I read some other threads but they were all dealing with milk amounts in lbs and I have not weighed mine.
The twins are exactly a month old. I started milking at two weeks, maybe three or four times a week. I have milked her every day this week. I usually move her over to the other stall around 9pm so the babies are without her maybe 10 hrs a night.
I am getting about 1/2 quart out of her in the morning, but deliberately trying to leave some for the babies to have for breakfast. One morning I tried to get it all just for my own curiosity to see how much it would be and it was not quite 3/4 qt.
Should I still be only seperating every other day? This is her third freshening. To my untrained eye, the kids seem to be doing great.
Should I forget trying to save some for the kids since I almost certainly wouldn't get it all even if I tried?
I do feed the kids calf manna when they will take it but they don't eat much. Basically I just read an old thread on here discussing how to share the milk with the babies and I got the notion I might be taking too much. Does it sound like I am? Or are we okay?
Thanks!
Replies
Deborah I think where my wires got crossed was not seperating every night. I guess I thought doing it every night, esp since it wasn't for twelve hours, would be okay. I guess I had too much information floating around in my head and I just couldn't remember it all :)
But you are right, I don't have other kids to compare them to. I am planning to just do every other night for awhile.
I wish it were that simple. One size does not fit all when it comes to separating kids to milk, which is why I wrote up a very long post about how to do it. (I wish Ning had a better search function!) You can start separating a single at five or six days; you can start separating twins at two weeks, but not every night. Then it depends on how much the doe is producing. As for triplets, you have to really know what your doe is producing if you are going to be separating a lot. I've never separated triplets younger than a month of age. A kid needs about 24 ounces of milk per day, so a doe needs to be producing about 72 ounces to feed triplets. That's 4.5 pounds or half a gallon. If you expect the kids to be able to consume that much in 12 hours, she'd need to be producing closer to 9 pounds a day or a gallon, which I have never seen an ND do on milk test. I think the record is somewhere around 7-8 pounds, but only a couple of goats have ever done that. It is possible for kids to survive on less milk, and there used to be a woman who raised NDs who swore by feeding then only 18 ounces in 24 hours, but that is the least I've ever heard of. I have heard of people feeding as much as 32 ounces, and I had a doe last year making 6 pounds a day that was feeding three kids and another that was making 5 pounds feeding twins. First fresheners are usually doing good to hit 3 pounds a day, so I don't usually trust them to feed more than two kids. I always let them try, but I almost always wind up having to bottle-feed one by the time they're 2-3 weeks old. There are far more nutrients in milk than hay, grain, or anything else they can consume, so milk should be their main source of food at this point, even though they are capable and willing to eat other foods. If you have no other kids to compare them to, it can be tough to know how their growth compares.
I'd read elsewhere it's fine to start separating for 12 hours at 2 wks. I was a bit concerned about such a long separation so early... so I compromised and started at 2 weeks with 8 hr separation and have worked up to 10 hour separation now while closely monitoring the kids development. The kids are eating some hay, alfalfa pellets, grain now, seem to be growing rapidly and feel thick and strong - so I think mom is producing plenty for them during the 14 hrs they're together.
You might try separating nightly for 10 hrs, and just monitor how the kids are developing. As long as they feel like they are muscled, thick and growing, then it's probably all good.
I'm in a similar situation, and I'm certain that my doe is holding milk back at morning milkings to feed her kids. She has 3 week old triplets, I've started separating for 10 hours a night for the past week. Mom gives me about 1 lb. in the morning (which is about 1 pint for my doe), then the kids get let out. I've felt her udder while the kids are suckling, and I think they are getting quite a bit more milk out even though I've done my best to milk her out. Her udder is softer when they are done milking her, as opposed to when I she's let down all she will for me, I still feel milk in there. They are thriving, fat and sassy, so I think the situation is working for us... I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll produce after a full 12 hour separation, and it seems like she lets down a tinee bit more every milking for me.
Best of luck!
~Charmaine
I am so confused! I will leave them together tonight since I have seperated for the last at least 4 nights.
I've never seperated them for af ull 12 hrs. We actually have too much milk in the fridge right now anyway so maybe I'll give them 2 nights together to make up for lost time if they haven't had enough milk, then try a 12 hr seperation to get a real read on what she makes.
If you're separating for 12 hours, three cups isn't that much. That would only be 3 pounds in 24 hours, which would be okay for a first freshener, and you can raise kids on that much, but I wouldn't be separating every night when the kids are a month old because then the kids are only getting about 1.5 cups a day, which is definitely not enough at that age. Kids need 3 cups a day. Since you're separating for 10 hours, she might be making a little more, but probably not a lot. You might try separating for 12 hours one night and milking her out completely to get a true picture of what she's producing.
When you milk, you want to get all of the milk out if you can because you don't know how much the kids will nurse, and demand creates supply.
1 gallon = 9 pounds, but for simplicity, I usually just go with 8 pounds because that's 1 pound per pint (2 cups, 16 ounces) or 2 pounds per quart (32 ounces), which is the weight of water. Fat weighs a little more, which is why a gallon of milk weighs more than a gallon of water. Milk is weighed for accuracy because of the foam that often winds up on top of milk.