# Whole cows milk or replacer?



## brittanymarie719 (Feb 10, 2013)

I have a few day old baby goat, which is better goat milk replacer or whole milk from the store? I don't have a milking doe so can't give actual goats milk. He's already had some goats milk from the person I got him from.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

I like to use Myenberg goat milk. You can get it in powdered form and mix with water to feed. Some stores carry it in milk form but that is expensive. 
Whole cows milk is also just fine. 
Everyone will have a different thing that works for them but those are the 2 I use.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

We have use replacer.. But all I can find around here is unimilk and Dumor.. I am not a big fan of replacers... This year we are using whole cows milk for my doe that I bought that was on pasteurized goats milk... (We are using our milk for our three wether kids that are leaving soon on a bottle)


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## Jigglypuff598 (Jan 9, 2013)

What breed of goat do you have? Small goats like Nigerian Dwarfs seem to do great on just cow milk from the store. In my experience Boers seem to do better on a homemade milk recipe or if you have someone that lives fairly close to you, buy goat milk from them and feed it to them.
Some people have success with the milk replacers but majority say that the homemade recipes cause less scouring.
You can look up the Coni Ross milk recipe, but it's a little more expensive to make. An easy one that lot's of people use is take a gallon of whole milk with 2 cups removed, 1 can evaporated milk and 1 cup of buttermilk. Mix it all together and feed 8 to 10 ounces 4 times a day, increase ounces at it gets older. You can google bottle baby goats and find examples of how much to feed at what age. It's usually so much percent of their weight a day but off hand I can't remember what it is. I'm sure someone can come on here and say.
Also they say soy based milk replacers are the worst for causing scours.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

Most bottle baby problems I have seen on here are related to replacers ... there are good ones, though. I believe Land O Lakes is good. My first choice would be whole cow's milk with a pinch of plain yogurt (what a bottle-raiser suggested to me).


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## alliecat23 (Jan 25, 2013)

I just raised two alpines on lamb milk replacer and they did awesome and hot 30 pounds at like 5 weeks so good growth rate for them!


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Whole cows milk is best in my opinion...many babies struggle with digesting the replacer..I just dont risk it. 
I highly recommend you reading this article on how much to feed baby...it is very good and can save the baby from illness whenyou feed correctly from day one. I also recommend getting cd Antitoxin and Thiamine and keep on hand..If you need them..you need them NOW..Thiamine is RX from a vet..just get the whole vile.its not expensive..CD Antitoxin can be found at some feed supply stores or ordered from a place like Jeffers : ) 
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/overfeedingnewbo.html


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## brittanymarie719 (Feb 10, 2013)

Thanks so much! He's a Nubian, gave him some whole milk and he loved it so no milk replacer for him


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

if he gets a little runny...give him a pinch of baking soda in 3 cc of water and drench him...then do smaller amounts more often just until his tummy gets used to the change..good luck and congrats on your baby


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## brittanymarie719 (Feb 10, 2013)

Thank you!


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