Now I need help.
I don't want to over feed them and I don't want to feed every minute. For 3 pound plus babies what is the amount they should have? How often during the waking hours? Right now I have bee taking them into Mama and distracting her so they can feed. One she has no problem but the other she acts like it isn't hers and has gone so far as toss her in the air.
I am milking her when I go out morning and evening to do chores so they have gotten the colostrum they need and she will keep up enough milk for quad feeding even if I am doing some of the work. All four are looking great but mama has "no go" to managing all four. I have two separated so the rejected one is not alone.
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All is going well with the two bottle babies. Only one is never allowed to feed from Mama (she is pushed away. The littlest one takes a supplemental bottle as she can't always fight her way in. She seems to be getting some though and isn't always interested in much bottle feeding. The other latches on and guzzles. She has become very independent and is comfortable in the herd. We've had all the babies and mothers and other outside together without any problems so I am thankful. I bring in two about 6 PM and then put them back out after feeding them at 7 in the morning.
Kinda makes you glad she had four, doesn't it!? I mean, if she had three, I guess you could have still separated two (the single would have been with mom then...) but sure is nice for them to have a buddy. I know my bucklings are way happier than they would have been alone.
And NDs need a lot less than bigger goats. My mini manchas take twice as much!
Thanks Deb,
In 35 years I have never bottle fed..so this is new and I certainly didn't want to overfeed.
Once they're a few days old, I feed every four hours through the day -- so something like 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m., 8 p.m.
Start with 3-4 ounces and gradually increase it to 6 ounces per feeding by the time they're a couple weeks old. About a week after I get to 6 ounces X 4 feedings, I switch to 8 ounces X 3 feedings -- 6 hours apart during the day, so 8 a.m., 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Personally, I like to stick with the three feedings until they're two months old, then I drop back to two 8-ounce feedings for about a month, then one feeding as long as I think the kid needs it. Some people will go to two 12-ounce feedings but I don't like to do that. I think it's better for them to have the milk split up more. If they were on mom, they'd be nursing off and on all day.