Feeding Bottle Baby Goats

Feeding

Milk

Starting off, the different choices for milk, bottles, schedules, and amounts to feed can be a bit overwhelming. If you are purchasing a bottle baby, I would recommend getting a rundown from the breeder on what schedule and protocol they follow. Consistency and never skipping a feeding is very important for young kids. That said, switching them to what works for your schedule and protocols is equally as important to ensure you can maintain consistency through weaning. Goats should not be weaned prior to 12 weeks of age.

ABA recommends using one of two choices for what bottle babies eat: whole red cap cow milk (yep - straight from the grocery store!) or fresh, raw goat’s milk. We do not recommend formula or replacer, as a good amount of them are either improperly balanced or contain soy, which young goats struggle digesting. Additionally, replacer requires mixing and measuring, leaving room for error. So - raw goat milk or whole red cap cow milk is easiest! However, if you are confident and experienced with milk replacer and are having good results, it is a viable option that should only be switched if you are noticing issues such as poor growth, constipation, or scours.

We feed babies on this schedule:

Kid Age	# of Feedings Daily	Amount of Milk
>24 hours	Every 2 hours	Unlimited
24-48 hours	5	Unlimited
1-2 weeks	4	20% body weight divided by # of feedings
3-8 weeks	3	20% body weight divided by # of feedings
8-12 weeks	2	20% body weight divided by # of feedings
13 weeks	0	Let the wean scream begin

And here is how to determine how much to feed:

Weight (lbs)	1-2	3-4	5-6	7-8	9-10	11-12	13-14	15-16	17-18	19-20	21-22
Milk Per Day (oz)	3-6	9-12	16-19	22-25	28-32	35-38	41-44	48-51	54-57	60-64	67-70
Give 20% of their body weight in milk per day.
*This means: take weight on the baby, and multiply that number times .20, then divide that number by
how many feedings per day you are giving the goat. For example: a 10# goat needs 32oz of milk a day.
If you are feeding 3 times a day, each feeding should be roughly 10oz.

So - now you have the proper milk, have done the math on how much to feed, and determined how often to feed. Let’s talk bottles and nipples. ABA prefers the simplest and cheapest method: 8-9oz human baby bottles from the dollar store (Dollar General carries them, as does Walmart and other places). They cost a dollar each and come with nipples. We like to start the newborns off with Producer’s Pride Controller Flow Lamb Nipples from our local farm store, with a cut hole at the end, as they mimic the shape and feel of a genuine goat teat the closest, and helps babies adjust to the bottle life easier. When the babies are about a week old and eating well, transitioning to the basic baby bottle nipples with a cut hole at the tip tends to be very fuss-free. Many other farms enjoy the Pritchard nipples, that can screw directly onto a soda bottle or similar. Personally, I haven’t had the best luck with these, however they are certainly the most popular option so I recommend giving them a shot.

As for preparation - simply warm the milk to 100F-110F. A goat’s internal temperature is 101-103F, so matching that temperature is best. Whether you use the microwave, stove, or a sous vide, any option works, so long as the milk is properly warmed. If you are feeding raw goat milk, practicing CAE prevention can help in herd health and biosecurity. I wouldn’t worry about this if your herd is a tested CAE negative herd, 

An additional option for bottle feeding kids is to utilize a bucket milk feeder, or ‘lambar’. It is a hang-up container that holds a bulk amount of milk with attached nipples at the bottom for kids to be able to free-feed. It mimics the constant availability of milk that dam-raised kids tend to have, and ensures kids do not go through long periods of time without a feeding. Additionally, most kids with unlimited supplies of milk tend to self-regulate their milk quantity fairly well, but please take note that it is not uncommon to have a kid that is simply a little piggy and lacks self control. These types of kids cannot thrive well on a lambar and need more individualized feedings. Due to this, it can be a chore to switch older kids over from traditional bottles to a lambar without supervision, correction, and being willing to revert back to a bottle if the kid just won’t get it. Newborns should also always be started on a regular bottle before being tossed to the lambar, since ensuring proper colostrum intake is absolutely crucial, newborns can be annoyingly daft with feeding, and lambars tend to function best with a supply of cold milk, while newborns always need heated colostrum until they are old enough to regulate their own temperature properly.

These are great for folks with a plethora of goat kids and a busy schedule. I consider this to be a more off-hands method; I find that having hands on each kid multiple times a day and watching them eat is very beneficial to ensuring you are keeping a close eye on their weight, eating habits, growth, and health, however I am also very involved in my approach and have the privilege of time to spend. If using a lambar, you can keep a close eye on these things very easily through other methods: daily weights taken on kids (a good practice to do regardless), spending one on one time with each kid at least two times a day, and throughout the day supervision.

