Making Lamb Milk Replacer

Connor stopped at our local Runnings while I was on the road with kids and sheep. We needed bottles and milk replacer that night and Runnings closes early. A friend – who is bottle feeding a few farm babies of her own – pointed out a few issues we may have with the powdered milk replacer available in stores. The biggest being that many contain soy. Hayden(4) is deathly allergic to soy. He had his first anaphylactic shock last year as the farmers harvested the soy around our home. We used the milk for that first night and the next mornings feeding but then I sat down with my laptop and did some research on making our own lamb milk.

Luckily for us, many people choose not to use the store bought powdered milk and have shared the recipes that worked for them. There were several available recipes with lots of support for each. We ended up going with the most cost effective for us option. We already had a few large cartons of heavy cream in the fridge and since we have chickens eggs aren’t typically an issue. I did have to call a few people and ask where the best place to buy dairy milk was and how much I should expect to spend. My call to my mom wasn’t helpful since even though she lives in a household of 8 people, the last time she bought a gallon of milk was during the pandemic at a gas station. Due to Hayden’s(4) allergies our household runs mostly off oat milk. We do make a lot of whipped cream – thanks to our ISI dispenser from Costco business center – so we often have heavy cream but no daily drinking milk. I don’t think I’ve bought a carton of milk since Annabelle(7) was around 2 years old.

I suggest doing your own research on what is best to use as I am by no means an expert. I can merely get on google and try my best to sift through the onslaught of information. The recipe we chose to go with is quite simple and we will use it for any future bottle babies if their mothers milk isn’t an option.

4 Cups Whole Milk

1/8-1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Egg

1/8 TSP Baking Soda

A couple things to keep in mind. The egg and heavy cream should be whisked together and then added to the whole milk. The baking soda should be added to the bottle right before feeding not into the milk mixture. I premix a full jug of lamb milk at a time. It comes out to just a little less than 16 cups as I do not fill to the top of the jug. I leave space to shake it before each bottle filling. Our vet was out for a farm call this last Tuesday and said they are looking great. If he was concerned about their health obviously we would be looking into a different milk option for them but the lambs love it and the vet was unconcerned.