How much do you feed a baby goat

It happens that a goat runs up to a bowl and refuses to drink milk. The main reason for here lies in the underheated milk. Babies are very sensitive to this. It is necessary to warm up the milk and offer the kid again. I noticed that milk heated to 42-43 degrees, the kids drink faster and more than milk with a temperature of 40 degrees. In the cold season, if the kids are drinking in an unheated barn, the bowl of milk should be placed in another larger container filled with warm water. In this case, the milk will stay warm longer.

“Shed for keeping goats. Goat shed floors. Feeders for goats” — HERE

When a goatling drinks milk, it can (and should) be lightly stroked on its back. This procedure increases the amount of milk drunk. Apparently, he thinks that they want to drag him away from the bowl. After the kid has drunk, he needs to wipe his muzzle with a dry, clean rag or soft hay. After two or three “washes”, the kid will stand and wait to be rubbed on his face and said a few affectionate words. Everyone loves affection.

Another point: the literature recommends introducing decoctions into the diet from 10 days of age. We never do this, because cereal or flour broth is already “adult” food, and the digestive system of a 10-day-old kid is not yet able to digest it. Most often, after such food, goats get diarrhea , as a result of which growth and development slow down. And this is not the worst option.

On the third-fourth day of life, the kid should be offered a rotten stump, gnawed by wood-boring beetles. It will happily eat softwood and brown woodworm excrement. Thus, the kid populates its gastrointestinal tract with microflora, which, in the future, will process cellulose. Goats belong to trees and shrubs and cellulose (bark or twigs) must be present in their diet.

From 10-11 days in the feeder should be good soft-leaved hay. The kid, at first, does not eat it, but only savores it, licking various kinds of fungi and yeast from the surface of the leaves, which will also, in the future, take part in its digestion. At first, he spits out the licked leaves, and after 15-17 days he can already swallow some of the leaves he likes. After the 20th day of life, you can already see him belching. This suggests that the abomasum (the fourth section of the four-chamber stomach of ruminants) begins to slowly "wake up" in order to then take "adult" food.

While walking, the goat is very interested in the moss that grows close to the ground on the trunks of aspen, young oak, blueberries.

And in the literature, instead, it is proposed to make attacks with talkers and decoctions of cereals on the still unformed digestive system of a kid. This is fraught! The main food until the age of one and a half months should be pure milk.

All the rest - variants from handicap by the presence of milk, from ignorance , or from the greed of the owner, who prefers to drink this milk himself, or sell it.

The average weight of a 4-6 month old kid in the literature is 15-23 kg. Our monthly accelerating goats weigh an average of 13 kg. Monthly goats weigh 20 kg or more. A six-month-old goat weighs 50 kg or more.

The maximum weight gain in goats is in the first month of life. It is important not to miss this time and in no case limit them in nutrition . Then, with each subsequent month, the weight gain is slower, although the kids continue to consume goat milk in plenty.

That is why it is important not to restrict goats in milk in this initial period of their life, otherwise then they will never reach high levels in terms of weight and milk yield. They will not be able to consume large quantities of food, because their digestive system will be less developed than in an animal that has been fed ad libitum pure milk from the first hours of life until the age of six months.

Our feeding technology, at first glance, seems expensive and troublesome. But, I assure you, after 6 months, comparing the results, you will no longer want to raise kids differently.

Your pets will differ in all respects for the better from goats raised in a different way. You will look at the flattened neighbor goats with tears in your eyes, thinking about how she was underfed in childhood, trying to deceive the growing body with all kinds of talkers, knocking down the baby’s digestion and resorting to medicines to save her from diarrhea.

It must be borne in mind that in order to raise one kid using our method, you need to have two nurse goats in the farmstead, if your one goat is not able to fully provide the necessary amount of milk.

A three-month-old goat is able to drink up to seven liters of milk per day, but at this age three liters will be enough for her to eat adult food, which she is already able to process in large quantities. What to feed a goat in winter? - HERE .

“The goat's gum has disappeared - the scar has stopped. Tympania of goat rumen. - HERE.

Goats fed ad libitum from a bowl from childhood are ready to cover after 4-5 months. And not in a year and a half, as almost all literature recommends.

This late covering is due to the slow growth of due to the lack of normal food provided by nature , i.e. pure mother's milk. Now the representatives of the human race are all completely fed with mixtures that ruin the health of our future generations. But this is another topic and not for us to decide. Everything has been decided for us for a long time . ..

