Keeping month-old new to bottles babies alive

jcran · 03-14-2011, 02:50 PM

A friend just gave me three month-old boer bottle babies (Feb 13, 15, 1

JUST taken from moms...they DON'T want to take a bottle no way, no how. I tubed them, tried pritchard teats, tried the caprine regular teats (kind that go on lambars). What next? This morning I think I got some milk down one's lungs, he coughed and coughed! I've got hay and grain in front of them. If they were day-olds, I'd have solved it. I had NO idea they were going to be month-old dam raised kids! I would have said NO! (they are from a really big farm that will pull a kid if the doe is losing too much condition-I'd rather they pull them at birth but I'm not in charge of the world yet). Any suggestions? They are so frightened and I feel soooo sorry for them!

03-14-2011, 03:01 PM

Joan, just keep trying to get them to take the bottle, if they get hungry enough they will take it..

Caprine Beings · 03-14-2011, 03:05 PM

Just keep trying Joan. Boers are not known to be very bright color crayons if you get my drift. They will balk and moan and groan, but in the end hunger wins. I would try calming them with a touch of benedryl, like 1/4 cc, then try feeding them. And I would feed them separately so you have full attention on one at a time. You might contact Michelle (Aja-Sammati) as they just got dam raised babies and have successfully transferred them over.

The one who aspirated on milk, listen to the lungs. If they are raspy then you may have problems.

It is very frustrating and makes you feel stressed. Even newborns at times are stubborn. I simply put them back and wait until another feeding session.
Tam

(posted same time as Barb)

NubianSoaps.com · 03-14-2011, 07:08 PM

No hay, no grain, no water. I know it sounds horrible, but they will not starve. It is that important that month old kids go back onto the bottle than you have to starve them into submission. Make sure the bottle milk is warm, their moms milk would be 100 or 101 degrees. Put the nipple into their mouth and work their jaw up and down, squishing the nipple between the roof of their mouth and their tongue. They will get hungry enough aout 18 to 24 hours to suck. You can't let them win and cave and let them have water, tube them or give them hay and grain. None of that until they are nursing from the bottle at least 16 ounces of milk 3 times a day. Goat milk of course is best but Vitamin D grocery store milk is better than anything else. Vicki

jcran · 03-14-2011, 07:40 PM

Thanks; I will do it! Wish me luck!

Ashley · 03-14-2011, 07:44 PM

And if you have any does in milk, you may be able to put them on the stand the put the babies up to the teat since they know what that is.

jcran · 03-15-2011, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashley

And if you have any does in milk, you may be able to put them on the stand the put the babies up to the teat since they know what that is.

Oh that was the first thing I tried when I got frustrated Sunday night...no doin'! I've never been this unsuccessful...usually it takes me a day or so and then wa-lah, it works. Tonight I did get one to reluctantly take a little

prairie nights · 03-15-2011, 12:49 AM

Joan,

have someone cover their eyes while giving them the bottle, its all about the technique, get the bottle in their mouth and keep it there, have someone else hold a hand over their eyes so it's dark like it is under the belly when they nurse, we have improved 100% our dam raised to bottle transfers with this trick.

They won't readily take the bottle, but they will take it, just keep fighting them. I am yet to have a kid I can't force to take a bottle - pritchard nipple is my nipple of choice for transitioning then onto a rhineheart. Squirt some into their mouth but keep the nipple IN the mouth the entire time, slide it in and out to stimulate sucking. It can be done. Best of luck

Jana
www.oldpathshomestead.com

chell20013 · 03-15-2011, 02:39 AM

What Jana said will work. I have one of those not so bright boer "crayons" that I had to transition. I just held her head up in the crook of my arm, stuffed the bottle in and squeezed. She would swallow and I'd squeeze some more. It took quite awhile for her to get the clue, but she did eventually get it!

Faithful Crown Nubians · 03-15-2011, 11:26 AM

I tried that method with a Pygmy goat one year....actually I tried everything I could think of, even switching different nipples (lambar nipple, pritchard, regular baby bottle, and the lamb nipple that does over the the container) Never did get her to transition. She was weaned at 6 weeks...much younger then I had wanted.

Goodluck w/ the babies! This is why I refuse to buy a young dam raised kid that has to be on milk. I will not fight with them. I have no patience when it comes to that...Now if I had a dam raised kid and the mom died or something happened and she couldn't feed him/her then that would be different...

Keeping month-old new to bottles babies alive

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