The objective of this work was to evaluate the replacement of whole goat milk for cattle cheese whey in the artificial nursing of alpine kids. The animals were distributed in a complete randomized design in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement made up with four levels of goat milk replacing for cheese whey (0, 15, 30 and 45%) and two sexes (three males and four females per treatment). The inclusion of cheese whey in the diet did not affect the growth of the kids from 7 to 42 days of age. Kids fed whole goat milk showed higher final weights, around 13.0 kg. They intaked 70.0 L/animal of whole goat milk, 172.0 g DM/animal/day of concentrate and they had an average gain of 137.5 g/day. For the kids fed with 15, 30, 45% cheese whey diet, the final weights were 11.1; 9.88 and 10.27 kg; the whole goat milk consumption was 59.5, 49.0 and 38.4 L/animal, the concentrate consumption was 148.0; 117.0 and 135 g DM/animal/day with gains of 122.2; 99.5 and 100.8 g/day, respectively. Food conversion did not differ among diets. The sex effect was evident from the age of 21 days but there was not a treatment × sex interaction. At the end of the work, at 70 days of age, the weight of the males (12.4 kg) was higher than the female weights (10.6 kg). The highest average yield (168.15%) was obtained when the kids received maximum level of whey. Nursing kids with up to 45% of cattle cheese whey is technically viable and increases economic return. However, using whole milk goat for nursing kids in milk cattle is economically unviable.
artificial nursing; economic evaluations; growth; milk replacer
