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  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] NAIS Praised on Local TV; Homemade Milk Replacer?
  • Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:16:42 -0800

I went to the USDA website to compare soybeans with powdered whole milk, and there are only six things that really need to be added to plain (non-fortified) soy milk: calcium chloride ("road salt") and iodized salt (the two minerals), vitamin B-12 and pantothenic acid (the two water-soluble vitamins), and fat-soluble vitamins A & D. The fat profile is somewhat different (with beef tallow being used to simulate saturated butterfat in commercial milk replacer). But I've pretty well concluded that it's not necessary, except maybe to use some pork lard as a vehicle to dissolve the fat-soluble vitamins.

There are several reasons. First, the only essential fatty acids for humans are all polyunsaturated, like natural soy oil, and we can synthesize all the saturated fat we need; cattle probably aren't much different. Second, the reason why mammals' milk contains saturated fat may be that it's simply the sort the body can most easily part with (the fat on a mammal's body _is_ mostly saturated). Why would the mother's body give away more unsaturated fatty acids (ones that are essential to _her_) than is necessary for the infant? So the remainder of the fat in milk is saturated.

To make things easy, I could boil soybeans and freeze them in advance. I could mix the water-soluble supplements together, and also mix the fat-soluble vitamins into some lard ahead of time. I did find people online who were using egg in milk-based "milk replacer" for goats, so I'll at least try it. An egg can be whisked into the melted fat to emulsify it. I'll definitely add some yogurt with live cultures, and some glucose too (there's not enough free sugars in soymilk to support vigorous growth of lactic acid bacteria). If I rinse all the utensils immediately to facilitate clean-up, it won't be that much more effort to grind and strain enough soybeans to make a gallon of soymilk, with a blender.

What amazed me is that our society is so consumed (no pun intended) with taking division of labor to ridiculous extremes. I never found a single recipe online for homemade soy-based milk replacer for calves. I did get quite a kick out of the milk replacer recipes calling for _milk_. I understand the value in simulating one mammal's milk with another's, but no one could afford to feed goats long on store-bought milk.

This is the first time I've been excited about keeping calves again next year, because there's something to look forward to beyond the routine drudgery of mixing up milk 2 or 3 times a day.

Bill
S. Oregon coast




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