# Switching bottle babies from goat to cow's milk??



## bornagain62511 (Mar 3, 2015)

I was bottle feeding 3 kids whole cow's milk and they're doing great, and I ended up selling one of them along with another that was being raised by the mother. Is it OK switching immediately to whole cow's milk after the kids have been drinking nothing but goat milk from the mother for 2 weeks or more? Or will there be problems if they don't mix goat milk with the cow's milk at first?

thanks


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## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

For us we had problems with switching, even gradually. We switched over the course of a week, mixing each bottle. One of our bottle babies was fine aside from some mucousy poo for a day, but the other scoured nonstop and ended up passing. Of course, could have been unrelated to the milk... But I would definitely gradually switch. 

The real serious problem is getting the dam raised kid to take a bottle. Don't sell until you know that baby won't starve to death without it's mama.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Switching gradually over the week is best however I did not have that option with my current bottle boy. I think the goat milk & cow was done in about two days and he had no issues.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I've had to switch from goat milk right over and didn't have any issues. I have one now that is almost 3 weeks old and she was getting pushed away by her big brothers and so I started feeding her 3 times a day with whole milk as well, still getting mom just some extras and she hasn't missed a beat.
I agree to change as slow as you can if you can. Just because some (me) have had no issues doesn't mean that things don't happen.


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## CanucksStar-17 (May 3, 2013)

I've never had an issue with switching straight to cows milk. 

As deerbunnyfarm said though, you have to make sure that the kid will take the bottle and won't starve to death.


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## bornagain62511 (Mar 3, 2015)

thanks to each of you for sharing your advice and experiences!!


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## Gryphon3 (Apr 5, 2016)

I have a question regarding this. I have 3 kids, almost a month old. They have been bottle fed goats milk, from the dairy that I got them from. Unfortunately the lady does not have this weeks milk ready and it is late and I am out. I do have cows milk, but I don't know that I should give it to them. Any advice, quickly, would be GREATLY appreciated. I am scared that if I do this, they will not take it well. Please help.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Welcome Gryphon. if all you have is whole cow go ahead. If you have probiotic powder put half a scoop in it. Or a pinch of baking soda.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

All good advice. I always try to switch gradually. Annika has good production, but she isn't cranking out enough to feed quads, so we fill in the cracks with whole cow's milk. At first we were very careful to mix it with goat milk. But truth be told, we've gotten lazy and just use whatever we have on hand now. This is the second set of kids we've raised this way and we've had no tummy issues whatsoever.


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