That varies tremendously from goat to goat. Most first fresheners don't go longer than about six months in milk. On the other hand, I have a six-year-old that's been milking since July 2009 and still giving a quart a day. The "standard" lactation is 305 days (10 months), which means you breed them to kid once a year. For example, a doe freshens in January, you breed her again seven months later and continue milking until two months before she's due. Then you dry her up, although most of them seem to just dry up on their own about two months before they're due. So, they're dry two months of every year. In January, you'd start over again.
Melissa Johnson said:
how long do does stay in milk before they have to be rebred?
how long do does stay in milk before they have to be rebred?
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Well, I was hoping that someone else would pop in and offer some brilliant idea about how to keep track of their breeding, because my system is very boring. I have a piece of paper in my goat pedigree binder, and it had columns for:
date fresh 2010 doe buck date bred date due
I have the 2010 freshening date so that I don't breed one that still has plenty of milking time left.
Once I have due dates, I put them in my Google calendar, and I set it to send me an alert a week before the due date, so that I'm ready.
After they freshen, I make a different list that includes tattoo info, colors, genders, and whatever else that's on the registration form.
Well, I was hoping that someone else would pop in and offer some brilliant idea about how to keep track of their breeding, because my system is very boring. I have a piece of paper in my goat pedigree binder, and it had columns for:
date fresh 2010
doe
buck
date bred
date due
I have the 2010 freshening date so that I don't breed one that still has plenty of milking time left.
Once I have due dates, I put them in my Google calendar, and I set it to send me an alert a week before the due date, so that I'm ready.
After they freshen, I make a different list that includes tattoo info, colors, genders, and whatever else that's on the registration form.
Replies
Melissa Johnson said:
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
date fresh 2010
doe
buck
date bred
date due
I have the 2010 freshening date so that I don't breed one that still has plenty of milking time left.
Once I have due dates, I put them in my Google calendar, and I set it to send me an alert a week before the due date, so that I'm ready.
After they freshen, I make a different list that includes tattoo info, colors, genders, and whatever else that's on the registration form.