Goat Milking Question

[Botar]

We have a couple of goats we milk and my girlfriend has heard some people milk just once a day vs. our twice a day routine. Does anyone have experience with this, comments, or recommendations? Is it hard on the goats? Will milk production drop?

Botar

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I have done both. When the kids are about about 4 weeks old I start to lock them away from mom either overnight and milk mom in the morning, or lock kids up during the day and milk mom at night. That worked beautifully while still allowing the moms to raise their babies.

A month or so later when I semi-wean the kids, I would milk mom twice a day. But, because I like freedom I would still let the kids nurse every other day or so. That keeps the mom/baby bond going and allows me to plan trips away from the farm on a rare occasion because I could just re-unite the families and the kids keep mom milked for me.

Months later, when I'm tired of the twice a day routine and it's getting close to drying off time anyway - I go back to once-a-day milking. I may or may not ease the doe into the routine. It depends on the doe. If her production has dropped naturally there's not a problem dropping back to once a day.

If she's a really heavy milker, I might milk her out totally once a day, and then milk lightly (not empty her out completely) at the next milking for a few days - allowing production to drop natually and then proceed with one milking a day.

As far as production goes - I would still get almost as much per milking when I dropped to once a day. Eventually though, production did start a downward spiral, but that was after 10 months of continuous milking, which I think is to be expected.

Hope this helps you!

 

[Marianne]

My neighbor waits only one week, then does two milkings a day. She has dwarf Nubians and the kids are with their mothers constantly. I don't remember any details but her herd, including kids, look really healthy. Milk production stays up for her.

 

[Botar]

Thanks. We've done the semi-weaning thing where we milk once a day and allow the babies to nurse for the "other milking", but we've not just switched off to once a day yet. We've got a doe that is particularly unpleasant to milk, which has spawned this delima.