Helpful tips: To take accurate weight on a baby, you can certainly use any sort of scale you’d like, but generally the cheapest entry-level route is to find a fish scale that hangs up with a hook. You can put the baby in a bag and hang them on the scale for a quick moment. More feedings in a day of smaller quantities mimics the baby nursing off of it’s mother, so splitting the feedings up as much as possible is always best, but keep in mind that you need to keep your workload both realistic and consistent. Never - ever! - skip a feeding, unless you are close to weaning. Especially in younger goats, their blood sugar can tank drastically very quickly. It is okay to feed as high as 30% of the goat’s body weight a day in milk, particularly when they are younger as they aren’t eating from other sources such as hay and grain yet, but be wary of overfeeding. It can be as dangerous long-term as underfeeding can be short-term.

Solid Foods

Milk is not the only feed that goat kids require. From birth, they should have full access to water, hay, grain, and loose minerals. Their rumen will begin to develop around 2-3 weeks old. Snacking on other sources such as hay and grain have been proven time and time again in multiple studies to advance rumen development and overall health drastically. When these other food sources have been left available from day 1, I have found that bottle babies tend to begin eating them on their own as early as a week old, and it diminishes the chance of dealing with bottle babies that suddenly look at hay and grain like an alien if you start offering it at a month old. Below are some standards for each ‘alternative’ food source.

Hay

As mentioned, good quality hay should be available from birth. But what constitutes “good quality hay”? It should fit the same standards as you give to all of your other goats - nutrient dense, clean from contaminants, and completely 100% mold-free. The type of hay you feed is entirely optional and often correlates to the region that you live in. Here in Michigan where ABA is based, finding alfalfa mix hay is very easy. Alfalfa has a high calcium and protein content, and as such, is very beneficial to both a goat’s growth in the early stages and maintaining adequate body condition as an adult, whether they are pregnant, lactating, or simply pasture pets. We feed an alfalfa mix, which is alfalfa mixed with timothy, orchard, and generic grass hay. That said, any good quality hay is just fine.

As far as how to feed the hay, having a well-built hay feeder is practically a lifeline. Keeping all food sources (including grain & minerals below!) off the ground is important not just for barn/pasture cleanliness, but it aids as an additional preventative method against worm blooms because the goats are not eating what they are pooping on, laying on, etc. However, be aware that many hay feeders can be dangerous. Food sources are the cause of most goat-to-goat disagreements, so remember that where you feed hay is where a lot of drama and headbutting is going to occur. If you are feeding hay outdoors (which I personally prefer - see the bedding section for more), you want a roof over your hay. This roof can’t be climbed on, or sharp enough to cut the goats, or pointy enough to injure a goat should one get butted into it. The holes in the feeder shouldn’t be large enough to fit their heads through (if horned), and if they are too large, adding on a 2x4 welded wire roll of fencing or similar can remedy the issue. The hay feeder should be low enough for the goats to access at normal standing height, but not too low for them to end up laying in the feeder. Some feed stores sell a red square bale feeder; these are decent, but fairly flimsy and missing a roof feature. Oftentimes you can find a local carpenter in the area that builds much more heavy duty hay feeders in a comparable price range as the farm store ones.

If feeding out round bales of hay, you need to be weary of the dangers of round bales collapsing on top of the goats. This is a very real risk that should be taken very seriously. Due to this, the safest method of feeding out a round bale is to pull hay off of the bale outside of the goat pen and deposit the hay into feeders. However, if you are insistent on feeding out a round bale, keep the same guidelines as above for the feeder, and make sure there is no situation where a goat could get their head stuck underneath the hay. If you are feeding a round bale without a feeder (highly unrecommended), make sure the bale is right side up (not on it’s side, not on the rolly side) and that you knock it down as soon as it starts to form an hourglass shape. ABA personally has had a round bale fall onto a goat, and while we avoided any fatalities thanks to it happening while I was present, it’s not a problem to shrug off and think “it won’t happen to me”.

Stay away from hay bags & hay netting! It may be tempting to go this route, but the number of goats that get hung up on them or stuck in them, ending in a fatality, is extremely high. Goats love to climb on things, fight, jump, play, and act wild. Maybe this just showcases how much anxiety goats have given me, but I view anything I put into their pen as a potential source of injury. Hay bags and netting are completely unsafe for goats.