We covered our kids when they were four or five months old. At the time of covering, the goats weigh 40-42 kg. At 9 months they became mothers and a month after lambing (10 months old) we milked 4.2 liters of milk per day from such a goat.

One of our goats had her first hunt at 97 days old. This suggests that good feeding reduces the period of idle (unprofitable) maintenance. The sexual cycle of a goat is 17-23 days. The hunt lasts 36 hours. Now goat breeders, who feed their kids from a bowl to their heart's content, also cover early.

Usually we skip the first hunt and cover the second. I think that goats grown according to our method should be covered without much delay, because. in them, all the energy produced by large amounts of feed can go into obesity. The ovaries can fail and the fertility of such an individual will be very problematic.

Now some comparative arithmetic.

Sosnowski's method (ad libitum, pure milk from a bowl).

In three months, our goat drinks, on average, 350-370 liters of pure goat milk. Covered at 5 months. Starts milking at 9-10 months of age.

After the first lambing, her maximum daily milk yield is, on average, 4 liters. Brings healthy full-fledged kids.

After 4-5 lambing, our goat reaches a daily milk yield of 6-7 liters. How much milk does a goat give? HERE . The average life expectancy and lactation of our goats is 13 years.

Other method (keeping under a goat with complementary bait).

Calculation of the amount of milk drunk is not possible, because drinking goes blindly. Covering such goats at the age of one and a half years. The maximum daily milk yield after the first lambing is usually 1-2 liters. The maximum milk yield of an adult goat is 3-4 liters. Literature "voices" the average life expectancy of goats at 6-7 years.

Having saved milk for three months of feeding, it turns out a daily shortage of milk for 6-7 years.

Now is the time to count everything. The dumbest pencil is better than the sharpest mind.

Good luck everyone!

Belarus. Grodno.
©Alexander Sosnovsky (2017) — author's page.

Feeding kids from the first days of life: diet and norms

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From the first days of life, a newborn kid needs the care of his mother and his owner. Feeding kids is an important process that requires breeders to be responsible and know the basics. After all, the further health and performance of babies depends on proper care and diet.

Contents:

• Preparing for the first feeding
• Methods of feeding
  • Under the uterus
  • Without queen
• Diet and feeding schedule during the milk period

Preparing for the first feeding

Most goats give birth naturally and without complications. After giving birth, the female's umbilical cord is cut, the udder is washed, and first the first streams of colostrum, which contain bacteria, are expressed, and then it is put into a clean bowl.

A newborn kid is wiped with a clean cloth, the mouth and nose are freed from mucus. It is important that it does not get into the lungs of the baby, as it can infect and cause inflammation. In a newborn baby, the skin is not able to absorb or give off heat, therefore, in order to avoid hypothermia, especially if it is winter, the kid must be wrapped in a warm blanket and brought into the house.

From birth and first feeding, no more than 1 hour should pass: the protective functions of the baby's immunity are weakened, and the body is not able to resist bacteria and dangerous viruses. In order for the immune system to start actively producing antibodies that fight harmful microorganisms, it is necessary to provide the kid with access to the mother's colostrum as soon as possible. This fluid contains all the nutrients necessary for proper development.

Ways of feeding

Depending on the direction of the female's productivity, feeding goats in goat breeding can be carried out in two ways: growing on suction under the uterus and feeding without a uterus.

Under the uterus

Feeding the kids under the uterus is the most optimal and convenient way and is practiced only with goats of low milk production. The cubs stay with their mother until they reach 3-4 months of age and suck the udder provided to them in free access as many times a day as they like.

When growing kids naturally, it is necessary to take care of the mammary glands of a goat: although the kids feed on their own, they do not suck out all the colostrum, especially in the first days. The secretions accumulate and can lead to the development of mastitis. To prevent this process, the female's udder is checked after feeding, and in the presence of colostrum or milk residues, they are milked.

After 3 weeks, the diet of babies begins to feed: 5 g of salt, the same amount of bone meal or chalk. At 3 months, this norm increases by 2 times.

As they grow older, the volumes of top dressing become larger and the goats begin to be given concentrated feed: a mixture of bran, oats and sunflower meal.

