I have been bottle feeding my fawns since 1992 with various degrees of success. I have found that goat's milk works the best for me. However, I will be unable to get any goat's milk this year. For those of you have successfully raised bottle-fed fawns, what types of milk powders have worked best?
Bottle feeding
- Thread starter Porterwhitetail
- Start date
Joined Apr 2009
343 Posts | 0+
Cascade, Iowa
Would you recommend Land-o-Lakes kid replacer over deer-specific milk replacers such as Zoologic or Fox Valley?
This year i am using Fox Valley and i know many farmers who have had awsome success with it. Thats just my opinion. Good Luck!
I have used Zoologic for the last 2 years. I go mostly by the directions in the box and move them to 3 times a day as fast as I can. I have never had any problems with loose stool. I have a small farm, and I have only raised 8 fawns on the bottle but I won't use anything else. Also, Dr. Shipley has some good fawn guidelines on the Illinois deer farmers site that is very helpful. http://www.ildfa.com/
I will be using regular red cap (store bought) pasturized milk this year....the Millers (RDM Wildbunch Whitetails) did it last year and had the healthiest fawns they have ever had to date....now they also did feed the fawns all they could eat and they said they turned out to be the biggest...healthiest and earliest weaning fawns they ever have had!
I have used kid milk replacer and lamb milk replacer both seem to work fine no problems, but this year i'm also going yo try cow milk to see if i can increase my fawn size.
Joined Apr 2009
1,231 Posts | 0+
PA
We will be using Fox Valley again this year. Last years fawns are the biggest that we have ever had. Most are bigger than the does from the previous year. It is a great product. Good luck to everyone this year with your fawns.
Joined Apr 2009
1,562 Posts | 0+
cental Pennsylvania
I used sav-a-caf Grade A ultra 24 last year, when i weaned the fawns they were about the same size as the mother fed ones, so i guess it did well. i am going to use the sav a caf goat kid replacer this year because I have a lot of fawns to feed this year and i can get it in 25lb. bags, and its cheaper.
All this talk about red cap and now I think I am ready to try it. Has anyone used unpasturized milk straight from the farm?
Yes Rusty I did use the unpasturized milk straight from my buddies farm....right out of the milk tank........it worked great and everything was fine....but I'm told you are living a little dangerously by doing this.....being it is unpasturized all it takes is one of the cows to have some type of sickness and you could wipe out your entire fawn herd for the year........I just can't live with that chance being out there........but otherwise like I said it did work ok for me last year.....
Joined Apr 2009
1,231 Posts | 0+
PA
Good point! A cropless year of fawns would be detrimental to the ability to afford feed in the future. Maybe pasturized is way to go.
Joined Apr 2009
524 Posts | 0+
Russell, MN
Used Fox Valley last year and my doe fawns were just as big as the mother raised. Had no problems with it at all. I believe that more feedings, less milk is the answer.
I did over 50 fawns last year usig pastrized goats milk. They grew great. Bucks and does. I'm switching to Fox Valley this year because i plan on doing over 100 fawns this year, and its just too difficult to keep that much fresh goat milk on hand. I went through 80+ gallons a week last year.
I don't think what product you use to feed to your babies is as important as making it consistant and spending alot of time with them. I can imagine Having a fulltime job and feeding fawns 4x a day can make you a nervous wreck! I always thought that trying to get them to eat feed was the most important part of the whole process. If I can get them to eat feed 1/2 way though the bottle feeding process, then they are going to grow. Regardless of what kind of milk of how much I am giving them.
The key is, get a routine that works, stick with it, and have luck on your side!
I don't think what product you use to feed to your babies is as important as making it consistant and spending alot of time with them. I can imagine Having a fulltime job and feeding fawns 4x a day can make you a nervous wreck! I always thought that trying to get them to eat feed was the most important part of the whole process. If I can get them to eat feed 1/2 way though the bottle feeding process, then they are going to grow. Regardless of what kind of milk of how much I am giving them.
The key is, get a routine that works, stick with it, and have luck on your side!
Joined Apr 2009
624 Posts | 0+
Clinton, PA
For those of us that work 40-50 hours a week has anyone ever did partial bottle feeding? I have been thinking about it and if it would work. My thoughts were to just give a bottle once or twice aday when i check on them just to keep them friendly, and actually let the mother do the real feeding. My only thoughts were if the cow milk i give would clash with the mothers milk. My soon to be in-laws milk 90 head so i would be able to get as much milk as i wanted.