Re: blind goat Posted by Vicki McGaugh on June 23, 2001 at 18:39:22:

In Reply to: Re: blind goat posted by Helene on June 23, 2001 at 12:16:21:

I enjoy the forum and the questions :)

I bottle feed from the second they are born. No kid needs an udder full of colostrum, each of my kids get a 22 ounce bottle of colostrum and then its on to milk, frozen milk if this is the first doe to kid for the year. Colostrum is sold around here for 10$ for a 22 ounce bottle so I keep it to sell, but yes you can let the kid nurse, I think it makes for everyone being mad though! Kids who nurse reluctantly take the bottle, moms scream (Nubians) for thier kids!

My customers use whole milk because it is the closest to the butterfat of goats. Not even Saanens have 2% fat! Whole milk runs around 3 or 4 which is very close to fresh Nubians and LaMancha's. I also don't like using the 2% because god only knows how they defatted it :)

CAE is a disease that is easily tested for. Either with their blood or easiest, pull some clean fresh first colostrum, put it into a clean container and send it into Pan American in Austin Texas. CAE is passed from mom to kids mostly via the colostrum though also in the milk. So, to be able to guarantee the health of my kids for sale, and also because alot more than just CAE is passed in raw milk/colostrum, I heat the colostrum to 140 degrees in a double boiler for 1 hour. This kills the virus, but does not kill benefical immunity. I also pasturise all the milk fed to the kids at 165 degrees give it a big ole stir to make sure all the milk is 165 degrees and turn it off. Because I have so many kids to feed usually I just keep the batch on the stove, so I can heat it up some and feed, I only refridgerate house milk or sold milk. This makes for an easy "rule" at my house, if you are feeding the babies only milk from the stove may be used, nobody ever takes milk from the fridge to ever feed a baby, they are to starve first waiting for me to come home to pasturise. I also know this way I didn't have a break in management. Even though my adult does test negative for CAE, and we haven't had a CL abscess in my personal herd, I still use prevention and always will. It's really hard to know for sure if the health of your herd is from the pasturization, the prevention you use for disease, your nutrition, or if it is simply because you have learned so much with all the years you have had goats. But whatever it is I am not willing to change it. My customers only will purchase bottle fed kids raised on prevention, so my sales demand this work for the price. Vicki

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