How to Bottle Feed a Kid Goat

It will happen to anyone who breeds goats at some time. Either the mama doe goat dies in childbirth, or she refuses to nurse her kids. While it takes a lot in terms of commitment, the kid goat can be raised on a bottle until it is eating food.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Animal feeding bottle with nipple
• Time
• Milk Replacer, if necessary

1. Milk the mama doe and place her colostrum or milk into the bottle. Attach the nipple assembly. If the mother isn’t available, and you don’t have any other milking goats, use milk replacer instead. Follow label directions to mix.
2. Open the kid’s mouth. With your thumb, hold down the tongue and insert the nipple into the kid’s mouth. Remove your thumb. Encourage the kid to suck by gently stroking its throat. This may take a few tries before the baby goat gets the idea.
3. Expect the newborn kid to drink several ounces of the colostrum at a time.
4. Feed at two to three hours intervals throughout the day. This can be stretched to about six hours during the night.
5. Introduce grains to the baby goat at the end of the first week. After he’s eating grains and grasses, you can extend the time between bottle feeding. By four weeks of age, twice a day will do. The baby goat can be weaned at six weeks.

Tips & Warnings

• Refrigerate any unused portions of the mothers milk or colostrum. As with human babies, warm the milk before feeding to the kid.
• A regular baby bottle can work for a newborn kid, but should be replaced by an animal feeding bottle as soon as possible.
• If a bottle cannot be found, a baby goat can be taught to drink from a pail.