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3:23 pm
January 4, 2012
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One of our pygmy goats became a mother for the first time last night, and she has not taken to caring for her kid. We are prepared to and have all items needed to bottle feed the baby, but does anyone have any advice or suggestions to offer? The mom won't let her baby nurse, do we need to start milking the mom right away? Will she die if not milked? Will the baby suffer horribly if she never gets the first colostrum from her mother?
Anything you could offer will help, just want to make sure the baby is well cared for.
10:51 pm
July 15, 2011
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Oh, 54, I'm so sorry to hear this. We had a pygmy goat give birth unexpectedly years ago but were fortunate that she was able to take care of her young one. Please keep us posted – maybe goatgal will have some advice? Good luck!
4:07 am
June 1, 2010
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@54R4H:
Here's what Suzanne reported when Sprite showed no interest in her (Sprite's) kid.
http://chickensintheroad.com/barn/the-one-with-no-mother/
http://chickensintheroad.com/barn/as-the-goat-house-turns/
http://chickensintheroad.com/barn/a-mother-after-all/
ps: welcome to CITR!
6:28 am
September 16, 2010
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Try holding the mom and letting the baby nurse for a few days. The baby really needs at least a little colostrum to provide immunity but needs to be within the first 24 hours, within 12 hours is better. Sometimes you can try putting some of her milk or urine on the baby to make him smell like her.
8:22 am
January 26, 2010
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Most effective, in my experience, is taking an old rag and rubbing it all over mama goat, particularly around the chin, forehead, and horn area so you pick up the smell from the scent gland areas, then rub the old rag over the kid. Plus, hold the mama in place so the kid can nurse for a couple days to help her adjust to the newness and work past that initial ultra tenderness in the teats. Just another tip passed on from the old folks who taught me years ago – they'd milked a milked a couple dozen goats a day for decades.
Also, I'll second the advice about getting colostrum into the kid ASAP. Absolutely essential.
8:33 am
January 4, 2012
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Oh, thank you everyone, all of this will be helpful. We milked momma, but unfortunately it wasn't salvageable because she kept stepping in it. I do have one more issue. Since the momma wasn't caring for her baby, and didn't even clean her, the 8 geese we have were pecking and attacking the baby terribly, and we moved the baby to safety and have been bottle feeding her. We will try to coax momma to let the baby to nurse later today. BUT! Any suggestions about the geese? I don't want them to hurt my little goatie (Cashew!).
1:37 pm
December 14, 2010
Online
In the beef farming business they call these orphans and just bottle feed them. If this is her first she may do better with the next, if not, she should go to market. You might be able to get another nanny to adopt her. Smear a little vicks on mamma's nose and introduce the kid. By the time she can smell again the kid will smell like her.
Edited to correct some computer lapses.
5:44 pm
February 8, 2009
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It is better to give them colostrum where mom stepped in then non at all, if you don't use it for yourself but for baby, it doesn't matter.
I have a goat like that..she just doesn't want her babies..she is lucky that she is an excellent milker, she loves to be milked and her teats are big so easy to handle.
Because she is such a good milker, she keeps getting bred, but we know her babies are bottle babies right from the start.
So what I do is make sure they get their first milk, then bottle feed them and after 3 weeks get rid of the boys.
People love bottle babies, easy to find them a new home so I band them if the new owner wants that..and they leave the farm.
Next fall her daughters are getting bred for the first time, hope being a bad mommy is not in their line..otherwise I get myself in a lot of bottletrouble.
10:09 pm
July 17, 2011
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I just read this post, all excellent advice. My only suggestion is when your first doe kids, after she nurses her kid, Milk the doe and freeze the colostrum. If you have a doe that rejects her
offspring, dies or didn't produce enough for twins, triplets, or quads you will have a supplly if it happens again. I'm not sure how long it will keep frozen. I guess I'm lucky haven't needed to use the frozen colostrum. FYI I have a recipe for making your own kid formula using powder milk, whipping cream, eggs, water and a live probiotic. The babies love it and it is cheaper than what you can buy at the vet or feedstore. Let me know if anyone needs this recipe.
Good luck 54
11:04 am
January 4, 2012
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Thank you, everyone, for all of your advice and suggestions. They have come in handy, and we are more prepared for future births.
We are bottle feeding Cashew, and she loves it. She loves to follow us around and hop and prance. Below is a picture we took of her after she was born. Her cuteness level hasn't changed, she's just a little fatter now 
Hopefully in the future I will have more baby goaties to show you. Thanks again!
12:22 pm
June 1, 2010
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help.
can't.
stand.
the.
cuteness
7:05 pm
January 4, 2012
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Cashew gets cuter every day. She's so rambunctious, too.
We do have some other females that we are pretty sure have a bun in the oven. We are more prepared if we have a non-momma in the future, and we will be sure to freeze some colostrum also. We do plan to bottle feed all babies from now on though, it 1) is FUN AND CUTE! 2) makes them much friendlier toward us.
The adult goats are wary of us. We purchased goats to milk initially, but we sure have had a heck of a time getting them on the stand (not to mention not kicking the milk bucket over).
Does anyone know if we separate and bottle raise new kids and we re-introduce them to the human-shy adult goats will they revert back to being human-shy? Or will the bottle fed and human-loving ones always be comfortable around us if we keep them in the pasture with the shy adult goats? Thanks everyone!
10:19 pm
February 8, 2009
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I have a few bottle fed goats..not by choice btw…en they are a little more open to humans but not that much that I would make the choice of going strictly bottlebabies.
The bad mommy I have is a bottle baby herself and I wonder if that has anything to do with her being not a good mommy.
Milking? just put them on the milkstand..use their horns to hold on to, or a collar…or just a piece of rope like mine have lol.
Give them something yummy to eat to take there attention away..and milk…if they kick..either lift up one leg.(and milk with one hand but they can't kick with the other leg that way, or tie back legs together…they get used to it quickly.
Bad mommy just jumps on milkstand herself..she liks being milked I guess.
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