Bottle feeding ruminants.

[Beekissed]

BEE
I always stimulate the butt and tail area when bottle feeding. It is natural for the momma to do that....the kids kick into high gear when you do that!

and it is funny as heck to watch.

So I won't be the only one playing with babies butts! Whew! I was afraid it would be like the ear wax thing!

My book says that newborn lambs rarely feed for more than seconds at time and must lay down for a nap before they hit it again. I will really have to train my boy in some patience, that's for sure! Sort of like a real baby....suck, stop and burp, suck again! I can do that!

 

[FarmerChick]

oh yes even the doe never lets the kids nurse long.....the kids hit her hard and she gives them only a "little" time and walks away. never do kids nurse long to bloat or anything. momma knows best!

 

[Homesteadmom]

We raised 5 day old calves on the bottle with replacement & we used the keep their head high proticall & we never had bloated tummies or belly aches either! 11 was skeetish from day one to last day & the others were friendly & 1 was super friendly & loving, he would lay his head against you like a dog does & push anyone else out of the way that was getting petted. He would follow me around in the pen when i would go in to hose it down to help keep them cooler in the extreme heat & keep laying his head on me, every time I moved. Dh made a stanchion(sp?) to feed them thru when they were on bottles & buckets.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I of course don't know this is true but I have read that with goats, if you have their heads too high, the milk can end up in the wrong part of the stomach for digestion of milk. That the best postion is just a little above horizontal. That directs the milk into the right stomach part and help prevent bloat which is what happens when the milk doesn't digest fast enough and ferments in the stomach.
I tend to believe it because when I watch them nurse mom, that is the positon of their heads.

 

[FarmerChick]

you're right ETR

you want the height to be about the same position as the doe would be if it were nursing.

When I say I feed high, I don't me straight up just to clarify.....LOL----I mean I feed kids from the ground. At first you have to have them in your lap or in your legs to get the first acceptance of a bottle. But after, when they figure it out, then I put them on the ground and feed from a doe's height, and not straight from above......I hold the nipple down and make the kid slouch under and up like the position the mom would be in.

make sense?---LOL---hard to explain my technique and fortunately I don't have to bottle feed alot. I hate bottle feeding...any kid not on a bottle is the best kid to have..HA HA HA---you know!





for everyone else...here is a description from my goat website I rely on and this is what they say----

********



Getting a kid to nurse a bottle takes time and patience. Sit or kneel and place the kid between your legs. Placing your thumb across the bridge of the kid's nose and your fingers under its chin, insert the nipple of the bottle into the kid's mouth, using your other hand. Put your thumb across its eyes to simulate the darkness of being under its mother's legs. Hold the nipple in the kid's mouth, moving it in and out of the mouth and squeezing gently to stimulate the kid's interest. Once the kid learns that the nipple delivers milk, it should begin to suck. Getting a newborn to accept a bottle is much easier than an older kid. By then the nipple does not feel like mom's teat and the older kid will fight acceptance of it. Sometimes it is necessary to let the kid get hungry by waiting six or eight hours before offering it a bottle. Do not let the kid have access to dam's milk or water during this waiting time. When the kid gets stronger, you can sit on an overturned five-gallon bucket, place the bottle under your knee, and the kid will feel like it is under its dam's legs nursing her teat. If at all possible, graft an orphaned or rejected kid onto another dam. Bottle babies are not desirable. They are expensive to raise, almost never fit in with the herd because they view themselves as people, and are dangerous when grown because they still perceive themselves as that eight-pound kid who used to climb into your lap. The most dangerous goat on your ranch is a grown male who still believes he is a bottle baby. Someday he will hurt someone unintentionally -- probably you.