Goat Milk Colostrum Benefits

Goat milk colostrum--the first milk your goat produces after she gives birth--plays an essential role in maintaining the health of newborn goat kids. Once you have goat milk colostrum available, consider freezing several 1-quart bags of it so you always have some to bottle-feed to newborn goat kids, if necessary. Although it̵7;s not a miracle cure for all ailments that may afflict young goats, it can provide a range of both short- and long-term benefits for them.

  1. Provides Passive Immunity

    • One of the most amazing features of goat milk colostrum is its ability to provide passive immunity for the baby goats that consume it. Over the course of her lifetime, the mother acquires immunity to a range of diseases. She may acquire her immunity after she gets sick herself or after you give her a vaccination that immunizes her against a certain disease, such as overeating disease, a common vaccine-preventable ailment. When she produces colostrum, all the antibodies in the doe̵7;s body that protect her against these diseases pass into the colostrum, providing short-term protection for the baby goats when they consume the colostrum. According to Mary C Smith, co-author of ̶0;Goat Medicine,̶1; this passive immunity is strongest and most effective when the baby goats drink the colostrum soon after birth, preferably within six hours.

    Reduces Neonatal Mortality

    • Most goat kids that die during the first two to three days following birth didn̵7;t have access to their mothers̵7; colostrum, according to Smith. Since they don̵7;t have passive immunity from their mothers, goat kids that don̵7;t drink colostrum fail to have resistance to diseases and infections during the days that they are most weak and fragile. During this time, they are still recuperating from the stressful experience of birth. Typically, a newborn goat kid should stand up and nurse within about an hour of birth. If any of your goat kids fail to do this, bottle-feed it using frozen goat colostrum or by milking the mother (if it̵7;s a single birth).

    Improves Long-term Health

    • Goat kids that consume higher amounts of colostrum immediately after birth typically show higher daily weight gains than goat kids that didn̵7;t get any colostrum at birth, Smith notes. Bigger, healthier doelings (female kids) that haven̵7;t experienced major health problems during the first few months of life reach breeding weight (about 80 to 90 pounds in full-sized goats) more quickly than sickly goats, which means you spend less money having to raise them over the winter before breeding them. Similarly, you can sell bucklings (male kids) for meat sooner since they̵7;ve gained weight more quickly.