Why do we bottle feed babies ?
Every year at kidding time we get the question, "why don't you let the momma's raise their kids".
Here is a brief explanation as to why:
2 - Johne's (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) a wasting disease
3 - Mycoplasma causes arthritis, pneumonia, mastitis, conjunctivitis and septicemia
4 - Subclinical Mastitis, the causative bacteria can lay dormant in the immature mammary gland, then rear it's ugly head once the doe freshens.
Here is a brief explanation as to why:
- While there are many benefits to raw milk, and we make sure our girls are healthy and tested for any possible diseases, we need to be aware of the things that can be unintentionally passed on to our kids (4-legged) through raw milk
2 - Johne's (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) a wasting disease
3 - Mycoplasma causes arthritis, pneumonia, mastitis, conjunctivitis and septicemia
4 - Subclinical Mastitis, the causative bacteria can lay dormant in the immature mammary gland, then rear it's ugly head once the doe freshens.
- There are many herd, like ours, that do test their goats annually for CAE. We prefer to go the extra mile with our Herd Health Program to insure animals that we keep as replacements or animals our buyer purchase have the assurance of getting healthy and productive animals. This protects our investment as well as our buyers.
- There is also data showing that does can get mastitis from nursing their babies.
- The process of bottle feeding causes the kids to imprint on their humans. This is very helpful in what will hopefully be a life long partnership in the milking/dairy process. We enjoy feeding time as much as the kids enjoy their bottles
- The practice of feeding pasteurized milk is much more work than letting the kids be dam raised. This is not to say "our way" is the only way to raise healthy kids, but rather it is our preference and a management decision that works for us and our animals.