Bottle Raising Goat Kids
A choice to be made
~by Jon Kain ONE OF THE MOST HEATED DISCUSSIONS between dairy goat breeders is whether it’s more beneficial to bottle-feed or dam-raise goat kids. Although there are many approaches, we’ve decided to bottle-raise on our farm.
Our primary reason is the udder health of the doe. We bottlefeed goat kids to ensure the doe has a healthy lactation. Too often, kids favor one side of the udder, causing it to be lopsided.
Bacteria and disease transmission
Kids also introduce bacteria to the udder that could cause mastitis or other infections. The risk is too great for us to feel comfortable with dam-raising.
The potential for disease spread was another factor in our decision to bottle-raise, and every owner needs to asses their risk-exposure. While we test our show herd for CAE and CL, we also attend ADGA-sanctioned shows every year. Despite our precautions, there’s a risk of picking up diseases at a show. Because we choose the risk of shows, we limit the risk of damraising by bottle feeding.
How to limit risk by bottle feeding goat kids.
When a kid is born on our farm, we let the dam lick the baby clean. This helps the kid get dried off, and we feel it helps the kid want to stand and start searching for their first meal.
When the dam is done kidding, we put the goat kids in a plastic tub and take them down to the house. While some people may be concerned with pulling kids from their dams, we’ve never had an issue. Most of the time, the does turn to licking our faces and claiming us as their babies.
Once we’ve milked the dam and she’s settled and headed toward recovery, we focus on processing the colostrum and feeding the kids. Back in the house, we heat the colostrum to a holding temperature of 135 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. For regular milk, we heat to 145 degrees F for 30 minutes.
How much to milk to give baby goats
Some folks that bottle-feed weigh their kids and feed them precisely by their weight, and they only get fed a certain number of times for a certain number of days.
On our farm, for the first 3 days, we feed a kid five or six times a day, mimicking how they feed on a dam. Their consumption at each meal varies from ½ ounce to 12 ounces. We record how much each kid consumes, noting any changes that could indicate underlying issues.
After the colostrum and days of frequent feeds, we move to four feedings a day for a couple of weeks. As the kids age, we reduce feedings even more.
Dam-raised kids tend to grow faster, and we feel by mimicking that feeding pattern, our bottleraised kids have almost the same growth.
Advantages to bottle feeding baby goats
What are other advantages to raising kids on the bottle? You’ll never have a nicer goat than a bottle-raised goat. Sometimes, those bottle-raised goats are a little too friendly and a little too in your pocket, but as they mature, they learn their manners.
Oral medication, like coccidia prevention, is easy to give in bottles. We also know the exact dosage each kid gets when given medication in bottles.
Lambar to the rescue
What happens when you have 30 or 40 kids underfoot, and you don’t want to bottle-feed each kid individually? One word: lambar! A lambar is a bucket with multiple nipples on it. Ours can feed eight at a time. Lambars come in many shapes and sizes from many companies or can be made at home. For the most part, they’re easy to clean and should be cleaned after every feeding. We usually only keep a handful of kids each year, so we don’t mind bottle-feeding them individually.
What about hay and grain?
When the kids are a week old, we start offering hay, and by 4 weeks, we start feeding medicated meat goat grower grain. Some folks wean their kids at 8 to 10 weeks of age. When we first started our adventure in dairy goats, that’s what we did, although those kids weren’t nearly as growthy or healthy as those we raise now.
Once kids reach 12 to 14 weeks old, they’re fed one bottle a day until they don’t want one anymore. That bottle is usually anywhere from 25 to 30 ounces. We wean our kids between 15 and 20 weeks old, depending on the kid and how they’ve grown.
Other options besides bottle raising goat kids
If you aren’t ready to bottle-feed exclusively, there are other options for you. First, you can always dam-raise your kids. I’m sure they’ll be happy and healthy and do well.
Some people also choose to co-raise kids with the dam. This means breeders will let the kid drink off mom but also supplement with a bottle. It gives them the opportunity to be dam-raised while still having a bottle to help build a bond with humans.
For our barn setup and herd health, nothing works better than bottle-raising our goats. It’s something I look forward to every year. Just don’t ask my wife how therapeutic I think it is at three in the morning when I’m bottle-feeding a buck kid who’s a little slower at taking the bottle.
Originally published in the Spring 2024 issue of Goat Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
