HOW TO FEED AND CARE FOR YOUR BABY GOAT
DATE OF BIRTH__________________ NAME OF GOAT______________________
WEEK ONE, STARTING DATE__________________
Immediately after birth, take the kid away from its dam and dry the kid off with clean bath towels. Keep it in a warm place, either in a heated room (about 45 to 50 degrees), or under a safely placed heat lamp (cover the sheild of the heat lamp with chicken wire to prevent burns). Spray or dip the kid’s navel with 7% iodine solution.
Heat-treated colostrum is given during the kids’ first 24 hours, about every 4 hours, as much as the kids will take (2 to 4 ounces, usually). Recommended temperature of the colostrum and milk is 103 to 105 degrees. Do NOT use cow colostrum. After the first day of life, the kid may be given pasteurized milk or heat-treated transitional milk every 4 to 6 hours (4 to 6 ounces, depending on the size of the kid). It is helpful to give the kid probiotics in their milk once or twice weekly until weaning. It is also helpful to give the kid a few millileters of a vitamin/mineral supplement (such as Lixotinic or Goat Drench) in its milk once weekly until the kid is about two months old.
Watch kid carefully for signs of a Selenium deficiency (unable to suck strongly, not able to stand strongly , not very active). If you notice any of these signs, give 1.5 ml of BoSe, intramuscularly. Repeat in 4 days if no improvement is seen.
Disbud kid at 1 to 10 days old, depending on size of horn buds. Any buds that are greater than ½ inch in height may be difficult to disbud, and will probably grow back as scurs again and again, especially in bucks. Burn down to at least a copper-colored ring, or further to white bone. Immediately, place an ice pack on the kid’s head to reduce heat and swelling. The burned area may be sprayed with an antibiotic wound spray.
Castrate any bucklings that are to be shown as meat goats (wethers). After disbuddingand/or castrating, give kid a shot of ml of Tetanus Antitoxin.
If you have more than one doe giving birth, be sure to segregate the kids into similarly-sized groups. Do not put newborns in with any other group until the second day, to avoid them being trampled. It is not recommended to put any more than 4 to 6 kids in a group pen, as this will avoid some of them being suffocated when they pile together to keep warm.
WEEK TWO, STARTING DATE__________________
Introduce good quality fine-stemmed hay, free choice. Kids may be fed pasteurized milk or equal parts pasteurized milk and reconstituted milk replacer, every 6 to8 hours (about 10 to 12 ounces). At any signs of diarrhea, give the kid about 1 – 2 ml of Kaopectate and instead of milk, use Pedialite or similar electrolyte solution. Gradually re-introduce the milk by mixing it with the Pedialite in increasingly higher concentrations.
**If the diarrhea is just starting and the kid is eating, I put one raw egg in the milk and that usually clears it up.**
To jump-start rumen function, 1.5 ml of vitamin B-complex may be put into their bottle once, or given as a shot (it will sting).
WEEK THREE, STARTING DATE________________
Keep good quality hay in the kids’ manger at all times for the rest of it’s life. Alfalfa is not recommended unless the goat is a mature doe giving milk. NEVER give alfalfa to a buck or wether.
Continue feeding pasteurized milk &/or milk replacer at about every 8 to 10 hour intervals (about 15 to 18 ounces each time).
WEEK FOUR, STARTING DATE_________________
Introduce grain. It is recommended that the kids be given a high-protein (about 18 to 20%) pelletized grain mixture that contains a coccidiostat, a drug that prevents the growth of coccidia, until they are about 5 to 6 months of age (They can then be gradually introduced to the 16 % dairy ration). Up until 6 weeks of age, keep grain with them at all times, making sure that they cannot get their feet into it and soil the grain. No goat of any age will eat soiled grain. After 6 weeks, their grain should be rationed to not exceed 3/4 lb per kid per day.
Pasteruized milk &/or milk replacer can be given every 8 to 12 hours (about 50 to 55 ounces total, depending on the size of the kid)
Give subcutaneous shot of 0.5 ml of vaccine for Clostridium perfringens, type C&D, with Tetanus toxoid. Repeat at 8 and 12 weeks. Keep in mind that there are other strains of C. perfringens that no vaccine has been developed for yet. This bacteria that causes “overeating disease” occurs most often in kids that are being given too much grain for their body size.
