New goat mom to a sweet culled pygmy baby girl

[B&B Happy goats]

I have bottle fed four and found the formula you are using to do a good job, i also did as @Latestarter said , works wonderful. As to mom kicking at second goat.....have you checked her udder, temprature etc. To see if she is feeling well ? Also are you able to get any milk out of her to feed the buckling, if you can i would try that....i have to leave for a apointment now, hopefully someone with more experience will jump in with suggestions for you. Best of luck to you

 

[Latestarter]

Actually B&B, I meant exactly that... COLD milk. By that time the day temps here were quite warm/comfy. When folks feed free choice from a lambar feeder, many put frozen 2 liter bottles of water in there to keep the milk cold so it doesn't spoil. This is feeding a growing kid, not a 2 day old baby. They romp around and stay quite warm.

Danielle; IMHO & Generally speaking, when mom won't let the kid(s) nurse after having nursed them for a while, there's a better than average chance there's something wrong. Momma goats don't always let them nurse at will, or for long periods of time. They take 10-15 second sips regularly. If you feel the kids belly and it's full/round, the kid is most likely getting fed but you're not seeing it. If the kids belly is hollowed out, then there is an issue.

Please check momma's teats and udder. If her udder is hard and hot, she may be developing mastitis. Her teats may be "chapped" and sore, making her not want to nurse. She may have plugged teats and her udder is overfull and sore. I would take her temp and see if she's running a fever (fever indicates infection). I would also milk her, regardless of whether she wants me to or not, and see what I get... too thick, syrupy, clumps, chunks, blood/pink, is all bad. I am not qualified or experienced with mastitis so will have to leave that to one of the other more experienced goat folks. There are quite a few mastitis threads on the site as well.

That being said, if that milk is anything but proper, I'd be milking her completely out. She's NOT going to like it, it's going to hurt her, and you'll most likely have the fight of your life doing so, but it will hurt her a lot more down the road if you don't get that nastiness out of her. If in fact she does have mastitis, you'll need to keep milking the pus and crap out over time while she heals. If the milk is fine, don't waste it, put it in a bottle for the buckling.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

@Latestarter. ..that's what i like about you, you are factual and just put it out there. i have never free fed milk form a lambar feeder...., it was always bottle fed, i like the bonding, lol,.... but read in a goat book by Carol A. Amundson, that young goats can't digest cold milk ? ... is that not correct ? Have i wasted time in warming bottles till they were ten weeks old ? Now you really got questioning my "goat go to book " HELP

 

[Latestarter]

@babsbag @Goat Whisperer and maybe @frustratedearthmother use or have used lambar feeders. I prefer dam raised with lots of personal attention. I don't need to make any more work for myself. I just explained what I did... haven't killed a goat yet... The comment about the frozen 2 liter bottles is repeated information from reading on other's threads and elsewhere. Again... I warmed the milk for the first 4-6 weeks. After that the kids were "huge" and I got lazy when I was late and she was hungry. She balked a bit the first time but after that she grabbed a hold and sucked the bottle dry with no ill effects. If you wish to warm the bottle for them right up till weaning, I really don't see that they'd complain. Goatie entitlement dontchaknow

 

[B&B Happy goats]

@babsbag @Goat Whisperer and maybe @frustratedearthmother use or have used lambar feeders. I prefer dam raised with lots of personal attention. I don't need to make any more work for myself. I just explained what I did... haven't killed a goat yet... The comment about the frozen 2 liter bottles is repeated information from reading on other's threads and elsewhere. Again... I warmed the milk for the first 4-6 weeks. After that the kids were "huge" and I got lazy when I was late and she was hungry. She balked a bit the first time but after that she grabbed a hold and sucked the bottle dry with no ill effects. If you wish to warm the bottle for them right up till weaning, I really don't see that they'd complain. Goatie entitlement dontchaknow

I am the worst at spoiling them...i still brought Rocky a bottle of warm water till he was five months old

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I haven't used a lambar… don't enjoy bottle feeding at all, lol. I'm lazy and like LS I prefer to let mama's do their job. However, I have bottle fed a couple...and I will also use a cold bottle as they get closer to weaning.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

I dont like to butcher the goats, have done it in the long ago, ...don't plan on doing it again unless i am desperate for food.... and i hope that never happens again. But i do not judge if someone else does, it's all fine to me.

 

[Latestarter]

I dont like to butcher the goats

OH! I wasn't refering to killing goats for eating, I haven't done that yet eaither... I was saying that I haven't killed any through "improper" or "unapproved" raising/rearing...

 

[B&B Happy goats]

OH! I wasn't refering to killing goats for eating, I haven't done that yet eaither... I was saying that I haven't killed any through "improper" or "unapproved" raising/rearing...

Lol...leave it to me to misunderstand what you mentioned....well I have had to put one down, have eaten one in the long ago...but happy to say my record stays on the happy goat healthy side ,

 

[Goat Whisperer]

We have used Lambars, however we never did free choice milk. Right now we just are not setup for it.
Most our babies are bottle fed, though we did dam raise for years. I prefer bottle kids over dam raised kids.

I'm a sucker and always warm the milk... even though we had 42 kids this year, I always fed warm. Many do however feed cold milk.
Just make sure the kid is good and strong, you don't want the kid to start eating less.

As far as the dam rejecting a kid because something is wrong, it's not something I have really seen with goats. Doesn't mean it can't happen though. Some goats are weird. It is not uncommon for a first time doe to reject a kid. Not what you want, but it happens.
My friend has a doe who greatly prefers her bucklings... will sometimes let a doeling nurse but generally only likes her bucklings.
Another doe who will only care for one kid, and not the others. Some does may clean both kids, but are more focused on the first kid.
Some does get a little freaked out or overwhelmed and leave the 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, 5th etc) kid. I wouldn't be too concerned. Goats are strange creatures. Some breeds are better than others- when we raised kikos good mothering skills was a must! Thankfully, for the most part all our does were great mothers. Some just aren't cut out for it LOL

With some goats, once you take a newborn for more than a few hours the doe will not accept the kid back.

Another thing to consider is that you are now giving formula. This kid doesn't smell like the sibling or the dam.

Earlier this year we were letting a doe dam raise her triplets (this was her first time raising kids) She was GREAT! Loved, cleaned, nursed all three kids. Two days later a friend came by to see the kids. She held and snuggled one kid. After that, the dam wanted nothing to do with the kid. Turns out our friend had just been holding her newborn goat kids before she came, and must've had the scent still on her.