Goats Milk Question

[EMSChins]

When handfeeding kits, how long can a small amount of goats milk stay out before it goes bad?

I have frozen small amounts in ice cube trays and thaw them as needed but even one cube is more than I need for one feeding but I don't feel that it is healthy to heat it to room temperature, then place back in the refrigerator and then re-heat it again for the next feeding, etc etc etc... I have been throwing what remains after each feeding out but feel that there is an awful lot of waste here.

I have seen that some breeders put it in a water bottle and hang it from the cage for older kits and change the bottle every 24 hours...can I assume from that, that it can stay at room temperature for a period of time at least that long? Not that I think I want to keep it out that long but being able to use it for more than one feeding would be nice.

How does anyone else who has handfed or supplemented kits done it without wasting a tremendous amount? Maybe there is a better way to keep it and heat it to room temp than what I have done???

 

[tunes]

You can leave it out for 48 hours in the fridge, and you can reheat it one time. I would not leave it sitting out in the air for any amount of time more than when I am using it. I would not risk it going bad, and I would NEVER leave a milk product hanging from a cage for 24 hours. Would you drink milk that sat on a counter overnight?

You would be much better off buying fresh goat's milk at Wal-Mart and using what you need out of the container. The kits eat it much better as well.

 

[RDZCRanch]

The longest I've ever left a bottle hanging on a cage was 4 hours, but typically the kits would consume what was there within an hour of me hanging the bottle. I use small bottles for the milk though, so there's never more in the bottle than one kit can consume in an hour or two.

You only heat milk one time. I heat a small amount one time and if there is leftover milk, it gets tossed. You learn as you go exactly how much you need to heat every time.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

Walmarts around me didn't even carry ANY goats milk until a Walmart superstore was built that was fairly close to me. Even then they only carry the can goats milk not the fresh

 

[tunes]

Tab - You can microwave milk twice. That is straight from a rehabber. Since you aren't warming it to boiling, but just basically taking the chill off, it's okay to heat it twice. I've been doing that for years with no ill effects; however, I much prefer to use the fresh goat's milk.

BTW, no regular Wal-Mart I've ever been in even has groceries. I just assumed most of the Wal-Mart's had switched over to the super side and every one I've been in has carried the goat's milk. I've also seen it at every health food store I've been in in the last 3 or 4 years.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I don't heat milk in a microwave. It usually smells off to me when it's been warmed then cooled again so I won't use it again.

I can find goat's milk at any of my local grocery stores. I've never had a problem finding canned, powdered or fresh and I'm in the middle of the desert with the nearest substantial city being 90 miles away.

 

[Cuddlebug]

I mix up a batch, freeze it in ice cube trays. When I need some, I defrost it in a glass the refrigerator. After that I warm up small amounts in a shot glass that is sitting in warm water. I will reheat it once and toss any left overs - which there usually isn't much.

 

[seachin]

I use little custard dishes with lids to thaw a cube overnight. I take what I expect to feed a kit into a syringe and microwave a mug of water. I let the syringe sit in the warm water to the temperature I want and feed kits from that. The warm water helps keep the syringe milk warm while I feed. Whatever is leftover in the syringe is tossed. The remainder in the custard dish stays in the refrigerator for up to two days and is tossed after that and a new cube is thawed.

 

[EMSChins]

Thank you Seachin - this is along the lines of what I was looking for, sounds very reasonable. I have no problem wasting what is left in the syringe, I just felt like I was throwing away a whole cube after only feeding a few cc's.

Thanks everyone else for your suggestions as well. There is always something new to learn or a better easier way!

 

[Sycamore Chins]

Or you could make smaller cubes as well!
When we handfeed, we have a little candle/bunsen burner thing. Candle on the bottom with a little ceramic dish on top (I think it was a scented oil burner?). We heat up water and then warm the syringes in the water. No microwaves, so we can do it in the chin room instead of running around the house.

Now, we're getting more into the hanging a bottle on the cage. It usually takes 3-4 days to get them on the bottle but once we do, we only change the bottle a 3-4 times a day. We use the small 8oz. plastic bottles and only fill them an inch or so full, until they start drinking more than that. Works fantastically!

 

[tunes]

You mean you were wasting an entire cube at each feeding? That's not what I was getting from your post. I thought you meant that each time you fed, the little bit that was left was wasted. I didn't realize you were using an entire cube for each feeding. My apologies. A single cube would last me the 48 hours and then I would throw what remained out.

 

[Megan]

When I handfeed I would heat water in the microwave in a shot glass, and then just sit my syringe in the glass until it took the temp off. I never liked heating the actual milk in the microwave. It also let me use just as much as I needed, and I wasn't heating up a large amount.

I think we finally started getting the fresh goats milk at wal-mart within the last 2 years. Its in the organic section here.

 

[EMSChins]

Yep Tunes - I was throwing away the remains of an entire cube (even though I tried to make the cubes small, it is still too much for a single feeding - even with larger litter supplementing)!

Don't know why I didn't think about sitting the syringes in hot water to heat - even though that is how I warm my CC when I need to feed one of my chins that!!! LOL!

I guess it is because I generally wait until the last minute and then end up thawing the cube in the microwave on low and then don't feel right about refrigerating it again - so I just pitch it. I will start thinking further ahead and thaw the cubes overnight and then just heat what I think I need over a 24 to 48 hour period of time.

 

[chechinchillas]

I keep my chin room at 65 degrees and low humidity. Once I get the babies to the point where they will drink the goats milk from the bottle I use a cleaned and sanitized first stage baby food jar and fill it up with goats milk straight from the fridge, not warmed with a black rubber stopper and glass stem. I change it every 24 hours with a new bottle and the babies have thrived every time. When I change the bottle, the previous bottle does not have a spoiled smell at all.