Okay, folks, I have a question that I did not anticipate arising. This year, I have not milked Capri who has been feeding triplets. Since Summer's triplets left, I have been getting a quart a day from Summer and since Capri is so hard to milk, I did not plan to milk her unless Summer's production went down while Capri was still in milk.
I sold Capri and her two older babies (yes, Tiny Baby too though reluctantly). I kept her youngest on the advice of my goat helper who told me she seemed to be the best dairy goat build (great milking lines on dad's side so I am hoping for another Summer). I have not very often milked Capri (kidded May 16th) and her kids have usually kept her udder in good shape so I figured they were eating a lot less and she was drying up. I observe them nursing only seldomly. I milked earlier than usual this morning; Capri was very full as the kids were not active yet. I decided to milk her that last time and emptied her; she gave me 12 ounces which was a total surprise. I really didn't think much about it as the kids would be active soon and they would keep her emptied. However, when the buyers came tonight to pick her and babies up, I went to show them how to check her udder and milk out some milk if it was tight and she was! Very! I milked out some to relieve her udder and cautioned them about checking it. Fortunately, the husband has milked cows in the past so realizes about mastitis.
My biggest question is, should I be concerned about this or am I worrying unnecessarily. In the past this year, I have only checked her udder if I noticed it was overly full. I suggested to them they keep giving her the grain and sunflower seeds twice a day for the next week or so while she is adjusting to her new home to reduce the stress for her and then to start reducing it to none. I've told them if they are having a problem getting the milk out if it needs to be, that I will drive up there and help. I did not anticipate this. Her first kidding (before I had her) with triplets, Joann didn't milk her at all and I foolishly, maybe, thought that would be the case this year.
They did not plan to milk and I thought they could just let the kids dry her up naturally. What is the best approach here?
(And, yes, I miss her already! She is my first mom.)
Replies
Could be that the kids just haven't been nursing much recently. We find that if kids are nursing and we are not separating overnight, it's just luck whether or not we get any milk if we milk the doe in the morning. If the kid(s) has nursed recently, we get nothing. Sometimes we get lucky though. Sounds like you just got lucky. If the kids really are losing interest, they usually lose interest gradually, so their demand will decrease along with her supply.