I'm a newbie so I'm sure that's the biggest issue but I thought I'd ask for some advice/experience from others. I have a doe who is experienced, and I'm sure she realizes that I'm not, and she is a good milker according to her previous owner. She's on her 4th freshening and had her twins on Jan 26. Currently the babies are withheld at night and I milk her in the morning. I'm only getting 2 to 2.5 cups from her. One time she gave almost a quart, but that was the only time. I feel like she's "holding out" on me and I do bump/massage her udder and get a few more squirts each time. What should I do? Should I keep bumping till she really lets down more? She has free choice alfalfa blend hay, free choice minerals and Baking Soda, and gets alfalfa pellets on the milk stand and about .5 to .75 cups of grain twice daily. I contacted her previous owner, a lady with 42 years goat experience, and she said she "should" be giving more, but hasn't been able to really trouble shoot what's going on long distance. Any tips?
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Good comparison actually! :) The one day when I got nearly a quart (I know it's supposed to be measured in pounds, but my brain can't wrap around that one yet!) I could really feel the difference when she did "let down." She's an experienced milker, but I don't know if her previous owner milked by hand or not, and either way I'm a new person for her. I just keep talking to her and petting to let her know that it's all okay. Her milk stand manners are good so can't complain. I'll just keep at it. Hope that one day we'll be getting enough milk for the family and fun stuff like butter and cheese! :)
My husband and I were just talking about a couple of our does with young kids who were holding back their milk when we milked them for milk test, and in chatting with him, I said, "It's not all that different for some women who are nursing their baby and can't get their milk to let down for a breast pump." No one was more surprised than me when that came out of my mouth, but it is a good comparison. I was actually milking a goat when that light bulb came on -- it seemed so obvious that my two hands were nothing like a kid's mouth! You milking the goat just feels different than the kids nursing, so for some goats it may be a physical thing where their body just has to get used to being milked. Don't know why I didn't think about this sooner but a long time ago, a lot of people would let the calf nurse on one teat while they milked the other three on the cow. Of course a goat only has two teats, so that doesn't work as well for us goat owners, but I hope it explains the point I'm trying to make. It's a quicker process with some goats than other, but it eventually works!
Thanks Deborah! That's encouraging! I was starting to feel like I'd made a big mistake going with the ND's because I don't feel like this will meet our family's milk consumption needs let alone have some to make cheeses and such with. But now I feel better, if I just stick with it we'll see better results. This is a doe with good milk genetics and one that has been shown and won. We were fortunate to be able to get her, and she gave us 2 sweet little doelings so double blessing! :) Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll see an improvement in how much milk we are getting.
No other food has as much protein and calcium as milk, which is what kids need to grow. And no food provides the antibodies that keep kids healthy while their own immune systems mature. Kids that do not get enough milk do not grow as fast, and they have problems with parasites and coccidia.
As the kids get older and the doe gets more accustomed to the milking routine, she will naturally let down her milk more for you. I also would not worry about the doe knowing that you are inexperienced. You are just new to her, and she had to get comfortable with you. If this is also the first goat you have ever milked, you are actually doing extremely well to get as much milk as you are getting. It takes most people a few weeks to get good at milking.
You could also increase the grain. My goats usually get a cup or two each milking when they are at their peak.
2 to 2.5 cups for morning milking is about right for the average amount with nigerians. If you milked her twice a day you'd get 1 quart or 5 cups which is about average. I was getting about 3 cups in the morning milking shortly after mine freshened with triplets last summer but after a couple of months, it dropped to a quart and now I only get 3 cups per day (7 months fresh).
I did find I could get her milk production up a little by milking her three times a day but I didn't do that until after the kids were gone. I know it varies doe to doe but most say a quart a day is about average.