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Do does dry up regardless of being milked?

Posted by Melissa Johnson on January 15, 2015 at 3:08pm in Home Dairy

my doe freshened in July with triplets.  She has given about 1 1/2 qts. +/-  through out.  I stopped milking her at night (purely my choice) - and she did drop in quantity, which was fine for my supply.  Since heats on and off - she has lost interest in grain and is not a very focused eater.  She keeps looking out to see what she is missing from the stanchion.  I started giving her some Nutri Drench to increase her appetite - when she eats grain, she is picking out the bits she likes (oats/barley,BOSS, peas) and leaving the rest and has seldom been finishing 1 1/2 lbs. of grain.  She gets alfalfa, orchard grass and enjoys field hay as well.

Presently coming out of heat - she is only giving 1 c. when I milk.  Before, this increased when she was out of heat.

Do Nigerians dry up after a certain amount of time regardless of being milked or not?

Thanks!

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Replies

  • Melissa Johnson January 16, 2015 at 3:15am

    thanks Patty - guess it is nature's way of  keeping things going.

    Patty Meyer said:

    They dry up at differing lengths of time.  Some first fresheners don't make it very long, and seem to start drying up after a few months.  Some does start out going gang busters, and seem to be big milk makers, but dry up faster than others that don't give as much right away, but produce steadily for a longer time.  Some milk so long that they don't have to be bred back every year, and people are able to skip a year and milk through with them.   The "standard" is a 10 month lactation period.  Ideally, the goat would be milked for 10 months, then dried off for two to prepare for the birth of the next kids.  It does seem to me that with my does they often produce less during heats, and often the production doesn't go back as high as it was before each heat.

  • Patty Meyer January 15, 2015 at 9:12pm

    They dry up at differing lengths of time.  Some first fresheners don't make it very long, and seem to start drying up after a few months.  Some does start out going gang busters, and seem to be big milk makers, but dry up faster than others that don't give as much right away, but produce steadily for a longer time.  Some milk so long that they don't have to be bred back every year, and people are able to skip a year and milk through with them.   The "standard" is a 10 month lactation period.  Ideally, the goat would be milked for 10 months, then dried off for two to prepare for the birth of the next kids.  It does seem to me that with my does they often produce less during heats, and often the production doesn't go back as high as it was before each heat.

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