Hello! I have a first fresher that I have been milking for about a month now and she has been consistently giving me one to one and a half pounds of milk per milking. I'm milking her twice a day at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. this morning when I milked her I got 10 oz. Is this something that's going to happen from time to time, given certain circumstances? Like does the weather affect them like it does with chickens production? Just curious if there is something I should be looking out for
Thanks a bunch
Kellie
Replies
Is there any possibility that her kid(s) had access to her before you milked her this morning? Or have you noticed her attempting to relieve herself of full udder?
If I had this sort of sudden drop with one of my girls after 4-6 weeks of consistent milk production, that's the first thing that would come to mind- as long as she is otherwise healthy, has good appetite, is drinking plenty of water and acting completely normal.
Even with our 100+ degree temps here in Texas, I've only noticed a slight drop in milk production gradually over the past several weeks. About 1# total between 6 does that has now plateaued off.
~Tammy
Hi Tammy, thanks for the reply. So tonight she yielded 1.2 lbs, which is right about where she has been. I was happy with that! She doesn't have kids with her anymore, they left a few weeks ago. I've never noticed her trying to relieve herself, what would that look like? She is definitely acting 100% normal. But the weather here has been atrocious. It's just been raining for what seems like months. Which is out of character for New England. Every once in awhile we have a pretty warm day but then it goes right back to the rain, and lack of sunlight. They're not spending much time outside. But they get plenty of quality second cut hay and she's eating goat herd 18, roughly 2 lb a day. Maybe today was just a fluke, she looked kind of empty when I got to her this morning. But I was right on schedule.
Out of curiosity, what does a typical first fresher yield? I read that Nigerians can do anywhere from 2 to 8 pounds a day. And she's doing about two and a half I'd say.
I'm so glad to hear that she is back on track!
It is not super common, but some does will actually nurse from their own udder. If you see it, you will definately know what she is doing.
'Typical' FF lactation is really hard to judge. It very much depends on heritage and each goat as an individual pertaining to nutrition, health, etc.
It's not uncommon for first timers to have a much lower yield than their potential though. I believe yield will usually peak around 3-4 years if I remember that correctly. This year I have a 5year old that is producing more than she ever has.
Do watch the grain intake. I looked at the feeding recommendation for your brand and it is 1# for every 2.5# of milk produced. Too much grain can lead to diarrhea and eventually weight gain. You can mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with alfalfa pellets to give her same volume on the stand but more appropriate grain ration. They are just alfalfa hay in pellet form, so not all that extra concentrate that is in grain. You may have to check a couple of sources to get the smaller pellets. Sometimes they are much bigger than grain pellets.
The alfalfa will also give her some extra calcium :)
Tammy