How to Feed a Goat Milk
There are only a few reasons to feed milk to a goat, and no reason to give it to goats older than six months. Usually a goat owner hand feeds milk to a baby goat, called a "kid," because its mother has rejected it, the mother or the kid is sick, or the mother has died. Fortunately, it is not too difficult to feed milk to a kid.
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Things You'll Need
- Colostrum
- Milk, either goat, cow or commercial replacer
- Nursing lamb bottle or baby bottle
- Lamb bottle nipple
- Scissors
Instructions
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Cut an "X" with scissors on the small hole on a lamb nipple. Baby goats cannot get enough milk from a lamb nipple unless the hole is enlarged. The cuts should be about 3/8 to 1/2 inch in length.
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Attach the enlarged lamb nipple to a lamb milk bottle, or a regular baby bottle, to feed your goat kid. If you have a newborn goat kid to bottle feed, its first feeding must be colostrum, and it should be fed within the first hour of birth, and certainly no later than six to eight hours. Colostrum is a natural antibiotic in a mammal mother's first milk. Colostrum protects the baby--who does not have any natural antibiotics of its own--from infection and diseases. Get this vital colostrum by milking the mother goat, or another mother goat or a cow, or use commercial colostrum replacer, available at farm supply stores. Follow the directions on the package exactly.
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Milk the mother goat for your goat kid feedings, if at all possible. When that is not possible, milk from another nursing goat or cow can be used. Pasteurized whole milk can also be used. As a last option, you can buy powdered replacer goat milk and mix as directed.
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Bottle feed your goat kid four times a day for the first two weeks, then three times daily for the next month or two months. Then decrease to two times a day for two months. In the fifth month, feed the kid only one bottle a day.
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Tips & Warnings
If your bottle-fed goat kid develops diarrhea, feed it a mixture of electrolytes and water, separate from its scheduled milk feedings. Electrolytes can be purchased at a farm supply store. Follow the instructions on the package.
Your goat kid will be able to begin eating grass, hay and grain after it is a few weeks old. Make grasses and grains available to your baby goat by its second week so it can begin to learn how to graze.
Many times, goat kids that are fed milk replacer develop bloat, sometimes severely. If you feed replacer, monitor the kid carefully and discontinue the replacer milk immediately if bloating is suspected.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit newborn nubian image by Lee O'Dell from Fotolia.com
