Bottle feeding a goat is lots of fun. But it is a "life-consuming" task. Although I have written a little bit about bottle-feeding in previous posts, here is my routine:
Times: Four times a day, typically 7:30am, 11:30am, 3:30pm, and 7:30pm
Amount: 9 oz. per feeding, 36oz. total
Type of milk: Alternating feeding between raw goat's milk and whole cow's milk from the store
Heating the milk: Measure into a glass soda bottle, place in a small saucepan of boiling water, heat 103 degrees.
Feeding: about 5 minutes, my goat is greedy!
Other: Edna is also drinking water from a bowl, and she has crushed goat pellets available to eat. She has hay in her pen to nibble on as well.
Crushed grain pellets (Before I crushed these with a hammer, these pellets were several inches long and about a centimeter in diameter. Hopefully Edna will be able to eat them whole when she gets a little bigger!)
Edna likes to play in the hole...
She also runs around the rim...
You may want to try a "lambar" nipple. Once our goats are a few weeks old and sucking on a bottle strongly, it's much easier to use the lambar type. It has a MUCH bigger opening and sticks to bottles more securely. They gobble the milk down and the nipple never comes off. You don't need the whole lambar system (bucket and tubes) - the nipple sticks on a coke bottle.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely try a "lambar" nipple. Edna has unintentionally bit me a couple of times while I try to hold on the lamb nipple! And, I still have at least two more months of bottle-feeding her, so it would be nice to find a more convenient nipple.
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