Hello again friends,
Two more questions. I read a reference to extending milking for two years after breeding. Is this bunk? Im sure if it's possible at all the milk production slows way down,And isn't worth it normally. but given the distance I'll have to travel to breed, it might be worth it for me.... I'm wondering if any of y'all know anything about it.
Now a more standard question. How long do does stay breed able? I mean, at what age do they typically need retiring? And how much longer do they live (again, "typically" I'm sure there's all kinds of variation)
I did try looking answers up in search here, but honestly had no luck at all. I searched "age" which seemed broad enough, but it didn't return anything at all! I have trouble believing the word age has not been in any posts here... Anyone else had trouble with th search button?
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I have heard of standard goats milking two years without a break, but not NDs. I have a Nigerian doe that just milked for 16 months. Caboose kidded July 3, 2009, and I dried her up this past fall. She is six and an excellent milker. Not all of them will go that long. She was giving a pound a day until about a month before she dried up.
I had another one that I milked for 14 months when she was six. That was Star. I retired her when she was nine, because I had trouble keeping weight on her, and she always had triplets or quads. She is 12 now and still kicking, although I feed her senior equine feed because her teeth are not so good anymore.
Rosasharn Eclipse won the AGS national championship at age 10 -- two months after giving birth to my buck, Pegasus, and his three siblings. She also milked something crazy that year, like 900 or 1,000 pounds. Of course, she made the top ten list three times in her prime, so she was exceptional. I think she lived to be 14, but I don't think they bred her past 12. But she was exceptional in many ways.
Some goats won't even get pregnant after they're about 8 or 9 years old, even though they're coming into heat.
So, it really depends on the individual doe. If you get a yearling to go six months, that's probably about average. A two year old should be able to do the 10 months that's considered a standard lactation. They usually peak between 4-6, so that's probably when you'd have the best shot at an extended lactation.
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I have heard of standard goats milking two years without a break, but not NDs. I have a Nigerian doe that just milked for 16 months. Caboose kidded July 3, 2009, and I dried her up this past fall. She is six and an excellent milker. Not all of them will go that long. She was giving a pound a day until about a month before she dried up.
I had another one that I milked for 14 months when she was six. That was Star. I retired her when she was nine, because I had trouble keeping weight on her, and she always had triplets or quads. She is 12 now and still kicking, although I feed her senior equine feed because her teeth are not so good anymore.
Rosasharn Eclipse won the AGS national championship at age 10 -- two months after giving birth to my buck, Pegasus, and his three siblings. She also milked something crazy that year, like 900 or 1,000 pounds. Of course, she made the top ten list three times in her prime, so she was exceptional. I think she lived to be 14, but I don't think they bred her past 12. But she was exceptional in many ways.
Some goats won't even get pregnant after they're about 8 or 9 years old, even though they're coming into heat.
So, it really depends on the individual doe. If you get a yearling to go six months, that's probably about average. A two year old should be able to do the 10 months that's considered a standard lactation. They usually peak between 4-6, so that's probably when you'd have the best shot at an extended lactation.