HELP! Saanan goat orphan

[hoosiergal]

My baby is alone. Her momma died last night and baby is only 5 wks old. Don"t know if I can bottle feed or not, I tried twice because momma would barely let her nurse here lately. Could not get her to nurse on the bottle.
She is eating some grain and hay and drinking water.

Is that enough for her?

I put this in the wrong place. My baby is a saanan goat.

Moved and title changed.

 

[ksalvagno]

So sorry for your loss. Would she drink some milk out of a bucket? The other option would be to sprinkle some goat milk replacer powder on her grain.

Do you have other goats or is the baby totally by herself? Could you get her a friend?

 

[hoosiergal]

she is by herself and i have no friends who have goats. will try my best to get milk into her.

 

[freemotion]

Change your title to "Help! Orphaned Saanen doeling won't drink her milk!" or something like that until a mod moves the thread. You'll get more replies.


I was in a similar situation last year, but through my own lack of knowledge, I trusted the advice of someone I bought a five-week-old doeling from. Sure, he said, she will take the bottle after nursing from her mom for five weeks. Yeah, right.

Then almost everyone online shouted that she was doomed, she was gonna die, she needs at least 2 months before weaning for her rumen to develop enough to support her. I was freaking out. I could NOT get her to take a bottle. I tried every nipple style I could get my hands on, and fed her milk fresh from my lactating doe.

I finally gave up on the bottle because most of the milk ended up on me and on her and she was running away when she saw me, poor thing. I put some milk in a bowl and put some carrots that I shredded with a carrot peeler in it, and she would get some of the milk while trying to eat the carrot shreds. I added a little molasses to the milk to make it sweeter, that helped a bit.

Poor thing was so hungry that she would leave my little herd and go out into the big field all by herself to graze, and would cry while eating, while actually taking bites of grass and while chewing. It broke my heart. After a while, I figured that maybe she needed more protein in her diet, and I started giving her a little bit (a tablespoon or two twice a day) of sprouted barley, very high in protein and easier to digest than regular grain. She stopped crying the day she started getting the barley.

As she was growing up, I would cut branches for her every evening and hang them in her stall, away from the other greedy adult does, so she could have the best of the best all to herself, along with a full hay rack. She caught up quickly, and is now 11 months, pregnant, and my biggest goat. She was 90 lbs at 8 months. Not sure what she is now, but she is big and healthy and I LOOOOVE her!

Hopefully someone will come in and get you some good advice on getting her on the bottle, which would be best. I didn't get any useful help with that, but it is a different crew here, so get that title changed, and I will try to rustle up a moderator.

 

[ksalvagno]

A bottle would be best but if you can get her to drink from a bucket, it is at least getting some milk into her. Where are you in Indiana? Roll Farm http://www.rollfarms.com/ is in Indiana, so is ()relics (no website but you could PM or email him) and so is Helmstead http://www.helmsteadstables.com/goats.htm

I would email these guys and see if they can help you. They may even have a buddy available for your goat.

 

[ksalvagno]

Any updates on how the bottle feeding is going?

 

[helmstead]

I agree with Karen...either offer room temp milk in a bucket or I would buy milk pellets and mix these with her grain. At 5 weeks, they're usually beginning to wean, so this should be sufficient. More pressing, IMO, is finding her a companion.

So sorry for your loss

 

[hoosiergal]

Update on orphaned goat

I have sold my orphaned baby to a lady who is now bottle feeding her and says she is doing very well now.
I also sold my pygmy who is due in April and the young lady was so excited to get her home she put her in the back seat of her car.
She is adjusting well to her new home.

My health is not good at the present time and it took more than I have to take good care of them. So decided to sell off most of my animals to good homes.
I cried when they left because it was something I really did not want to do but circumstances control things right now.

I will most likely be leaving this forum and want to say thanks for all the good help and extend my wishes for all here in their endeavors for a sucessful and pleasant life.

Thanks,
hoosiergal

 

[Roll farms]

You take care.....

 

[ksalvagno]

I hope your health gets better for you and good luck finding homes for all your animals. Wish you the best.