Cows milk for baby goats

[SDBoerGoats]

I know most every one on the forum uses cows milk for bottle babies. I usually use goats milk if I have a goat with only one that I can milk. These last two bottle babies, someone gave me a huge bag of milk replacer and I fed that to them with no ill effects at all, no scours etc. The 3 I bought yesterday have been on cow's milk from day 1. So I have to keep them on cows milk. (Good thing, yesterday it went on sale for $1.99 a gallon, whole milk! But only for the next 5 days and I can only buy 2 a day.)

My question.....if cows milk causes so many problems for humans, and that is why many prefer and can drink goats milk, then why is it that cows milk is good for baby goats?

The lady I bought these babies from is a veterinarian, raises 300 Boers and Kikos, has hundreds of kids a year, and pulls any babies from triplets and quads, so the doe only feeds 2. So she has lots of bottle babies, and they all drink cows milk. So I would think she knows what she is doing, but I still question this.

I am almost out of milk replacer, and since I am putting all the bottle babies together, I want to feed them out of the same bucket, so of course the same milk. So I will have to start slowly mixing in some cows milk with the replacer. I am also wondering about cost? Is it really cheaper to feed milk bought from the store? The replacer is like $55 a bag for the 25 lb bag. Milk is normally $2.59 a gallon. I know I have already fed a gallon of milk to the new ones and will feed another gallon today.

 

[20kidsonhill]

We asked our nutritionist at the feed store, and she didn't think cows milk had high enough protein in it for a baby, nor does it have adequate vitamins. With that said, I know plenty of people who just use whole cows milk. There are a couple fancier recipees out there, if you really want to go crazy and make your own mix.

We use Does Match, made by Land-o-Lakes. I often give them mother's milk for a couple days, and then go with a few days of the whole milk, with buttermilk and evaporated milk added. then switch to the Does Match. I don't have that much experience with bottle babies. The onse I have raised have done pretty well. Maybe a total of 5 over the years.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

See, I agree with the nutritionist! That's what I fed the others, Does Match. I fed the first 2 I had this year the same thing, they all did awesome, and ended up bigger than their twins that were left on mom.

I just don't like the idea that cow's milk should be good for goats, when people drink goats milk cause cow's milk isn't good for them. I want them fed the best way that I can, and since I don't have a goat I can milk to do it, I have to do either replacer, or cow's milk. I am leaning towards keeping my 2 already started on replacer, on the replacer, and I might wean the others onto it too.

 

[Godsgrl]

$2.59 for a gallon of milk? We're paying a dollar more than that at least per gallon. Best of luck with your goat kids.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

I know, it has gone down and I am surprised. There is also a sale the next 5 days for $1.99, I can only buy 2 a day but I have been stocking up since the babies I bought yesterday are on cowls milk. You coulda knocked me over with a feather when I saw that price.

 

[Catahoula]

Cows milk may be hard on some human and many animals...it turns out goat milk is hard on me too.
At our super market, sometimes you can get two gal of milk at the same time for less money than buying one gal...
Good Luck with the kids.

 

[Godsgrl]

I know, it has gone down and I am surprised. There is also a sale the next 5 days for $1.99, I can only buy 2 a day but I have been stocking up since the babies I bought yesterday are on cowls milk. You coulda knocked me over with a feather when I saw that price.

A great time for milk prices to fall when you have two hungry mouths to feed as well.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

Well, I bought more replacer, and compared it to whole cows milk. Right off, whole milk is only 8g of fat per serving and replacer is 23% fat! Plus the replacer has copper in it, which of course, cows milk doesn't. So I am mixing whole milk with the replacer right now to get them all on the replacer. So far, no scours!

 

[Bedste]

These are all very good points. I have been keeping mine on goat milk from their mother for the first three weeks and then switch over to whole cow milk from grocery store from 3 weeks to 10 weeks only because I want all the goat milk for myself. On occasion, because I am a newby, my milking doe would stick her foot in the bucket or my dog would stick his face in my milk bucket and when that happened I would give that milk to the babies so it would not go to waste. I went right back to cow milk .

Never had any problem.

 

[pridegoethb4thefall]

What a deal on milk! You know, you can usually buy more than 2 a day, you just have to buy it in seperate transactions, or leave the store, go to your car, then go back in and use a different checker. Its not illegal or anything.

At those prices, you should stock up- milk freezes really well you know! I would stock my freezer if I could get it so cheap!

Oh, and I give my bottle babies goat milk (store bought) the first 2 weeks, then slowly transition to whole cows milk until weaned. Has worked great for us so far.