In regards to where to source your hay from, local hay farmers are always the best answer. Compacted square bales from farm stores such as TSC or FFH are incredibly rich in nutrients and easily available, but there is absolutely such a thing as too rich which pure alfalfa absolutely is. Stay away from these if you can to prevent scours, bloating, and other issues. Many feed stores also sell square bales of hay right outside their doors - these are fine, but remember that the feed store typically marks these bales up quite a bit to make a profit, and the majority of stores will give you the phone number of the hay supplier if you just ask. Then you can pick up straight from their field for cheaper! The method I always recommend to find decent hay is to simply look at different hay in your area on facebook marketplace or similar sale spaces. Check out a local livestock auction, look closely at the different varieties and cuts available there, and if you find one that fits your needs, ask around for the person who brought it to see if you can set up pickup directly from the farm. Visit a few hay fields. Experiment a bit to find out what your goats do really well on and keep weight on with. Once you find a hay farmer that meets all your needs (good quality hay, adequate supply for your needs, the cut that you like, reasonable price, and someone is just pleasant to deal with), you can settle up with them and delete all your hay exes. Sticking with one source of hay is important to maintain consistency in your herd.

Grain

Grain is very important at a young age, as studies have shown that grain-fed kids and calves have exponential rumen and muscle development in comparison to kids that do not have access to it. That said, the grain you feed should be formulated specifically for goats and not an all-stock of off-stock feed. Goats have pretty unique nutritional requirements from other ruminants, and problems can arise if you feed grain that is unbalanced including but not limited to: acidosis, scours, stunted growth, urinary calculi, mineral deficiencies, or bloat.

My personal guide: I like to see protein right at 16% - you can go a bit lower but don’t go any higher. Ensure that the highest phosphorous percentage is still at least half of the lowest calcium percentage, to maintain a calcium:phosphorous ratio of 2:1. I look for a fat between 3-5%, and high forage (20-30%) for rumen development. Seeing copper, vitamin A,D,E, and other useful vitamins/minerals is nice as well.

It is up to you if you want to feed a grain that is medicated - this means it contains Rumensin or a generic version of it. Medicated feeds do not protect as perfectly against coccidia as you’d think. Coccidia strikes when the rumen is first developing, and typically at that young age, the kids are not eating enough grain to get enough rumensin to combat the coccidia. Additionally, kids that are struggling with coccidia may be off feed, or too weak to compete with the others, to get enough to eat. Due to this, medicated or non-medicated feed typically matters very little until the kids are between weaning age and a year old.

Similarly to the hay and loose minerals, grain should be fed up off of the ground. Simple troughs from the farm store are perfectly adequate for this. Try providing enough troughs at far enough away locations to prevent fights and one goat dominating the others during feeding time.

What does ABA feed for grain? We utilize Purina Goat Grower for kids under a year old, and once they are yearlings they get switched to Purina Goat Chow.

Loose Mineral

All goats of any age, including from birth, need access to loose minerals or else you’ll be looking at mineral deficiencies, which can be quite nasty if severe. This is another situation where you really need to have a loose mineral that is formulated specifically for goats. You also want to make sure to stay away from mineral blocks, as goats tend to actually eat the blocks with their teeth, as opposed to cattle that tend to just lick as intended. A goat is only good as long as its teeth. Mineral blocks tend to also have heavy additives in it to serve as an adhesive to maintain its block shape, such as molasses, which aren’t necessary in the quantities put into the block and also encourage them to simply devour the block for the sweet goodness as opposed to eating what they require. Loose minerals should remain available at all times, frequently “refreshed” to keep them from clumping or molding, and offered indoors. Its normal to see your goats go wild for minerals for several days straight, then not touch it for a month afterwards. They eat it as they need it.

For loose mineral, I recommend Sweetlix Meat Maker 16:8, but I also have enjoyed Purina Goat Loose Minerals. I actually have a not-recommended for this, and that is Manna Pro. It sucks. Sorry.

Myth: Do not pay attention to the “leave baking soda out at all times!” myth. Baking soda does not need to be offered, much less free choice. People claim that a goat beginning to experience bloat is going to know they need the baking soda and ingest it, fixing the problem before you even know about it. Unfortunately, baking soda does nothing to help bloat. It helps acidosis, but in either the case of bloat or acidosis, a goat typically goes off-feed for everything, including any supplements you leave out. Additionally, goats produce their own bicarbonate, and do not need baking soda to help them regulate that. They do that on their own!