Another goat question, do you grain your babies?

[Our7Wonders]

I'm bottle feeding a buckling that I'll be using to breed my does to this fall. He's 7 weeks old. He gets 3 12oz bottles each day and free choice alfalfa/grass mix. We let him out daily for a bit to run and graze on the fresh weeds/grass that are coming in.

I also have a 4 week old doeling that we've retained - she's on her mama. She get's locked up at night in the baby pen so we can milk mama in the morning.

I've not introduced either to grain yet. Should I? I'm hoping the doeling will be big enough at 9 months to breed this year. And like I said, the buckling will be our breeder buck this fall/winter. Just want to make sure I'm giving them all the nutrition they require to be good breeding stock by the time they reach the age.

FWIW, I use organic barley and organic oats as my goat feed (for the milking does) and I soak it overnight with a little ACV. I top dress with BOSS, so if it's recommended that I start feeding the little ones feed this is what we'd be using.

Thanks!

 

[lwheelr]

Well, we use the same feed mix you do, without the ACV. We just let the babies nose in with the mom whenever they show interest. When they want it, they'll eat it.

Our kids generally start lipping at the grain about a week old, and get greedier from there!

If we wean the kids a little early, we give them grain mash to supplement until the point where they'd normally be weaned (we had to wean one set two weeks early).