Got Milk?

Neko cried for her mama all day Thursday and Friday, but yesterday she settled down and settled in. She hasn't cried at all today. She's in good spirits, but she doesn't drink much milk. Bottle babies at this age (five weeks old) should drink about 15% of their body weight in milk each day, split among three feedings. That's roughly five ounces for Neko and seven ounces for Grover, three times a day. For the first couple days Neko was drinking only an ounce or two at each feeding. She didn't act like a sick goat, but her posture was hunched and her tail firmly planted--both signs of distress. She is so small for her age and needs to pack on some pounds, pronto. Yesterday morning, near tears, I handed a bottle of warm milk to the Wrangler. Neko had barely touched it when I tried to feed her. Well, surprise, surprise; the Wrangler has the magic touch. Neko drinks double the amount of milk when the Wrangler feeds her. She polished off a full four ounces for him during her mid-afternoon feeding, and I couldn't be happier.

Greedy Grover finishes his bottle in about 30 seconds. He begs for more, but after he drinks his seven ounces his little tummy looks and feels full of milk. I don't want him to get bloat, which is a dangerous condition caused by a number of things including overeating. He's so cute when he drinks. He crouches down, front legs tucked underneath him and rump in the air, in the same position he'd assume if nursing on his mama. Neko prefers to drink her bottle on the Wrangler's comfy lap.

When Grover's and Neko's goat mama got mastitis and couldn't nurse, the breeder began bottle feeding with milk from her full-sized Boer goat. The breeder gave us some of the Boer goat's milk, which I fed to the babies on Thursday and Friday. I need to transition them to commercial (store-bought) goat's milk, but I didn't want to make any dietary changes while they still were stressed from the move. Neko's so tiny that she can't afford to get sick. I suspect that a bout of the scours could be life threatening to a five-pound goat. Consequently, I'm transitioning the babies from the breeder's goat's milk to store-bought goat's milk very, very slowly so as not to upset their tummies.

Pygmy goat's milk is rich and high in butterfat. To create a suitable commercial substitute milk for Pygmy goat kids, the National Pygmy Goat Association recommends mixing one quart pasteurized whole goat's milk with 1/2 cup organic heavy cream. Goats and cows can transfer certain diseases to other goats and cows through raw milk, so it's important to use only pasteurized milk unless you know the milk source is disease-free. 

I just began the transition by feeding the bottle babies a mixture of 3/4 Boer goat's milk and 1/4 store-bought milk. I will gradually increase the amount of store-bought milk until they are on 100% store-bought milk on Wednesday.