I just attended a presentation on goats given by a man that I've known for several years. I have a lot of respect for his knowledge/experience on goats. He owns full-sized breeds, has never had Nigerians.

He has a farm and is extremely busy on the farm. He milks his does just one time per day. When I asked him about it, he says that he has experienced about a 10% reduction in production, but that the time savings for him more than justifies that drop in production (as he is then free to do other things on the farm).

I am now considering gradually switching to once a day milking, but would like to know if others here have tried that and, if so, what their experience was/is.

My two does both gave birth  at the very end of March. I left the babies on them until the end of July and then we permanently separated them. I have been milking the moms 2x/day ever since then, and getting about 2 quarts a day total. If I went to milking 1x/day, a drop in production would not be an issue, as I really don't need 1/2 gallon of milk a day! However, I don't want to do this if this would not be good for the does.

Has anyone else tried this? Good/bad/indifferent? TIA.

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Replies

  • Thanks for that info, and I appreciate your numbers on the drop in production.

    Still not sure what I will do. I might move to once a day this year & see what exactly happens. We are closing to breeding time anyway, so it might mean a few months of (gasp) buying cow's milk at the grocery store, but I'm curious.

    Will post updates on what I find out, if I go this route!

  • We usually do it in the fall at some point, so the does have been in milk for six months or so. The production goes down somewhere between 30-50%. The better milkers only go down about 30%, while the less impressive milkers go down a full 50%. Gianaclis Caldwell at Pholia Farm also does once a day milking in the fall, and she hasn't had any problems with it.

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