How to Raise a Calf on Goat Milk
Raising a young calf on goat's milk is relatively simple and has many advantages over powdered milk replacement products. Goat's milk is highly digestible and has more calcium, phosphorous and magnesium than cow's milk. Calf scours, a type of severe diarrhea, is often encountered when using commercial milk replacement. It does not occur when correctly feeding a young calf on goat milk.
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Instructions
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Preparing the bottles and feeding
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Prepare the bottles and nipples by sterilizing them with boiling water. When feeding a newborn or small calf start with a quart of watered-down goat milk that consists of three-fourths milk and one-fourth water. Heat the milk mixture to lukewarm. Feed the calf three times a day instead of two. This aids in digestion and keeps the animal from scouring. Increase the amount fed until you have built up to a gallon a day. Gradually reduce the amount of water until you are feeding just milk.
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Milk the goats once a day. If they are nursing kids, take the babies away from them at night so their bags are full in the morning. After the milking, the kids can be put back with the mothers. They will get enough milk during the day to be amply nourished.
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Introduce grain and hay as early as possible. After the calves have been given their bottles, try to hand-feed them a little grain. Keep hay available, and they will soon learn what it is and take advantage of the roughage. In six weeks the young calf, if eating properly, can be weaned from the goat milk, but it doesn't hurt the animal to take it a little longer. Young calves seem to fare better all around if you have at least two or three of them together. They learn to eat faster and like the competition of playmates.
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Tips & Warnings
Letting the calf nurse directly from the goat is not a good idea. Calves butt their mothers in order to stimulate the milk glands and let the milk down faster. As they grow they butt harder, which can severely damage a goat's udder and ruin it completely. Some dairies provide a bench and fencing protection that allows the calf to stick its head through only enough to get hold of the goat's teats. It is still not advisable because the calf's teeth are much larger and sharper than a baby goat would have. They can actually cut the doe's bag and cause bleeding and infection.
