Nurse goats
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Nurse goats
How viable is a market for goats used to provide milk for orphaned foals? An excellent dairy goat (Anglo Nubian breed) can produce 2,500-3,000# of milk in the 305 day milk cycle.
"The best things in life are worth waiting for"
No doubt that many have used goats for this purpose and that some have had success with it.
But I wonder if that may have been before the wide-spread availabilty of commercial mare's milk replacer. I'd be very, very surprised if the goat's milk supplied the optimum plane of nutrition for a foal compared to the powdered formula or better yet, the pelleted form that the foals are switched to after the first few weeks.
Quite frankly, raising an ophan foal is a b*tch. I can't imagine wanting to complicate that with having to milk and care for a goat as an intermediate step.
That said, I'm sure there are some folks out there that are really crunchy and would find the idea of using a goat "quaint" or somehow more "natural." Lots of luck to them!
I'm not a huge goat fan, I should confess
I'm convinced that most horses aren't, either, but who knows 
But I wonder if that may have been before the wide-spread availabilty of commercial mare's milk replacer. I'd be very, very surprised if the goat's milk supplied the optimum plane of nutrition for a foal compared to the powdered formula or better yet, the pelleted form that the foals are switched to after the first few weeks.
Quite frankly, raising an ophan foal is a b*tch. I can't imagine wanting to complicate that with having to milk and care for a goat as an intermediate step.
That said, I'm sure there are some folks out there that are really crunchy and would find the idea of using a goat "quaint" or somehow more "natural." Lots of luck to them!
I'm not a huge goat fan, I should confess
I'm convinced that most horses aren't, either, but who knows 
I don't care for the smell of goats.. I raised an orphan this year on Buckeye Milk Replacer and Foal Starter pellets, and he is bigger and better than the foals that were on their mamas. I'm a believer. I started giving the Starter pellets to all the foals after a month or so.
So Run for the Roses, as fast as you can.....
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KamiBrooks
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I can't speak to the nutrition (minerals/vitamines), but goat milk works better than cow milk for most species because the fat/protien molecules are smaller and more easily digested. If you're looking for a dairy animal to use for replacer milks, you should look into sheep because their fat/protien molecules are even smaller, more easily digested and sheep milk can be frozen w/o harming the taste or quality of the milk. Goat milk goes bad pretty quickly.
From a fat content perspective, mares milk is amoung the least amount of fat. Not sure if cows or goats are next, but sheep are the highest fat content. Not sure how the high fat content would affect the foal that you're trying to feed.
I wouldn't own a goat for that purpose. I've heard that they do good keeping down briars and brambles in pastures. From what I've read, its a huge pain to milk dairy animals w/o getting the milk contaminated, so if I wanted to use goat milk, I'd only buy from a dairy that is also producing for for human use because their milk is tested free of all the nasties that can get in there.
If I had an orphaned foal, I'd use the comercial mixes designed specifically for foals because they'd be nutritionally balanced for what the foal needs.
So personally, I'd guess the market would be very small if viable at all. Your best return on diary goats is probably going to be what they're used for now, specialty cheeses.
From a fat content perspective, mares milk is amoung the least amount of fat. Not sure if cows or goats are next, but sheep are the highest fat content. Not sure how the high fat content would affect the foal that you're trying to feed.
I wouldn't own a goat for that purpose. I've heard that they do good keeping down briars and brambles in pastures. From what I've read, its a huge pain to milk dairy animals w/o getting the milk contaminated, so if I wanted to use goat milk, I'd only buy from a dairy that is also producing for for human use because their milk is tested free of all the nasties that can get in there.
If I had an orphaned foal, I'd use the comercial mixes designed specifically for foals because they'd be nutritionally balanced for what the foal needs.
So personally, I'd guess the market would be very small if viable at all. Your best return on diary goats is probably going to be what they're used for now, specialty cheeses.
Indeed, but they don't reach that production until after their second freshening. Although Nubians can be excellent dairy animals if purchased from a proven herd, they're also dual purpose for meat. The ones I have I hope to show, but now that I have to board them, I'm stuck getting overcharged since no other place has the facilities to keep them.
"The best things in life are worth waiting for"
Rushtawin wrote:Although Nubians can be excellent dairy animals if purchased from a proven herd, they're also dual purpose for meat.
Don't tell that to mine!
Ha ha...
Goats are excellent clearing animals. We had to fence in a section of woods for them at first, with a shelter, while we were building our barn. Took them a day or two to clean out the entire area (just have to be sensitive to certain plants in your area that could be harmful). I joked that we should start a "natural" landclearing company with a herd of goats... free food for them, and I could relax all summer in a lounge chair while they're "working"...
Bummer that you're being overcharged... it's not like they need much for a simple shelter/pen area...
Yes, they are excellent at clearing - SUNY Cobleskill uses their Boer crosses over summer to mow down some difficult pasture land which I think later get used for bovine grazing.
At any rate, I took a livestock production class over fall 2006 and in bulk, it costs the college less than $5 per month (omitting labor costs) to feed, supplement, hay, bed, deworm, and medicate the college herd. And considering how I've been providing grain and paying for hay on top of what they're charging me for labor, and they're living in a horse trailer, I feel a lot over charged. Especially since the dog left little tooth marks all over their ears - turning their nice white ears into white with black streaks. These were supposed to be show animals, and I think (but am not sure) that that will be penalized against if I ever do get around to showing them. However, they're healthy and to my knowledge, haven't been in contact with any of their goats, which is nice because I don't think they test for CAE (though none of her visibly have it) and mine come from a CAE- tested herd.
At any rate, I took a livestock production class over fall 2006 and in bulk, it costs the college less than $5 per month (omitting labor costs) to feed, supplement, hay, bed, deworm, and medicate the college herd. And considering how I've been providing grain and paying for hay on top of what they're charging me for labor, and they're living in a horse trailer, I feel a lot over charged. Especially since the dog left little tooth marks all over their ears - turning their nice white ears into white with black streaks. These were supposed to be show animals, and I think (but am not sure) that that will be penalized against if I ever do get around to showing them. However, they're healthy and to my knowledge, haven't been in contact with any of their goats, which is nice because I don't think they test for CAE (though none of her visibly have it) and mine come from a CAE- tested herd.
"The best things in life are worth waiting for"