Bottle calf and goat milkk

[farmmom]

Has anyone raised a bottle calf on goat milk? I'm considering buying a freezer calf in the spring. At that point I will have 4 does milking, so should have enough milk for a calf and me. How well does a calf do on goat milk? or should I buy formula? I have had very bad experiences with formula in my kid goats, so I am concerned about feeding it to a calf. (All my kids are now fed milk)

[topside1]

Goats milk is all I use....Goats milk as you know is easy to digest, so it's excellent for calves....Topside

[lyceum]

Our bottle calves have been getting nothing but goat milk for almost 8 years now. Unless all the goats are dry and we have a surprise calf. We have had calves that were not doing well on replacer, switched to goat milk and it was a whole new calf.

Carisa

[pookshollow]

That's good to hear - I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I'm going to have five does milking come spring - for just two of us.

I will be buying direct from the farmer - he has dairy cows and goats, and he said he will supply me with a calf when I'm ready. No sales barn calves for me! (or goats)

[Chaty]

I agree as I dont use replacer...to many problems with it.

[dosthouhavemilk]

We have never had any issues with Milk Replacers but our calves are generally on colostrum/milk for over a week before being switched over.
We've used goat's milk on rare occassions when I've had extra and there hasn't been any extra cow's milk to feed them.
I sell to dairy goat owners who raise their calves on their excess goat's milk.