Joined May 2009
1,166 Posts | 0+
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
this is the first that I have heard of this. Is red cap milk out of grocery store. Is it better than zoologic? Pros and cons of both please
Thanks too all, this has been really helpful!!! I really hope this works out! 1st go around with it this year on about 10 fawns so we will see! This is regular whole milk bought from the store. Dont know about zoologic except price difference.
I measure out the amount of milk that I will need for a feeding and put it into a glass bowl when heating in a microwave. Heat it, then stir the milk to mix in any hot spots that there might be, then measure it out into your plastic bottles. After a couple of days you will know the exact time it takes to heat the milk in the microwave.
I used to use a microwave but found out that using a bucket filled with hot water and soaking the bottles in it works much better........sometimes depending on how many bottles you are doing you may have to replace the hot water once....but it still is quicker than trying to do a few bottles in the microwave at a time.......you can do many more bottles at one time by soaking them in hot water.......just my opinion!!
What would your thoughts be on using unpasturized milk right from the cow, and would you prefer Holstien or Jersey cow?
2 of my biggest fawns ever, was on micro,zoologic.dont see how it could be bad.but since we heard this we warm on stove in water.Dc
Dan jersey would have a higher fat content than holestein probly better with more fat content. Taking a chance of getting disease by not pasturizing but some do it with no problems.
Dan I would say now a days whole milk straight from the farm shouldn`t be too big of a risk. The milk from the cow is piped to the tank where minimal contamination can occur. No doubt there is a risk of Ecoli, coccidia and salmonella. But I have ran the risk for years with goat`s milk where I had more of a chance of contamination because of the manual milkings. If your very in tune to your fawns you will pick up on a little touch of any of the 3. If noticed quickly treatment is easy and easily cleared up. But if you look at the increase in fat content in milk from the tank verses store bought. Big difference. I drink a lot of milk from the tank. Look what it did to me! 
Joined Apr 2009
1,231 Posts | 0+
PA
Being a first time feeder of the red cap milk...Two differences I noticed right from the start was... 1. when mixing it does not froth up like replacer and 2 it doesn't leave that greasy residue on the inside of the bottles when they are empty...I think those are two good things that probably equal out to be better for the fawns.
Mitch P said:
i put my red cap milk in microwave in baby bottle for 1 min and 10 sec is perfect temps..it has to be between 107 - 120 degrees. then i mix 1 table spoon of super lamb with it AFTER HEATING for his first week.. too much will give him the runs and possible scour..each week i increase the super lamb. hes bigger than any other fawn i see in the wild
We've used red cap the last two years. It is much easier, no bloat, no scours! We heat it on the stove and add C and E guardian plus probiotics. We used a milk replacer before and were not happy with the results. Our fawns have done MUCH better on red cap!
I bottle feed around 50 fawns. Last year I used red cap milk for the first time. It did a nice job but had its draw backs, microwaving was time consuming given the volume of milk we went through. Red cap contains 24% protein & 28% fat.
This year I switched to River City fawn formula. The results have been fantastic. One bag at $125 feeds two fawns to weaning, that's $62.50 per fawn. No more micro waving, we adjust the tap water to the desired temperature, mix the appropriate amount of water to powder and whisk it for maybe 30 seconds to a minute if we're mixing,let's say 100 ounces, that's ten ounces for ten fawns. Then we pour and feed. No froth or foam. Our fawns this year were the easiest to start we have ever had. Their system developed faster than ever before. Went to dry food & pellets faster. Overall the best we have ever used. It is 30% protein & 33% fat with Other additives that are condusive to development. I stumbled across this product by a chance meeting with Jeff Graham from Pa. And it was everything thing Jeff said it was. For info on River City milk Replacer call Len Kershner @ 240-366-8199
This year I switched to River City fawn formula. The results have been fantastic. One bag at $125 feeds two fawns to weaning, that's $62.50 per fawn. No more micro waving, we adjust the tap water to the desired temperature, mix the appropriate amount of water to powder and whisk it for maybe 30 seconds to a minute if we're mixing,let's say 100 ounces, that's ten ounces for ten fawns. Then we pour and feed. No froth or foam. Our fawns this year were the easiest to start we have ever had. Their system developed faster than ever before. Went to dry food & pellets faster. Overall the best we have ever used. It is 30% protein & 33% fat with Other additives that are condusive to development. I stumbled across this product by a chance meeting with Jeff Graham from Pa. And it was everything thing Jeff said it was. For info on River City milk Replacer call Len Kershner @ 240-366-8199
I have used Red Cap when we ran out of replacer and while I did like how the fawns did on it it has too many other problems. I have 62 on the bottle right now and heating that much milk up just takes too much time. Storage is also a problem. At our peak we will use 30 gal a day. Plus, it is 30 miles to the nearest town, so if I have to run to town every day the cost of gas alone makes it much more expensive than replacer. I do ad pumpkin and yogurt to the bottles of my sick fawns but it takes to much time to do it for all of them.
Joined May 2009
2,369 Posts | 0+
Chillicothe, Missouri
We have 22 babies on the bottle right now. Red Cap for us has been GREAT! We keep it mixed with Ultra 24 in the fridge(bought one just for the milk) 24-7 mixed in a 2 1/2 gallon water dispenser with a tap on it(the kind u buy and refill @the store) Fill each bottle to the marks on the bottle. Place bottles in small coolers,Boil water on stove and pour in coolers and close the lid and off to the pens. Cost Effective,Time Saving and READILY avilable no shipping,no bloat,no pre ordering with left overs to sell and no one forgot to send my order or its lost on UPS are ALL reasons we don't feed anything else! 3 years and 75+ fawns are a good reason for a small farm to look at Red Cap Feeding
Russell and Wayne's are both great post with good points. Kinda like buying shoes, if they look good, fit good & feel good then they work. Good luck to everybody with their fawns!
Joined May 2009
204 Posts | 0+
St. Ignace, Northern Michigan
Started my buck & doe fawn on goats milk that I'm paying 9 bucks a gallon but now at 8 weeks I'm slowly adding Red cap. The problem is the 30 %
calcium and the buck is having trouble peeing and I think it is causing kidney stones.
Looking up old post says to use apple cider vinegar which I have started. Old post says it only affects only buck fawns. Has anybody using Red Cap ever have this problem with this much calcium.
calcium and the buck is having trouble peeing and I think it is causing kidney stones.
Looking up old post says to use apple cider vinegar which I have started. Old post says it only affects only buck fawns. Has anybody using Red Cap ever have this problem with this much calcium.
I have used red cap for 3 years, but I mix 2 cups of Fox Valley per gal. I have fed 10 bucks over that time with no issues, but is first I have heard this as issue. Alex
Joined May 2009
204 Posts | 0+
St. Ignace, Northern Michigan
We don't think it was stones because we were just on Red Cap for a couple days that was mixed with goats milk.We figured it was a urinary tract infection so LA-200 this morning and he took a bottle tonite. Its great to have these forums to go back and research problems. Alex,that calcium came from a old post under fawn kidney stones.