This weekend I made the jump into goats by adding two bottle babies! I haven’t had goats in over twenty years and so I did quite a bit of reading before taking the leap. I knew I wanted a dairy breed with a high fat content. Nubians were my first choice but then these little cuties that are lamacha Oberhasli cross came up for sale from a local dairy for a wheel of a deal. Given, bottle babies are a feat but I also wanted friendly easy to handle goats so I think this will work out well.

I went to the dairy farm with the expectation of bringing home two does. Unfortunately, I mistook the sex of one and now have a breeding pair. From all the research I did I knew I didn’t want a buck on the homestead but mistakes happen and I can’t blame anyone but myself for my haste in choosing these cuties.

At least now I won’t have to lease a buck. And down the road I can probably sell him if need be and come out ahead. Now to decide if I should keep their horns or disbud them. Any thoughts? The farm I got them from keeps all their goats with horns as well as a majority of farmers I know. Hmmm, to disbud or not to disbud.

So far they are eating well. Though the doe takes a little more work to get her to start suckling on the bottle, I am pretty sure she’s a couple days younger than the billy.  After their meals they are fun to watch jump and frolick, poor Zeus my little terrier has a panick attack anytime they get to close to him; he’s defiantly not a fan of sharing my attentions but at least he’s keeping his distance and staying nice. Ares my large lab cross is over the moon to have something new and exciting to watch.

I won’t be keeping the kids in the house much longer as I hear it can cause a bit of an identity crisis for them. During the day they have a shed all set up with a pen. They cuddle together and get to wear cute little sweaters to keep them extra warm. Then in the evening I bring them into the house after their last feeding, just to make sure they don’t freeze to death. And then back out in the morning with a warm sweater after breakfast. Hopefully this cold spell ends and spring makes an appearance soon so they can stay out in their space full time and be goats.

Wish me luck! Have you ever had bottle babies? What has your experience been?