# goat milk replacer



## goat^farmer (Dec 28, 2005)

can a person make goat milk replacer to raise kidds on instead of having to by the bags of it? fixing to do some experiments to see which works the best store bought or homemade ones. reason of this is because got a friend that lives 2 hours away going to give me some kidds to see how things goes they have over 50 goats plus soon be ovver guess 100 babies. experimenting is the only way to see what works an what donts.


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

From all the experienced advice I've heard and read, your best bet is to use goat's milk. If you don't have access to that, whole cow's milk from the grocery store is your second best bet.

Having used a milk replacer before, I don't recommend it. The kids scour (runny poops) and just don't do as well.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

NeHi


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## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

I second what Nehi says. Goat milk is the best, followed by whole cow's milk. Please don't "experiment" on baby goats. It is vital that they get goat colostrum for their first 24 hours. They will then be ready to drink pasteurized goat or whole cow's milk. I speak from experience. The first year I was in goats, we fed commercial replacer made for goat kids. The babies scoured and some bloated. Many did not grow properly and they did not have the immune systems my dam raised kids had. My dh was raising little wethers for market and lost almost a third of them. Those that did survive did not bring much at market. My replacer fed doelings seemed to do OK as kids, but none of them lived more than a few years. On the other hand, my milk fed bottle babies and dam raised kids have been doing very well. My wethers are very sturdy and big at market time and the doelings are ready to breed by fall. I have healthy milk fed does who are coming on 5 and 6 years old this spring.
Besides the milk, offer the babies clean hay to eat and start them on grain when they are 3-4 weeks old.


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## Kaye White (Dec 28, 2004)

Best of luck creating a home-made milk replacer. You probably know a lot more than I about balancing a replacer. I'd never take that on.

Something I've noticed in several posts about milk replacer...and should be made note of. Do not use ANY soy-based replacers. Yes, they are cheap to begin with, but they don't override the cost of lost kids or medicines to treat scours and bloat. Any milk replacer should be milk-based-100%.No soy. 

Same with me in choices to raise kids:
1.goat milk
2. raw cow milk from a clean herd.
3.store bought cow milk
4.then milk-based replacers
Kaye


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

goat^farmer said:


> can a person make goat milk replacer to raise kidds on instead of having to by the bags of it? fixing to do some experiments to see which works the best store bought or homemade ones. reason of this is because got a friend that lives 2 hours away going to give me some kidds to see how things goes they have over 50 goats plus soon be ovver guess 100 babies. experimenting is the only way to see what works an what donts.


unless you want to play and risk the lifes of little kids this would not be very good practice. 
there is a lot of info on this board where you can read what other people experienced with milk replacer. we don't need to re invent the wheel again. this might sound harsh but i don't mean to be. keep it simple


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Colostrum is of course cruicial in small ruminants because they are born sterile, they do not recieve immunity via the placenta like us or other mammals. So high quality colostrum, not powedered stuff with no immunity or home made recipes, they containe no immunity, and the ability of the intestine to absorb immunity is gone at 12 hours, so anything after this is wasteful. Then until ruminanting baby goats simply can't tolerate soy, and most cheap milk replacers are soy based. All milk based products are whey based, none contain (like infant formula) milk solids, its whey....so how about contacting a cheese plant near you and see what they do with their whey? That would be a good cheap source. Also milk plants, guys stand down the road in their trucks and trailers to take the old milk out of the containers at mills who package milk, then get the milk back, they dump it into containers and sell it back to farmers. The jugs are reground into new jugs.

Or going out of date milk at your local supermarkets? All milk products can be mixed together for the weeks feeding, milk, half and half, cream, coffee creamer, buttermilk, yogurt...just mix it all together and freeze each days ration for the kids.

But using short cuts until the kids are about 3 weeks old, is going to cause alot of bloat and scouring. After you have them eating hay and meat goat pellets, then yes you can slowly switch to the cheapest of anything in the form of a replacer, because they are ruminanting and aren't just single stomached animals.

Vicki


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## goat^farmer (Dec 28, 2005)

Naha Naha Naha on what you all think. the kids are going to get the first 24 hrs of milk with colostrum because it first things they need but what mean on experimment is trying certain things to see what works best because whens dont have access to goatmilk nah more have to use other things. thats why was wondering can a person make homemade milk replacer. heards of differen milk replacer butts not sure if worth using. i naha nevre had used it. heard of homemade milk replacer but not sure if it was for goat,calves or othes.if my friend wasnt so sick i askem them but cants now so thougth i ask or say here. my friend lives to far me to help out so have to learns different.do keep in touch but not rites now.health more impotnts than helps me with this. friends health is more importan than me bugs about goatcare. so cows milk be A K to use for kid goats? :shrug: my dad uncle use to raisey goats but he died just a few weeks back so i dont know nothing :grump: 

maysbe i can searh here an find out more.


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## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

Whole cow's milk would be good to use for the goat kids.


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## vallyfarm (Oct 24, 2006)

I've tried several milk replacers and had the same problems as everyone else, but somehow I got some Land-O-Lakes Kid replacer, and the stuff is fantastic! Cheaper than trying to mix up some concoction of your own. I've had no scours, lazy kids, or any problems, and the kids LOVE it too. Mike


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## hippiehill (Feb 5, 2006)

Here's a recipe a pygmy goat breeder gave me. She swears by it, but I have never used it:

1 gal milk
1 cup buttermilk
1 can evaporated milk.

Pour off 1/3 gallon of regular milk into a pitcher. Add buttermilk and evaporated milk. Top of gallon with remaining milk in pitcher. Shake well.


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## Shazza (Nov 20, 2004)

When I used to bottle raise calves we got the seconds powdered milk from a Nestle company. If you can get hold of the seconds bags it will bring the costs way down and then all you would add to it would be the yoghurt that has the acidofilis (?sp) thingy in it for the rumen....or the list of things that Vicki mentions.


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