Hi guys. I have a 2nd freshener with triplets. I had very high hopes for her, her sire has produced a lot of excellent milkers and her dam milked well on DHIR.
As I said she has triplets. I have separated them overnight to milk a few times and never gotten much more than 1.1 lb out of her in the morning. I feel like this just can't be right, wouldn't her triplets be starving to death of that was all she was really producing? They are a little on the small side I guess, but they seem to be growing okay.
I have tried to get them to take a bottle just so that they will survive our first milk test, and since then, the buck now chases me around begging for bottles. So maybe he really isn't getting enough to eat from his mother or are some kids just greedy enough to beg for a bottle? She is a good mother.
I have noticed her udder being hard. I bought her as a FF at the end of her lactation and I remember it being soft last year, so this is new. (she is CAE - )
I have done warm compresses and every time I work with her I massage some salve on there that is good for congestion and helped my other doe.
Basically I wonder what my chances are of her turning out to be a decent milker. I have someone who likes her and would buy her but I don't want to jump the gun and sell her if I'm being premature.
This doe's 5 year old 3/4 sister is in my herd, too, and she peaked at exactly 5lb a day this year so I was super happy about that.
I know my old doe Annie really fooled me last year with her twins, each time I separated her I got only about 1/2 a quart and I nearly sold her thinking she was a stinker as a milker and this year she nearly milked 5 lb a day.
Replies
Deborah the 7th kid is one I couldn't locate so I just don't know if it is blue or not.
I have many times considered training Miyagi to do some draft work, he is strong as an ox and generally cooperative when the testosterone isn't involved lol. If nothing else he may be a good babysitter for weanlings down the road. He always loved babies and they are lost without a mommy to follow around. If I can sell the horse harness I never got around to using on the horses (lol) maybe I'll buy him a goat harness. Part of the reason I never followed through with the horses was I was little afraid they would run away with me and we'd have a bad wreck. A goat doesn't scare me nearly so much as 2000lb of horse.
You could always train Miyagi to pull a cart. I was going to do that with my LaMancha buck, but he was so bad about destroying fences that he finally had to go in the freezer.
Mind you I didn't breed any of these does, all were purchased elsewhere. I was lucky to be able to nab a couple of Oldesouth young adults, one who is a pretty awesome all around doe, milks and would probably show well although I don't care about that except where baby buyers are concerned. The other doe was sold because she is not a show doe but she is a heck of a milker and that is my number one priority so I am more than happy to have her.
I also bought a group of does from another lady who turned out to be a total shyster and lied to me about a lot of things and 3 of those 4 have been sold now. But I still don't feel it was a loss because it did yield me Peachy who is very hardy, pretty parasite resistant, and a decent milker (she's 4.2), plus her teats and teat placement absolutely ROCK for hand milking. And it seems like she might be my second homozygous blue eyed goat. She had blue eyed quads this year which I thought was odd (and yes I have agonized over whether Miyagi could possibly have gotten to her but she kidded right on time for her breeding to Jimmy and there was no contact with Miyagi). So The research I have done so far, turns out both her parents are blue eyed so it is possible she is homozygous, and of her three previous kids born not on my farm I tracked down two that were twins who are also both blue eyed. So far that means 6/7 of her kids born to date were blue eyed. I couldn't find the 7th kid so don't know about that one. So next year we shall see!
PS if anyone remembers all the misadventures of Miyagi, he was castrated yesterday :( He is a very sad boy. But I have promised him it could be so much worse since he is currently slated to stay on as the farm mascot because I'm such a softie when it comes to him. Unless my La Mancha magically comes into heat in the next week or two when he may still have one bullet left, there will be no more Miyagi babies and I HOPE no more C Sections!!!!
Congratulations! :) Great girls you have!
Thanks Deborah! I was so proud of my girls! It was a really tough day for everyone...babies, mommies, me, SO relieved when it was over but I think it will all be worth it in the long run.
My 24 hr totals were
Reba 4.8 lb
Peachy 4.2 lb
Donna 4 lb
Cherry 2lb (this is the doe who had the C Section, I wasn't expecting much out of her considering what she's been through)
I am not sure what might have gone on with Peachy for this milk test. She is the one who has quads. I got 2.7 lbs out of her from a twelve hour separation from her kids overnight, weighed on the Langston calibrated scale, although usually I was getting like 2.2 from her in the morning. Test morning she gave me 1.5! I didn't know what to think! She was stalled with her pal and her pal's kids, I wondered if she nursed them? I was so disappointed because I thought her daily total would be crappy. But low and behold she gave 2.7 lbs that night and my verification tester was there to witness it! So I don't know if she got nursed or she just held back that morning because she was upset since there were a few extra people in the barn and I am just training her to the milk stand anyway so she was a little stressed out. Anyway, I knew she could do better than 1.5 so I was so relieved when she pulled it out at the last minute
Reba and Peachy both have blue eyes, too, just for kicks. I am just too excited to see how the FF's do next year. I retained daughters from Reba and Peachy both who were sired by my buck who is the son of a top ten milker.
ALL the babies took bottles except for Reba's buck and he was 7 weeks old at test day so I wasn't too terribly worried about him. Plus, Reba only had twins with all that milk so they are FAT anyways
Congratulations! Those are very respectable numbers!
Juliana Goodwin said:
Just FYI everyone...we had our first milk test two weeks ago. This doe had gradually increased from about 1lb to 1.8lb on a 12 hour separation from her babies. On milk test day she did give a full 4 lbs. So, my lesson learned for now is not to judge too quickly. Her 3/4 sister gave 4.8lbs on milk test although we had already missed her peak which was 5lbs. I know to schedule a test earlier in her lactation next year so hopefully she can get credit for her peak.
Considering the circumstances you described, I would start giving the buckling a bottle once or twice a day, leaving him with mom, and see what happens. The kids should have doubled their birth weight by two weeks, if not sooner.
I think this is all so hard to figure out. I'm not any help, but I sure can't wiat to see if you get any answers, and how things turn out.