Post by mzgarden on Mar 6, 2016 12:33:13 GMT
For those of you that pull babies at birth and bottle feed right away -- we couldn't manage that with our schedule - next year hopefully.
So, plan B was to leave them with mom for 2 weeks. After that, they are in a kid pen at 6pm overnight and the moms are in a separate pen directly across the barn. We come out at 6am and milk out moms, warm and feed the milk back to the babies in bottles - so it's been about 12 hours for them. The rest of the day the babies are with moms.
The babies are energetic, have little tummies and are growing great. It's been a week since we started this and I feel like we're not making progress with bottle feeding. The babies are just not interested in the bottle and it's a real battle to get them to take even 6 ounces. We're using the same lamb nipples on soda bottles we used last year with our bottle baby buck & wether, but they were bottle babies from birth before we got them. These kids will not come to the bottle, so I sit on a hay bale and back the baby up to the bale between my legs, hold it's chin up and get the nipple into their mouth, making sure it's on top of their tongue. But it's a struggle.
So, for those of you that switch at 2 weeks from 100% dam raising to morning bottles -- is there a trick we're missing or does it just take this long to convince them the bottle is food and a good thing?
As always, your perspective is appreciated.
So, plan B was to leave them with mom for 2 weeks. After that, they are in a kid pen at 6pm overnight and the moms are in a separate pen directly across the barn. We come out at 6am and milk out moms, warm and feed the milk back to the babies in bottles - so it's been about 12 hours for them. The rest of the day the babies are with moms.
The babies are energetic, have little tummies and are growing great. It's been a week since we started this and I feel like we're not making progress with bottle feeding. The babies are just not interested in the bottle and it's a real battle to get them to take even 6 ounces. We're using the same lamb nipples on soda bottles we used last year with our bottle baby buck & wether, but they were bottle babies from birth before we got them. These kids will not come to the bottle, so I sit on a hay bale and back the baby up to the bale between my legs, hold it's chin up and get the nipple into their mouth, making sure it's on top of their tongue. But it's a struggle.
So, for those of you that switch at 2 weeks from 100% dam raising to morning bottles -- is there a trick we're missing or does it just take this long to convince them the bottle is food and a good thing?
As always, your perspective is appreciated.
I will spend more quiet time with the babies in a smaller pen to let them learn to trust me and offer treats - like their pellets and maybe a raisin or two.
