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Kid Raising |
We have bottle raised all of our kids for 4 years now. We attend the birth of each kid. Once a kid is born, they are wrapped in a towel, removed from the kidding barn and brought into our house where their navel is dipped in Iodine and tied off if neccesary. An identification collar is then put on each kid in the litter, and they are given an ID number, weighed and all information is recorded. Kids are fed heat treated colostrum in the first 20 minutes of birth. We feed kids every 4 hours in their first 24 hours of life. The second day through the first week, kids are bottle fed every six hours. From two weeks old to 8 weeks old, we bottle feed or "mamma bucket" or "lambar" feed our babies pasteurized goat milk. Kids are given tetenus antitoxin. disbudded between 4 days and 10 days old. Bucks that are to be castrated as wethers are done between 1 month and 2 months old, using a burdizzo. We give CDT shots at 4 weeks old and Bo-Se. When kids reach about two weeks old, they are moved to a heated kid pen with an outside play yard. When the kids get bigger they get moved up to a bigger yard with a house or barn. |