# Pan Feeding



## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

Does any else here pan feed milk to their kids. We have been doing this for the last 6 years in individual pans from birth. This year I am trying to come up with a communal pan system for our wethers because we would not be so concerned with intakes on them. I want put them into a polydome and suspend a pan on the outside, and was looking to see what others were doing to get ideas.
Tim


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

NOPE I have personal opinions against pan feeding. don't want one of my does running to grab someones milk at a show. I use a lambar


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## Chaty (Oct 25, 2007)

Not a good idea for does


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## Kaye White (Oct 25, 2007)

:blush Ok...don't laugh...but at one time I raised replacement heifers for a dairy and I got REAL tired of trying to bucket feed 10 heifers in the same pen. I mentioned this to a friend in the construction/demolition business and within a week I had a men's urinal from a demolition site. Oh,yuck...but I wore heavy duty gloves and scrubbed that thing until it looked like new. I put a stopper in the hole and hung it so the milk was level inside. It worked great!!

Have you considered a 3-4" PVC pipe? Cut holes big enough to let them drink indiviually and hang on the outside of polydome.

I tried the pan feeding years ago after reading a D.Considine article... well, I ended up with a doe that contracted CAE (and was disposed of) because someone left a milk bucket in the aisle at a show. I saw the bucket and then turned my head, she crammed her muzzle in that bucket. UGH!
Kaye


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

Well, we wouldn't trust any of our does around a pail of milk. We have ones that are pan fed and nipple raised. We don't let them near other's milk at shows!!! All goats have a curious nature and know how to drink. I don't think the way they are raised has any affect on their love of milk, they were all raised on it, and know it's smell. After all they know how to drink water from a pail. Sorry I didn't think I needed to be chastisied about this, I know there are many successful breeders that pan feed.
Kaye, I thought of the PVC but was looking for something that would be easier to hang and would be able to work with the curve of the dome.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Hey Tim I wasn't chastising was just stating what I do. Chastising someone is just not in my vocabulary Sorry if you took it that way. I am a real newby when it comes to shows so need all the help I can get one way or another.


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## Chaty (Oct 25, 2007)

I didnt meant to sound that way either its just I dont do it as I have had frined that had goats drink milk at shows too ...I just dont do it ...sorry if you took it the wrong way...


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

I thought the opinions came across pretty strong. The problem in the scenarios above was not in the way the does were raised in my opinion but in the carelessness of people leaving milk around. Heck we have even seen breeders ( I shouldn't really call them that) slop the milk can down the alley at a National Show dripping milk all the way to the milk dump! We feel it our responsiblity to protect our does, and not to leave it up to themselves.
For us this pan feeding works well because want to know the amount each goat gets and eats per feeding so we do not like the lambar systems for that reason. Individual bottling takes too much time for us.
Raising goats is not a one size fits all endeavor and our goals are still the same - Healthy productive animals.
Tim


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

That is so very true Tim


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## Kaye White (Oct 25, 2007)

Sorry, not chastising at all. I do know lots of breeders that do pan raise.

Asked DH about the pvc pipe and he says there is a thin wall pipe that is used for drainage that is flexible enough to curve around the dome. Check with Home Depot,Lowes, a building supply store.??
Bestest I can do. 

Ooopppsss....just re-read you're last post. The pipe thing would be almost the same as lambar buckets, cause you pour the milk in. Hhhhmmm...I bought some really neat small black hard plastic feeders that hang with snaps to the panels...I think they came from jeffers...will look and get back to you.

My jeffer's copy/paste are not going through....but they're listed under goat supplies and in feeders.

Fence Feeder with Clips High-impact polyethylene feeder. Hangs easily on stock panels or fencing with clips. 11"W x 6 3/4"W x 6"H. Black only. 
M3-F9 Fence Feeder with Clips 
$6.97 

and mine have lasted 2 yrs. so far. I hang these on the stock panels and individually feed the does...well, kinda', they all run to each others...but I have one for each dry doe to make sure they get their amount.
Kaye


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

Kaye,
Thanks for the idea, I will check out the drainage pipe. I am not concerned about the feeding amounts on this system because they will be wethers and will have been started enough to go along well.
Tim


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## Kaye White (Oct 25, 2007)

:rofl TAG...your it! We've played post tag here.
Kaye


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## Guest (Feb 14, 2008)

I have pan raised kids before and what we used was old show feeder that we used for the sheep at shows. Its the long plastic pans with the hangers on one side. I know that the 4 foot longs will hold right at 2.5 gallons of milk. I know that you can get them in 2 foot lengths also. 

I have seen on some farm that pan feed all they use...like Kaye said....PVC pipe. The get the end caps, then start the hole about 4 inches from the end, and go the entire length just cutting off about the top 1/3. That way you can make them as long as you want.

Ken


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## [email protected] (Oct 26, 2007)

Tim, I think the pan feeding idea is great. 

DGJ had an article about this while back. The folks made a feeder on one end of their wall and used those square horse pans hung on a two by four to feed the kids. They also put up wooden panel dividers to make little run in stalls for the kids at feeding time. This prevented the kids from seeing each other eating and trying to steal the milk. I believe the pans could be popped off to wash out. 

I think they used pasteurized cow milk. That's about all I remember of that article.

It's good to know that this can be done successfully.


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## lovenmranch (Oct 25, 2007)

I would love to pan feed.. Can you please tell me more.. as in how you get them started..

Melissa


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

I thought babies needed to eat with their heads up for the milk to go in the right stomach.


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## SherrieC (Oct 26, 2007)

Um , I use kids Sleds to feed my pens of girls pellets and grain, because I have more pens of goats then good trough feeder right now, they cost like $7-$20 and I bet they'ld hold milk just fine, easy to clean, just better placed on the other side of a fence panel though.


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

Trisha and Sherrie, Yes, I am wondering about trying to feed on the outside to the ground so a sled or pan on the ground would work. I am just not sure if their necks are going to be long enough when I have to move them out of our kid barn. I wish I had kids around to give things a try, that is why I was asking for what worked for others. When we built our pan feeding system we originally thought we would need to move the pan up higher incrementally as they got older, but once we ran kids on it we found they did just fine with the pans hung over a 12" board until 8 weeks of age.
Tim


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

Ashley said:


> I thought babies needed to eat with their heads up for the milk to go in the right stomach.


We start them at birth and the other stomachs are not developed so we have never had a problem with the milk getting to the other stomachs but we have heard this also after we started doing it this way. The first feedings we hold the kid and give them the pan in an upright position, as they learn to drink then they are put on a pan that is hung from a board. It is not until they are much older that they will be actually drinking up. The kids like to extend their necks when drinking and we have heard that this prevents the opening on the other stomachs from coming open while drinking more than the position.


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

lovenmranch said:


> I would love to pan feed.. Can you please tell me more.. as in how you get them started..
> 
> Melissa


We start them from the first feeding in a small shallow plastic dog dish. Having the temperature of the colostrum at 105 degrees or a little bit more is the key. We find that they will take it at about 1 hour of age the best but if they still are not interested we wait another 1/2 hour until they stand in the box and are rambunctious. It all depends on the individual kid. We have only had one kid (out of about 180) that really thought the whole thing was stupid and that took more than 1-2 feedings to get the hang of it.
Tim


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## SherrieC (Oct 26, 2007)

was it a buck kid : )


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

SherrieC said:


> was it a buck kid : )


 Yep and we sarcastically named him Solomon for his wisdom :rofl


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