Hey all,
My name is Dede and I just added 2 Mini Nubian Does to my herd last November. They just kidded this April and their udders are beautiful, the problem is they are very hard to handle in the milk stand. So hard I got kicked with a huge bruise on my arm. The one doe double kicks backwards. Wow, My Nigerians are so sweet compared to this. The lady I got these 2 from said she milked them and they "dance around" , no big deal I thought my FF Gretchen did that at first and then calmed down after we started milking. In fact even though I did not breed her for this year since I felt it might be too soon , she still will jump up on the stand any chance she gets. Anyway my question is how in the world do I get these two to calm down. I tried to just brush and talk to them, they are fine until you get near the udders then POW!!! I Never saw anything like it. Please help any comments are welcome. I will have Mini Nubian babies for sale too. I am thinking maybe I will have to sell the mothers also. I much prefer the Nigerian outlook on life, they are soo sweet and their temperment is much nicer. Anyway Thanks alot Dede
Replies
Taffy's reaction to us milking her at first was to lie down, too. She was terrified -- especially since she had arrived with lesions on her vulva which needed to me cleaned and medicated twice a day before her triplets arrived! (Our goats were rescued from an animal hoarder and we fostered them for Animal Control first and then adopted them)
The trick will take two of you, but it will work. Lift her butt by sort of pinching firmly at the base of the tail (once she is in the stanchion) and lifting her up. She will stand very quickly. At first the other person will probably have to keep her like that while you milk her. After two or three days, just touching her there will make her stand up. After you have milked her, leave her alone in the stanchion while you putter about the barn a bit and she will very likely at least take a couple of bites. When you let her out, give her a piece of apple or some treat just as she is about to enter or stall or wherever she is supposed to go at that point.
Taffy still lies down if anyone but me milks her. But she gets up on the stanchion and stands quietly now for me with no problems at all. If I move suddenly she gets scared and starts to squat a little, but a few words and a pat generally cure that. Also, I do close the entire barn for milking so the dogs won't be bothering the does.
(The goat I mentioned in my previous response was Patches, not Taffy.)
Yeah, treats and grain mean nothing to her if she's trapped on the stanchion. Doesn't matter if she's locked in or not. She lays down. She's not tempted by treats at all. Not even when we're out in the yard. She will even act scared, and moan/cry A hobble won't do me any good. She doesn't kick on the days she stand for milking. It's the days she lays down and refuses to touch the grain or whatever I try to tempt her with that day. She won't eat even if I leave her in the stanchion and do chores. I've won over skittish goats before. She has me at a loss. I'm pretty sure she'll be culled this year unless she miraculously redeems herself. I'm going to talk to the hubby about building a sling for her. If I could hold her up, and without having to literally wrestle her and hold her up to milk her, things would be a lot better.
Hi Rachel -- we had one of the rescue does which was not at all easy. If they learn they can get away with it, they will. I remember for a couple of weeks I had to drag her to the milking stanchion, lock her head in, and then tell her what a good girl she was and give her a piece of apple! Now she trots up there as easy as anything and is quite happy to eat while I milk her. She's a slow eater, so when I am finished with the milking, I go about some other barn chores for a few minutes until she looks up with "Excuse me, but can't you see I'm finished?" look.
Fiasco Farms is quite near us and they have used a goat hobble when they have needed to (I linked them above). The idea is to break the habit. One of you is the boss, and you can't afford to let it be her!
Are your babies nursing her or are you bottle feeding them?
:::sigh::: I'm on the second freshening of my difficult doe, and she is NOT coming around. I'm at a loss, so I'm following this thread for ideas.
Good for you for persevering. Good luck!
Thank You Deborah and Helen, very good information. I am still getting them used to the "touching" I Found they enjoy carrots alot so I am using them.
In addition to what Deborah mentioned, which should work well, when we got our four rescue does, who were essentially feral when they arrived, I found that (when I started milking them after they kidded), a washrag with warm -- really warm but not hot -- water, massaging the udders a bit was something they really liked. They still do.
And yes, ALL grain is fed on the stanchion.
http://www.dslivestock.biz/images/milkstand.JPG
I also give cut up bits of apples to the does -- one in the middle of milking, when I switch teats, and one at the end. There is no problem now at all.
If the kicking is severe, you can use leg ties, and use a hobble.
https://fiascofarm.com/goats/hobble.htm
When does freshen for the first time, they get all of their grain on the milk stand twice a day. I sit down next to them and put my hand on their udder. I don't try to do anything initially, just keep my hand there until they calm down. It might take a few days for them to be okay with my hand on their udder. After that, I start moving my hand on their udder and teats, and once they are okay with that, I try to milk them. This can vary from a couple of days with really mellow does up to four or five days with does that are more protective of their udders.
Now I am not trying to milk them yet just getting them used to my milk stand and touch them. I did get their hooves trimmed and all done earlier with no problem. I just can't touch the udder area. Thanks for reading.