Year of the Bottle Kids

On February 15, 2011, my husband (Keith) called me at work in a panic. He was on his way to Co Op and saw that one of our Nubian does had kidded. He stopped the truck and went into the barn to find one beautiful spotted buck kid already dead, a spotted doe kid barely alive, a black and white buck kid that was laying down but doing better than the doe, and then a light tan buck kid behind the barn nearly frozen. He quickly gathered up the kids and put them in the floor board of his truck and blasted the heat in hopes of warming them up. He called and told me to get home ASAP, but I couldn't leave until my boss got back which was about 30 minutes later. Luckily, I only work 2 miles from home so it was a quick trip, well, maybe a little quicker than usual...lol. When I got home, my husband had already put the kids in the house in front of a radiator type heater we have in the kitchen and had put a heating pad on them. They looked so lifeless.




Fawna & Ranger getting warmed up


Remington warming up

We went to the barn and milked some colostrum out of their mama so I could tube feed it to them. I started with the weekest kid, Fawna (check out those spots), she didn't fight the tube at all and I really didn't expect her to make it through the night. Next, I tubed Ranger (the one who was found behind the barn), he too didn't fight and didn't stand a chance in my opinion. And lastly, I tubed, well, tried to tube Remington. He was apparently the last kid born because he was doing much better than the other two and when I tried to stick the tube down his throat he tried sucking on my finger so I decided to try a bottle on him. He took it immediately and with gusto! After feeding each kid, we covered them with blankets and the heating pad and I laid on the kitchen floor so that I could keep a close eye on them and make sure they didn't get too hot. Two hours later I tubed Fawna and Ranger again and bottle fed Remington. This time I saw some hope in the kids.



After the second feeding all three kids were standing, but still weak...

The kids got warm.had a couple of feedings, and started coming around. We didn't want to take them back to barn because they were still fragile looking and it was really cold, so we fixed them a bed in an old laundry basket. I knew that their mother wouldn't take them back but we decided to try the next day. We milked her again when we went out to do the evening feeding and got enough colostrum/milk to do the rest of the night. I slept on the couch and woke up every few hours to check on and feed the kids and the next day, just as I suspected, their mama wouldn't have anything to do with them. Thus, they became bottle babies. Normally, we don't keep bottle kids because it just costs too much to raise them and the time required is just something we don't have, so we usually give them to Keith's uncle who is very experienced in raising bottle babies of all kinds. But, these kids had me wrapped and adjustments had to be made. I slept on the couch and took care of them through the night, but they usually slept all night long so it was no big deal. Then I gave them a bottle in the morning and Keith was laid off at the time so he gave them a bottle at lunch time, and when I got home from work I took care of the rest of the feedings.





We ended up moving them outside when they were three days old. We put them in our goat trailer that is completely enclosed except for the front. We hung a red heat lamp for them and put a heavy tarp over the front to keep them good and warm. They didn't seem to mind it all as long as the bottles kept showing up. Unfortunately, Ranger started showing signs of Joint Ill/Navel Ill when he was two days old. I started treated with Nuflor on him, but he died at four days old. It broke my heart to lose that little guy after all he had been through, but I was comforted by the thought that at least he wasn't in pain anymore.

Fawna and Remington continued to grow like weeds and get more and more spoiled everyday and I was thrilled with their progress. I thought two kids were hard enough to bottle feed along with everything else I have to do daily, but then I added a third bottle kid! A friend of Keith's had a Nubian doe with triplets and she wasn't producing enough milk to take care of them, so he called and asked if I'd take one of them. Like there was any doubt I was going to go look at this kid and not bring it home with me....lol. Anyway, I added a third bottle kid and she did just fine with the other two. There was only a week difference in their birthing so they just thought she was a long lost sister I guess. She had never had a bottle but I guess she was hungry because all I had to do was gently pry her mouth open, stick the bottle in, and as soon as she tasted the milk she guzzled four ounces of milk in about four seconds!



Now, you must be thinking, she's got to be crazy to take in another kid to feed, but hold that thought....

At two and a half months old, they were almost ready to wean, eating grain and hay, drinking water, and doing amazing, and I did the unthinkable......I added a fourth bottle kid!!! Am I out of my mind? Na....well, maybe a little. I purchased a six week old LaMancha buckling that I knew was a bottle kid. I don't regret it one bit either. He is the sweetest, most precious goat I have ever been around. And since he was born on April Fool's Day, my best friend Lynn came up with the perfect name, meet Jester.



I can say it has definitely been an experience and a lot of work, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat! All four kids are doing great. I have started giving them only eight ounces of milk twice a day as they turned three months old this week, so I will be weaning them very soon. Of course Jester will have to continue on the bottle for a few more weeks and I'm sure the other kids are not going to be happy, but they'll get over it eventually. Oh, and in case you are wondering, I didn't have to spend a fortune raising these bottle kids. I was lucky enough to have a LaMancha whose kids I had just sold. She has been giving me a little over a gallon of milk per day since March.

Here are the kids at two and a half months old.....