I am hoping to breed a yearling soon, for a late fall/early winter breeding, but I will have four does, and I was thinking that I would like to have two in milk in spring, and two in milk in the fall... so that I could try for milk year round. The problem is that all but one of my breeding age does have kids or are in milk. So my question is: Can I milk through and breed one of them for a winter breeding this year, and go back to a yearly schedule NEXT year for all of them?
ETA: After talking to Patty, I realized it might work better to try and milk one of my does through winter, and breed her in the spring NEXT year. So now my question is this:
When I'm choosing what doe to milk through to get my breeding back on schedule who do I choose?
I have a FF, single kidding, good production, kid pulled soon after birth.
I have a FF, twin kidding, rejected one, good production, second kid sold and will leave mom shortly after 13 weeks old.
I have a 6 year old seasoned dam, triplet kidding, on passed away, production is OK, but I suspect she's good at holding back milk. buckling taken away at 9 weeks, doeling will leave mom at around 13 weeks.
Replies
I was thinking that I would probably go that route of not planning it, but keep milking the one with the best production at breeding time.
If it were me, I'd probably not breed whoever was milking the best at breeding time this fall and hope for the best, though you never know for sure if she will keep that production up. It's worth a try, and I wish you all the best! I think it's awesome that you want to continue milking year round. I'm not there yet, and also not sure if I will ever be. It's so hard to find someone who can milk to take my place if I want to go somewhere. That makes holidays difficult for the family, so I've always planned to dry off my does before Christmas so we can travel if we want to. That gives us about a 9 month lactation if I manage to milk into December. Though having that milk year round would be so nice! :)
That's probably the best advice!! Good to know, because I really would like to have two in milk at all times (and eventually three... ) so knowing that I can let them lead my decisions is nice to know.
I've never really planned to milk through with a certain doe. It just happens. I do decide when I want does to kid, and if everyone isn't bred in time, I just keep milking them. One time a doe was bred but didn't get pregnant, and my daughter convinced me to keep milking her because she was still going strong when she was supposed to be 3 months pregnant. I've given up on trying to plan anything too precisely because it never seems to work for me.
See, and that's why I asked... because normally the short breeding/delivery time is something I would not consider. If I did it this time, it would ONLY be to get everyone on schedule to correct my mistake. I really like your idea of milking through instead of breeding so soon after kidding. So I guess my question has changed:
When I'm choosing what doe to milk through to get my breeding back on schedule who do I choose?
I have a FF, single kidding, good production, kid pulled soon after birth.
I have a FF, twin kidding, rejected one, good production, second kid sold and will leave mom shortly after 13 weeks old.
I have a 6 year old seasoned dam, triplet kidding, on passed away, production is OK, but I suspect she's good at holding back milk. buckling taken away at 9 weeks, doeling will leave mom at around 13 weeks.
Oh! Okay. I thought it was kind of funny if you were asking what I thought. :) That's why I asked. I personally wouldn't feel good about breeding back a doe so soon, but it's an individual choice, and if your doe is fully grown and in really good shape, it might be okay. IMO it would be better to just try to milk her through.
I'm facing a slightly similar decision with my Nubian doe. She was bred really young, turning a year old a few weeks after she kidded with twins. She's small yet and quite thin, only about 90 lbs. I'm trying to decide if I should milk her as long as I can and wait until fall of 2014 to breed her, or breed her this fall. I just don't want to stunt her growth or stress her body too much.
Close. I wouldn't have asked about that scenario... The other doe I want to kid in the fall (besides my yearling) is in milk, but she is a First Freshener, and I don't think she'll stay in milk until next year. I think I need to re breed her to kid this fall. Of course, I don't even know if that's *really* possible... She hasn't come into heat again since kidding yet. I may just try your idea and hope she stays in milk the whole time until I can breed her next year.
So, you would breed one now, breed two this fall, and then milk one through and breed her in the spring along with again breeding the one you're breeding now? If I've got that right, it sounds like a good plan to me. :)