How do I catch a skittish doe for milking?

[so lucky]

I'm so glad you got her milked; I was really feeling for her! Hope you get that stanchion built soon.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Today I got a good idea for the milking stand/stanchion. If I can get it started, then for sure DH won't be able to resist joining in.
Well, the only way I have been able to catch Dinah, is the same way I catch the birds.....with a large, strong net. Fortunately she hasn't broken it yet. I like her milk. Just drank a bit of it a few minutes ago. Maybe I go nuts and make cheese, soap, lotions, and drink a little, as well. I really don't think the other doe conceived and I'm sorry for that. She would be much easier to catch and I"m pretty sure she delivered before coming here.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

So I'm still not set up with a stand, but it'll get done eventually. So now DH is talking to me about getting a doe from a milking breed. Wondering if you goat milking people can tell me what you have and what you get out of them, per milking. It takes me 2 days to get a quart from my doe. I keep her going because I feel she is pulling her weight and I like the milk, but it can't supply my family with all the millk we drink.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I love my nubians for milking, but I also love my nubian crosses and I had a wonderful milking pygmy at one time. So, how's that for a decisive answer, lol!

Nubians give lots of good milk. I have three does and they vary in the amounts they give. I had one who as a first freshener gave almost a gallon a day. Another first freshener about 3 qts a day and the third first freshener, barely a half-gallon.

I've had one doe freshen a second time with triplets and at the peak fo her lactation she could give over 5 quarts a day! But, I rarely milked her - jsut left her to raise her babies. Her babies are nearly 5 months old now and I've weaned the buck kid and left the two doelings on her so that I can lock her up occasionally at night and milk her the next morning. She still gives 1/2 gallon per milking and that's 5 months into her lactation. I love that doe!

I've also got two Kinder kids (1/2 Nubian and 1/2 pygmy) They are good milkers and their milk is delicious! I'm milking one who has dried up on one side and even from 1/2 an udder she gives nearly a half gallon a day. Her mother is my highest producing Nubian. The other Kinder gives bout the same amount - but from both sides of her udder, lol. She's a smaller goat - more dairy in appearance with a beautiful bag. I think she'll top that amount on her next freshening.

I had an exceptional pygmy that gave 1/2 gallon a day also-but unfortunately I lost her.

Nigerian dwarves are great little milkers also, even though I have no experience with them at all. I like a heavier goat that can also serve as a meat goat - so I don't really think ND's are for me.

Good luck with whatever you end up with! Oh, and personality makes a big difference! I just couldn't fight one continually to milk - my nubian and nubian crosses are wonderful on the stand. Maybe from generation after generation of being milked - or maybe just cuz they're hogs and will stand for milking as long as there is feed in front of them, lol!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Thanx. I am getting a small amount, but I had bred her to a buck from 3 known milk breeds. It was a doeling, but she didn't survive delivery, so no hope for future there, but I get 100% of the little amount of milk she produces. It makes a difference, but not huge.
3 or 4 quarts a day would be awesome.

 

[perchie.girl]

Can you rig a sqeeze to catch her... just a gate that you can swing over to let you get a hold of her.... Having some pressure on the sides has been known to calm cattle.

I like bees suggestion too with the rope... My cousins stake their goats out attached to a big tractor tire. IN the middle of the tire is their water bucket so it doesnt get knocked over.

deb