My doe with triplets seems to have a good supply of milk. She never gets deflated like my other doe - who is doing well with her twins.
I wasn't going to milk her as I wanted her to have tons for the babies but after reading Deborahs response about too big an udder - how do I know if I should worry?
Judy
Replies
I've been milking my doe with triplets every morning because she has enough for me as well as them. Can't wait to see how much she gives when the kids are separated (not for another month). Go for it, Judy!
"You have nothing to lose by putting your doe on the milk stand and trying to milk her."
Especially if you are doing it without separating babies, and getting milk. If you get milk while she's got babies on her, and you're not holding them off at night (which you shouldn't be until they are at least 2 months old) then she's making enough for everyone and then some.
There was also a discussion awhile back about does with kids on her, and if the udder is very large, feel free to milk her. Some goats have a certain degree of edema when their kids are young, so their udder looks full even though you can't get much milk out. Other does really do need to be milked. I used to have a la mancha that produced so much I could walk out there pretty much any time of day and milk out a quart without ever separating her from her kids. You have nothing to lose by putting your doe on the milk stand and trying to milk her.
I think it was my recent discussion: http://nigeriandwarfgoats.ning.com/forum/topics/help-too-much-milk-... At the end of the thread she mentioned that the doe's udder could be damaged if she didn't have kids on her.
There was a discussion here about a doe with excess milk. In that case, Deb was talking about a doe with kids on her, not one without. I think that's the one that Judy is asking about.
Deborah was talking about does WITHOUT kids on them being milked twice a day that have huge udders. The point is, if the kids aren't taking milk all day long, she can get big enough to damage her udder if she's a very high producer. No worries for you with kids on your doe.