Mixing milk replacer with our heavy duty wisk.
To start, use Pritchard teats with warm artificial milk or colostrum.
After one day switch to latex (red or natural) teats in bucket teat units with at least 2 teat units on them. As soon as they learn to nurse readily, switch to cold milk. Offer it ad lib in the bucket.
Around day 5 offer grain (commercial lamb starter or soybean meal with cracked corn) in a feeder. Place a light (a heat lamp in winter) over the grain. We sprinkle leaves from legume hay over the mixture to encourage intake.
After 2 weeks switch to rubber teats.
By the fifth week their consumption/day will surprise you. So will the milk cost! Begin diluting the milk with water.
Week 6 and after offer only water. Tough love at this point is important!
Milk temperature-why cold?
Warm milk offered ad lib to orphans causes gorging and digestive disasters. Cold milk limits intake and encourages lambs to eat less costly dry feed instead. Remember-mother’s milk is warm but it’s produced constantly in only small amounts. Orphan buckets “produce” milk sporadically in large amounts.
So, use warm milk for newborns only. Thereafter, cold.
from Premier’s February/March 2009 Newsletter
Using Premier’s square bucket, bucket teat units and latex teats.
Customer Testimonial …
Hello, I just wanted to send a huge thank you for the goat/lamb kid bottles that we ordered with the Pritchard version. They are fantastic! We have always used calf bottles in the past as that’s what we have on hand because we also dairy farm … but today one of our goats had triplets and they took to the bottles instantly!
from Sandra Houtz, PA
