1 egg yolk and a dash of Karo syrup). This was fed every 2 hours the first 2 days. The weaker died, unfortunately. On the 3rd day I started feeding every 4 hrs. On day 7 I started feeding morning (6 am), noon and night (6 pm). By that time the baby was sufficiently strong and had only a touch of the scours. On day 11 the baby started nursing on its own, from the mommy.

The trouble with the nanny turned out to be that the babies were so weak that they could not pull the wax plug out of the udders. We stripped the plug out the first day and every day after stripped the teats to make sure the milk was flowing. I think the udder was so full that the baby couldn't get its mouth over it. Mommy has slimmed down a little now (by cutting back on the feed) and the baby was able to nurse.

Hope this helps you. This was our first experience with problems. Our other goats just did their own thing. I know how frustrating it can be.

-- Carole Kington (kington@duo-county.com), March 14, 2002.

I put in each bottle of formula for my lambs and kids 1 tbsp.of apple cider vinegar .I think it helps to keep them from scouring.Kids are like real kids in that some you can satisfy and others not. Good luck, Terry

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), March 14, 2002.