WEEK FIVE, STARTING DATE__________________
Be sure to check the kids’ grain twice daily for evidence of feces to be removed (bird droppings, mice droppings, bits of goat droppings from their hooves, etc.). If there is a chance that you didn’t get all of it removed, then throw out the grain and give fresh, even if this occurs every day. Once weekly, put a small amount of trace mineral salt and granular kelp (if you can get it) in a corner of their feed dish.
Kids should be able to handle a twelve-hour period of time before their next bottle or lamb-bar feeding, giving them a total of no more than 64 ounces daily total.
WEEK SIX, STARTING DATE___________________
Check kids’ hooves to see if they need to be trimmed. This is usually a 2-person job, one to hold the kid and one to trim off the excess growth from the heel, side edges and tip of each hoof.
Continue to give the kid twice daily feedings of milk and/or milk replacer at 12 hour intervals, no more than 32 ounces each feeding.
Time for the second round of preventative coccidiosis treatment with Albon (Sulfadimethoxine). Refer to WEEK #3 for amounts to give.
It is a temptation to allow the kids to go out and graze the fresh Spring grass. Keep in mind that this practice could result in the kid coming down with bloat and/or coccidiosis or other parasite. The immune system of a young goat is not fully developed until it is about a year old.
WEEK SEVEN, STARTING DATE________________
Same as week six. Make sure that kids do not eat more than ¾ lb. grain daily. As the kids are consuming a lot of milk and now should be eating grain and hay daily, make sure to check their stall for wetness. If you can’t kneel on the bedding without getting your knee damp, then take out the wet bedding and put in at least 4 inches of fresh straw. It is helpful to sprinkle lime on the damp bare stall floor before adding the fresh hay. Some people also use peat moss or the new pelletized straw as a base under the bedding to help absorb moisture.
WEEK EIGHT, STARTING DATE_________________
If the kids have not had any health setbacks and are growing nicely, then begin to cut back on the amount of milk they are given. The change should be made gradually over a week’s time, eventually giving them the equivalent of 32 ounces of milk and/or milk replacer daily. Kids at this point (or sooner, especially if the weather is warm) should have clean warm or tepid water at all times.
Time for the second shot of Clostridium perfringens, type C &D, with tetanus toxoid (3/4 ml, given subcutaneously)
WEEK NINE, STARTING DATE__________________
Give the kids 1 lb. of grain daily, along with the usual good grass or mixed grass hay and clean water. Over the next 7 days, gradually reduce the amount of milk or milk replacer given to none by the end of the week. The kid is now weaned. Continue to give the high protein medicated grain (contains a coccidostat) at the rate of 1 lb. daily per kid, switching to regular dairy ration at about 6 months of age.Make the switch gradually over a time period of at least 5 days.
WEEK TEN, STARTING DATE__________________
Your kid is now weaned. Continue to provide ample mixed grass hay. Switch from high protein medicated feed to regular goat or dairy feed at around 6 months of age. Every day, check the appearance of the kid’s stool (droppings). Any sign of a tiny white worm attached to the droppings is a sign of parasite infestation. Also, any sign of a consistency other than little round “berries” may indicate that the goat is infected with parasites and/or eating too much grain or not enough hay. It is good to have this checked out by bringing a sample of fresh stool to your veterinarian. Kids can die from parasite problems.
Give the wormer Ivermectin (or equivalent), about ¼ teaspoon, orally.
WEEK TWELVE, STARTING DATE _________________
Give third shot of Clostridium perfringens, type C&D with tetanus toxoid, ¾ ml, subcutaneously.
EXTRA NOTES:
- If your kid is a doe, it is recommended not to breed her until she is about 75 lbs. She should not give birth until she is at least 13 months old (5 months is the gestation period for goats).
*Empty and refill the water bucket daily, more often if you notice that it is soiled. Remember to trim the hooves every 4 to 6 weeks, until the kid is about a year old, then the trimming can be done less often, about every 6 to 9 weeks.
*I strongly believe in lots of fresh air and excersize, so I get the kids into a pasture as soon as possible. Mine have their own pen, and when they are a couple of weeks old, I open a small opening so that they can go into the main pen and pasture when they are ready. They LOVE it! They will go back to their own pen for food, water and at night.
