milk production down

we brought our goats home one week ago and our doe (2nd freshener with twins) has not been producing as much here as she was at her last home. I realize moving can be a stresser for them and affect milk production, but I thought she would've been better by now. At her last home, she was giving 1.4 lbs in the mornings, and nursing her twins the rest of the day. This is what I've been getting from her the past few days with two milkings per day:

5/13 AM: 0.94 lbs ; PM: 0.97 lbs Total: 1.91 lbs

5/14 Am: 1.02 lbs ; PM: 0.87 lbs Total: 1.89 lbs

5/15 Am: 0.94 lbs ; PM: 0.87 lbs Total: 1.81 lbs

5/16 Am: 0.89 lbs ; PM: 1.00 lbs Total: 1.89 lbs

5/17 AM: 0.85 lbs TBD

what gives? Is it still stress? When can expect her to fill up her udder again and get back to normal production? Is there something I can do to help her along? I go visit her several times a day to give her neck scratches and snuggles so that she doesn't just associate me with milking, and she seems to like me. She follows me and comes in for snuggles. I just thought she'd be used to it here by now. Am I just too impatient?

Replies

Rebekah May 19, 2014 at 9:14pm

I know from my own experience that frequent doses work much better than just one or two (4 or more times a day is what worked best for my body) and it may take a few days to notice a difference... Definitely let me know if you have any success!
Heather vanek May 18, 2014 at 10:37pm

Thanks Rebekah, I'm glad you said that! My sister in law was just out visiting with her new baby and she was taking herbal supplements to up her milk supply and I wondered if I could do the same thing for my Dot. I'll give it a try tomorrow. If I'm successful I'll give an update.
Rebekah May 18, 2014 at 9:43am

Personally, I would probably try some herbal galactogouges ...fenugreek, fennel, and nettle can all up milk production in both humans and goats. It's worth a shot and I can't imagine it would hurt anything to try. Fenugreek is generally considered the best, with the others added in if you want to make a blend. I believe fiasco farms website has dosage guidelines for the herbs. But, hey, at least you are getting milk! It seems like many people start out with kids and that's a long wait for fresh milk... I'm not that patient, so I also started with a doe in milk :)
Heather vanek May 17, 2014 at 6:11pm

thanks for responding Deborah. I did have one of the kids nurse from her after each milking to get anything I missed for the first few days, but then stopped doing that thinking it was stressing her out even more (it's not one of her kids so we had to do it on the milk stand). Fortunately, I got the hang of it pretty quickly and now I know I'm emptying her each time. You're right though, I'll just be happy with what I have now and worst case scenario try again in a few months.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle May 17, 2014 at 12:20pm

If this is your first milk goat, it is possible that you are not getting all of the milk, which is why I always recommend that your first milk goat have kids nursing. If you don't get all the milk, the kids will keep up the supply while you're learning.

And as you said, moving to a new home is stressful. My first goat didn't start to rebound for a week, and I recall some goats never did fully rebound on that lactation. But keep milking, enjoy what you have, and know that it will be better next year.

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