I've posted before about my older doe, Daphne, being my "problem child". I'm her third owner and so she has serious trust issues. She's come along fairly well in the last few months, especially since she kidded in June. I didn't even try to milk her though, until recently.
Three weeks ago, I started trying to get her on the milk stand. That alone took 5 days. Then there was dealing with her freakout when I closed the headgate on her. After that, I moved on to petting her while she ate. Then I started touching her udder. She did NOT like that at all! She kicked, sat down, thrashed and wiggled. I just kept talking softly to her and didn't take my hand away. It took a ton of patience!
I did discover a couple of tricks during this process that worked for Daphne and may help with other fractious goats. To get her to stand up when she sat down, I just took her grain bucket away and held it in front of her nose till she stood up, then immediately gave it back to her. I only had to do this a few times before she stopped sitting. And the other trick I got from old-timer wisdom. I sang lullabies to her. I found it calmed me down as well as her. Frustration melts away when you're singing "Stay Awake" from Mary Poppins! LOL
Anyway, today she stood and let me milk her. And my reward is that she is a dream to milk. Her teats are large and soft, she has large orifices, and she gives a lot of milk. I'm so pleased. I'm hoping that becoming a milking team with her will strengthen our bond and make her happier.
Go Daphne!
Replies
Congratulations! That's awesome! Thanks for sharing your story!
That's great! I've had to do this with a couple of my girls. They were also the ones I had to bump every other squirt to get them to let down more milk lol. I like to play relaxing music from Pandora while I milk. Keeps everyone in a good mood :) You'll definitely fall into a rhythm together and build a bond from milking every day. I keep telling my husband we need a 50 acre farm because I'm never going to be able to sell any of my milkers.
Thanks for sharing your story of perseverance and kindness!