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Is it bad to bottle feed with cold milk?

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blackshirej

Joined Jun 2010
103 Posts | 0+
Piqua, OH
Hey folks...I'm new here... I'll post more info on myself as well as my bottle feeding experiences here a lil later...but short on time so wanted to go ahead and ask this first.



Is it harmful to feed fawns cold milk?



...specifically, I'm feeding straight red cap milk (with probiotics added once per day at least until i get them moved into a small outdoor pen where they will have dirt and grass to munch on). I'm just trying to figure out if cold milk is bad or if most fawns simply aren't interested in cold milk so few people even bother trying.



Thanks! Will post more and get more involved in some of the discussions later!
 
It is OK to feed cold or cool milk. The fawns prefer warm milk, but that's just a preference. If your fawns will readily drink cold milk.....go for it.
 
from my experince fawns won't take the milk even if it's slightly cold. I don't know if it's harmful or not, but a few bottles have cooled down before i feed them and they wouldn't take it.
 
I find that if it is 100 degrees outside...cool/room temp milk is okay. I don't like to feed COLD milk, but I feel cool milk is just fine (sometimes better on those warm days); as super cold milk right out-of-the-fridge can be a shock to their system.



I love hot tea, but I don't sit out on the porch and drink it during the summer months...and I'm not a big fan of ice-cold tea either....



Listen to your fawns, watch them close as they take the bottle---cool or warm, they'll let you know what works best!
 
I'm feeding all 12 of my fawns cool/cold goats milk. They are all downing every bottle and wanting more. For the first week, they had warmed milk but now it all cool/cold. Good luck
 
Thanks for the info...sounds like it's safe for me to give it a shot then!



...of course, I'm sure they're going to be stubborn and refuse it. lol
 
I used to think that milk had to warmed, the mother doesn't serve it cooled. But heck the mother doesn't give vit shots, probiotics, wormer, etc, etc, etc either. So if the fawns like it, are healthy and saves you some time and work, why not.



Sandy Malone

Pasture Prime Farm

Rush, NY
 
Just an update...the fawns will take the milk cold and cool...sweeeeet!



I fed most of the bottle lukewarm (at best)...set the cold milk in the warm water for about 10 minutes or so. But one was still hungry after finishing the bottle so I gave it a couple ounces of milk straight from the jug and it took it too. I'll probably stick with the cool milk since I could definitely see a large amount of COLD milk being prone to shocking their system.



Now if only they could stimulate their own butts;)
 
For raising many fawns, sometimes a milk bar is the way to go. It is a bucket with tubes attached to multiple nipples. Once you get the fawns started on it they feed "free choice". This is a very good way to bottle feed deer you do not want "tame" as there is much less human contact involved. Take a gallon of milk and freeze it. Place the frozen block of milk in the bucket with the tubes and nipples. Pour a gallon of cold milk over the block of milk. The block keeps the milk cold for hours as it thaws and they feed.
 
Interesting...I'll have to keep that in mind for future fawns. Thanks for the info!



These two will stay on the bottle since my goal is to add a couple more tame does to add to the herd... most of our does we could walk right up and pet were old and began dying off over the past couple years. The tamest does we have left are two that will allow you to touch their nose if you're lucky before they back away...so I wanna change that:)
 

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