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Teats and Nipples
How high should the teats be placed or held?
No higher than a mothers own teat. Well intentioned novices often mount teats too high. The result is pot-bellied lambs & kids that don't thrive.
Why is too high harmful?
When a nursing ruminant newborn stretches its neck (when nursing on mom) the esophagus forms a groove that carries milk into the true stomach (abomasum). When it does not stretch its neck, the milk falls into the first stomach (reticulum)--intended for forage digestion. This inhibits digestion and causes the reticulum to enlarge (hence the pot-belly). So place the bucket and teat low as soon as they know where too find the teats.
Should the water mixed with the powdered milk replacer be cool or warm?
Warm for newborns. Thereafter cool (as it comes from a cold faucet). Offering warm milk replacer causes gorging which in turn causes digestive disasters. Cold milk prevents this. Sure, mother's milk is warm--but it is constantly produced in small amounts. Buckets "produce" milk sporadically in large amounts.
To keep milk cool in spring:
Freeze water in 1/2 gal. soda bottles and place inside buckets.
To keep milk from freezing:
Fill a plastic bottle with warm water or mount a heat lamp above the bucket (use heat lamps with care).