Upon reaching 3-4 months of age, within 7-10 days, the kids are weaned from their mother (it is allowed to let the kids go to the uterus every other day). After natural feeding, it may be difficult to transfer to artificial nutrition. The first day the kids endure it very painfully: they worry, bleat and refuse to drink milk mixtures.

After weaning from a goat, the diet should not be changed abruptly: milk is replaced with oatmeal, mixtures and mash of bran and wheat flour. The transition should be gradual, and after a week the kids should be ready to feed on their own.

Advantages

The scheme of feeding kids under the uterus has many advantages and benefits:

• Thanks to the beneficial substances in goat milk, kids have a strong immune system and are less susceptible to diseases;

• development and weight gain is faster;

• observing the behavior of the mother, the goats get accustomed to hay and concentrates faster;

• The breastfeeding process is simple and requires minimal effort on the part of breeders.

Disadvantages

The following disadvantages are inherent in the method:

• kids born in summer or late autumn completely suck out the goat when pasture;
• damage to non-working (rudimentary) nipples by babies, which causes their swelling, soreness and anxiety of the mother.

Queenless

This method of feeding is more troublesome and requires constant monitoring and care by the farmer. It is used in the breeding of highly productive dairy goats.

After the baby goat is born, it is immediately removed from its mother and fed with warm milk from a bottle with a rubber nipple or from a cup. The optimum temperature for warmed milk is around 38 ºC.

Even with this method of feeding, goat colostrum must be fed to the goats. It cleanses the stomach from the primary feces and contains in its composition all the useful substances necessary for the further growth of the kid. Babies, in whose diet mother's colostrum is introduced from the first days, are less susceptible to diseases and infections.

A newborn baby goat should immediately be taught to drink milk from a cup. All utensils must be sterile to prevent contamination by germs.

In case of artificial feeding, when the mother-nurse is absent, for example due to death or if she has mastitis, goat's milk substitutes are used instead of goat's milk. The composition of the mixture includes dry skimmed cow's milk, vitamin substances, fats of vegetable and animal origin, useful elements, emulsifiers and flavorings.

Advantages

Feeding without a queen, just like natural feeding, has its advantages:

• from the first days of life of goats, the farmer can independently control the process of feeding and their diet;
• Obtaining high milk yield from a goat in the dairy direction of productivity.

Disadvantages

The method of artificial feeding has significant negative aspects:

• kids weaned from their mother at an early age are more susceptible to diseases and infections;

• if breeders do not provide proper care for offspring, then the development of kids is slower and some of them may have a weak immune system and sickness;

• the method of rearing young animals without a queen is more expensive and complicated, it requires financial investment and considerable effort on the part of the farmer.

Diet and feeding scheme during the milk period

Within a month after birth, it is recommended to feed the offspring first 5, and then 4 times a day every 4 hours in small portions, gradually increasing the amount of food.

Up to 10 days of age, only fresh goat colostrum is included in the diet of kids (the first 3-4 days), and then milk - first 200 g per feeding with a gradual increase to 300 g. After 10 days, they begin to give freshly boiled and strained liquid oatmeal . You can add it to milk for 1 tbsp. spoon, increasing its amount every day.

At the age of 2 weeks, goats are fed with roughage (hay) and green grass. From 20-30 days of age, they begin to accustom to concentrates, starting from 20-30 grams.

In summer, young animals at the age of 1 month are recommended to walk on the pasture.

From the 31st day of birth, finely chopped root vegetables should be present in the diet of babies.

As a supplement of minerals and instead of green grass, for the prevention of vitamin deficiency, babies are given fresh needles, fish oil 4-8 g per day, table salt and chalk with bone meal.

At the age of 5 months, the grown offspring are transferred to keeping in the stall. In order for the body to receive all the substances indispensable for growth and development, the diet includes 1.5 kg of hay, 300 g of concentrates and about 1 kg of root crops. Feeding babies according to this nutritional scheme will provide them with a monthly weight gain of up to 4 kg.

Regardless of the method of feeding, clean and not cold water in large volumes should always be freely available to kids.

If you provide the kids with proper care and feeding, balance their diet, then with any of the methods of nutrition, they will grow up healthy and prolific. It is only necessary to show attention and surround them with care, and they will definitely thank you in the future with delicious milk or fresh meat products.

What else to read

Goat feeding at home: norms and diet

Goat feeders: requirements, DIY

How to milk and milk a goat: tips and description

Goat milking machine: requirements, DIY