More on bottle feeding baby goats.

While I'm not entirely sure this winter will ever end, the one thing I am sure about is that baby goat season is going to be in full swing. Soon.

What is the best way to feed a baby goat? Let someone else do it. Thanks, Deb!

We are glad, again, that we waited until later to breed our goats. I'm really glad not to have to milk in this bad weather and I'm really glad not to have to worry about cold little baby goats. Or bottle feeding. Sure some people love it. I don't. I usually don't hate it but it takes up a lot of time.

There are a some reasons why you would bottle feed baby goats:


1. The momma won't take care of them. Nibbles is a prime example. I do not know why she is such a bad mother but she gets an F-.

2. Some people feel that bottle raised goats are more snugly. Bein' as how we are not goat snuggler this argument does not hold water. Eventually we train the goats to do as ordered. It can be a hard road but strength and honor always work.

3. Some diseases are passed from the momma to the baby goats in their milk.

4. You are the purchaser of a baby goat and intend to raise it yourself instead of waiting for the baby to be weaned by the momma.

If you are stuck in this baby-goat-bottle-raising dilemma there is a good way around having to do it yourself. Mostly it involves a willing - or unwilling- participant and a hard working farm dog. We are also lucky that Debbie will nurse anything. Dahli will not nurse anything... she just doesn't have a choice.

What kind of cold hearted people are we that we don't delight in bottle feeding baby goats? Cold. We are ice cold. But mostly we don't have time for shenanigas and we have a whole barnyard full of people who need our attention. So having one of the other goats let the babies nurse is just easier for us.

They are pretty stinkin' cute....

When we sell the babies we switch them over from momma-fed to bottle-fed for the buyers. We have never had a problem with this. Ever. There has never been any crying. It is not hard. No one starves to death. Honestly I do not know what the big deal is about it - but wow I hear a lot of sad stories. Not us. We just march out there and get 'er done.

If you are moved to tears by trying to bottle feed a baby goat I would suggest that you set your jaw, steal your heart, and fix your eye on the task at hand.

Here are some links to teach you what works for us:

• This is our number one post on How To Feed Baby Goats or "Be the Udder."

• And another iteration on what works for us. 

• We'll throw in one more if you are considering getting into goats this year - a few things you should know before you start answering CraigsList ads.

Don't let this little cutie get your goat - just get that bottle feeding done!

It looks like we have one more winter storm to get thru. Yesterday just about everything melted and now it's a big slushy, icy mess. We are expecting more snow later today and tonite and then maybe... just maybe we will start getting out from under this stupid winter.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Now, is everyone ready to march out there and give that baby goat a bottle?

ps. If you didn't see this be sure to tune into the new and improved 'the facebook' page. I'm not entirely sure what I think about it... this change. But I'm working on making the best of it.