[freethyme]

Morning everyone
I have read on the internet that you can feed orphan lambs    on goat  milk. Have any of you got experince of doing this. As I would assum it would be cheaper than powder milk if I can find a local goat dairy hurd.
Thanks for your help. 

[Ina]

To be honest, I can't imagine it would be cheaper - unless there's somebody more or less giving away the milk because they can't sell it for human consumption. I've not heard of anybody doing it, although I'm sure it would easily be possible.

[Northlands]

Lambs do really really well on goats milk.We often suckle pet lambs on goats, the goats take them readily and the lambs often do better than the ones on the ewes.  But I agree unless you have your own goat or can get it free or very cheap it wouldnt be worth while.

[Ina]

Just remembered somebody telling me (at a farm where I used to work) that they'd suckled an orphan calf on a goat once.. After a while, the goat had to stand on a box so the calf could get at her teats, but both calf and foster mum did well.

[LouiseG]

We raised a couple of Jacob lambs on goat milk it was so much easier than formula. Milked the goat in the morning set aside enough for the lambs and there was enough left for us as well. Would definitely do it again that way, but we did have the milk on sites so it was easy.

[Anke]

Lambs do really really well on goats milk.We often suckle pet lambs on goats, the goats take them readily and the lambs often do better than the ones on the ewes.  But I agree unless you have your own goat or can get it free or very cheap it wouldnt be worth while.

But PLEASE do NOT let the lambs actually suckle the goat, it will ruin her udder. Sheeps and goats udders are quite different (teat size and shape), so if you go down that route - milk out the nanny and bottle/lamb-bar feed the lambs. Only cheaper if goats milk is available on the same farm or free supply.
 

[freethyme]

Thanks for all of your help and advice, great to have quick access to such knowledge.
Thank you

[Northlands]

But PLEASE do NOT let the lambs actually suckle the goat, it will ruin her udder. Sheeps and goats udders are quite different (teat size and shape), so if you go down that route - milk out the nanny and bottle/lamb-bar feed the lambs. Only cheaper if goats milk is available on the same farm or free supply.

The difference between the size and shape of the teats/udder vary considerably between ewes. You will quite often a find ewes with bigger teats/udder than a goat. There can also be huge differences between the size and shape in the same animals in different lactations. So I wouldnt think that fostering lambs on a goat would be any different than fostering a lamb onto another ewe.  I certainly have not had any goats that have had any udder problems associated with suckling lambs and I have fostered many dozens of lambs on goats over the years.

[Penninehillbilly]

I reared 2 lambs on goats milk this last year, started off on powdered by others and I had to deal with scouring until I gradually moved them onto goats milk. They did fine after that.
I seem to remember the milk was SCA Shepherdess  £23 per 10kg (spring 2012)
I can't see it being worth buying goats milk, having goats and using the surplus milk is a different thing.
It all costs, the bottles seem expensive, washing up, keeping bottles clean and sterilized regular,
Then when they are grown up they break the gate down if they think you have a bottle for them! 
I wouldn't put a lamb direct onto the goat, I've read and been told how lambs are much rougher than kids (mind you, watching the kids feeding last year did make me flinch now and then   ). Also I believe they can give the goat infections such as orf.

[Anke]

If you want to make sure your goat has more than a couple of lactations with no udder problems - milk her out and feed the lambs/kids by bottle/lamb-bar. One of my nannies fed her kids in the first year as I wasn't able to milk her tiny teats but huge udder... a) she still has a lump on one side, b) her milk went down really quickly and it took forever to learn to milk her... In her second lactation she did 1570kg/365 days despite getting mastitis a couple of times.
So if you want to feed more than a couple of lambs per goat - a good milker should be able to do that, but probably only if you milk her out.

[fiestyredhead331]

we fed our lamb on goats milk this year but only because we had enough to spare, if not it would have been powdered lamlac which isn't that cheap, smells funny and makes the inside of the bottles yucky if you don't get the lumps out but as far as the lamb was concerned he loved the goats milk  and as a bonus himself and the goats now have a 'bond' I suppose and are great pals

[SteveHants]

we fed our lamb on goats milk this year but only because we had enough to spare, if not it would have been powdered lamlac which isn't that cheap, smells funny and makes the inside of the bottles yucky if you don't get

I quite like lamblac - tastes a bit like carnation...

[plumseverywhere]

we fed our lamb on goats milk this year but only because we had enough to spare, if not it would have been powdered lamlac which isn't that cheap, smells funny and makes the inside of the bottles yucky if you don't get

I quite like lamblac - tastes a bit like carnation...

Ewwwwwww Steve!!     makes me retch, hate it!

[fiestyredhead331]

my granny always put carnation in tea, maybe thats why I never drink tea 

[Sylvia]

Milk of any kind .....yuck   Seriously though, a lamb can damage a goats udder by it's hard butting. You can foster a goat kid onto a ewe though without any problems.