I've been milking Cayenne everyone evening since a couple days after she kidded. She's been averaging about 1/3-2/3 cup per milking. Suddenly last night I got under a 1/3c. and tonight I got a couple tablespoons. Star is gaining weight and growing fast but he's not fat yet. Could Hosanna (Cayennes first kid who's now over a year old) be drinking as well? I can't figure out the sudden massive drop in production. I'll go out and watch tomorrow but I haven't seen Hosanna acting like she's been nursing. It's been warm and very humid, could that have anything to do with it? Cayennes in good weight so I think she's getting enough to eat and drink!
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I separated Star last night in a dog crate next to mom. Poor baby it poured rain last night (we got 2.8 inches!! I've never seen that much rain here before - Ever!) and his crate was Very wet! He was very hungry and Cayennes bag was Full. I got over 3/4 cup and then let Star have the rest. Cayenne was so good that I wanted to quit when she was behaving herself and I'd gotten most of it. Then when I let Star out he thot he hadn't eaten in Days!!! He squeaked like everything and got milk everywhere he was in such a hurry! :)
When a doe has a single kid, you can either milk twice a day without separating, or you can start separating overnight and milk out the doe in the morning. We've gone back and forth between those two practices and haven't seen a huge difference in what we get. Just put the kid in a dog crate next to mama overnight. More details are in this post:
We'll she definitely had more milk this morning. Altho when I managed to et it to the house I didn't have much more than last night because she managed to tip the bowl over completely twice. :( oh well. I could tell I was getting more even tho I ended up with not much. When can I start separating Star? He's only about a week and a half old but he's Big and gaining weight like everything! He was over 4 lbs a couple days after he was born and he's a lot more than that now.
The answers to your questions depends on how many kids the does are nursing and how old they are. I think most of your questions (and more) are answered in this post about starting to milk when dam raising:
If you have additional questions not answered in that post, feel free to ask!
Astrud F. Wheeles said:
We are having the same issue at our farm We got two does that just freshened (a 2nd freshener two weeks ago and a FF a week ago). The 2nd freshener we started milking w/o separating the kids because in the beginning her udder looked so tight and we wanted to get her used to us milking her (she is new to us), the first week we did not milked her out twice a day, but in the past few days I have been. I did noticed a few days ago that in the afternoon/evening she was pretty empty, but in the morning we would get about a couple of ounces. This morning I was able to only get a couple of squirts our her.
So should I continue to try to milk her twice a day and her production should pick up some? I don't mind trying since we have another doe that we are milking so we already have all our milking utensils out.
I am also milking the FF w/o separating the kids of course. Her kids were born thinner that the other doe's kids, but they have been gaining weight also. She also has more milk in the morning. This morning her udder was real tight and I was able to get about 7 ounces out of her. I did not empty her out completely, because by the time I got the 7 ounces out she was not having any of it. She is the type that flops down on the milking stand, so we have to put a bucket underneath her and tie her legs, even then she still puts all her weight down which makes it hard to milk her. She has improved a little bit, but I am sure we just have to waited out and continue to work with her.
So should the does still produce roughly what that had been given even though the kids may be eating more? I was assuming that as the kids got bigger they would eat more and we would get less milk unless of course we separated them. Which I was not planning on doing until they got older.
We'll she definitely had more milk this morning. Altho when I managed to et it to the house I didn't have much more than last night because she managed to tip the bowl over completely twice. :( oh well. I could tell I was getting more even tho I ended up with not much.
When can I start separating Star? He's only about a week and a half old but he's Big and gaining weight like everything! He was over 4 lbs a couple days after he was born and he's a lot more than that now.
We are having the same issue at our farm We got two does that just freshened (a 2nd freshener two weeks ago and a FF a week ago). The 2nd freshener we started milking w/o separating the kids because in the beginning her udder looked so tight and we wanted to get her used to us milking her (she is new to us), the first week we did not milked her out twice a day, but in the past few days I have been. I did noticed a few days ago that in the afternoon/evening she was pretty empty, but in the morning we would get about a couple of ounces. This morning I was able to only get a couple of squirts our her.
So should I continue to try to milk her twice a day and her production should pick up some? I don't mind trying since we have another doe that we are milking so we already have all our milking utensils out.
I am also milking the FF w/o separating the kids of course. Her kids were born thinner that the other doe's kids, but they have been gaining weight also. She also has more milk in the morning. This morning her udder was real tight and I was able to get about 7 ounces out of her. I did not empty her out completely, because by the time I got the 7 ounces out she was not having any of it. She is the type that flops down on the milking stand, so we have to put a bucket underneath her and tie her legs, even then she still puts all her weight down which makes it hard to milk her. She has improved a little bit, but I am sure we just have to waited out and continue to work with her.
So should the does still produce roughly what that had been given even though the kids may be eating more? I was assuming that as the kids got bigger they would eat more and we would get less milk unless of course we separated them. Which I was not planning on doing until they got older.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Yes, that's why you need to milk twice a day if you are not separating. Also, this was just one milking, and if the timing is just right, you could get nothing. That's why I said, "a kid is nursing." I didn't necessarily mean the older one. I just meant that someone drank all the milk before you got there.
Julia @Woody Glen Farm said:
Deborah, couldn't she be dropping because baby is drinking it all? Since she recently freshened, she is not separating the kid. Maybe her little piggy is drinking more than he needs and then when Myra goes to milk her, she gets next to nothing?
Yes, that's why you need to milk twice a day if you are not separating. Also, this was just one milking, and if the timing is just right, you could get nothing. That's why I said, "a kid is nursing." I didn't necessarily mean the older one. I just meant that someone drank all the milk before you got there.
Julia @Woody Glen Farm said:
Deborah, couldn't she be dropping because baby is drinking it all? Since she recently freshened, she is not separating the kid. Maybe her little piggy is drinking more than he needs and then when Myra goes to milk her, she gets next to nothing?
This happened to my Gretchen, the babies figured out when I was milking and they gobbled it all before I got to milk, this was before I started to seperate them. It was pretty funny, they were very "healthy" LOL
Deborah, couldn't she be dropping because baby is drinking it all? Since she recently freshened, she is not separating the kid. Maybe her little piggy is drinking more than he needs and then when Myra goes to milk her, she gets next to nothing?
A worm load is possible; I'll check eyelids tomorrow. Can't imagine that she's terribly sick because she has good energy, seemed fairly happy, ate well etc.. Star is growing by leaps and bounds and his tummy was decidedly round today and I could tell he'd gained weight just by picking him up. I'm going to go out in the morning and see what I can get then.
I've only seen something like that under 3 conditions:
1) heavy worm load
2) goat is very sick and dies a few hours later
3) a kid is nursing
I have seen kids start nursing a month or so after they were physically removed from a doe and then put back together. Sometimes forced weaning doesn't last.
Replies
When a doe has a single kid, you can either milk twice a day without separating, or you can start separating overnight and milk out the doe in the morning. We've gone back and forth between those two practices and haven't seen a huge difference in what we get. Just put the kid in a dog crate next to mama overnight. More details are in this post:
http://nigeriandwarfgoats.ning.com/forum/topics/starting-to-milk
Myra Isaac said:
The answers to your questions depends on how many kids the does are nursing and how old they are. I think most of your questions (and more) are answered in this post about starting to milk when dam raising:
http://nigeriandwarfgoats.ning.com/forum/topics/starting-to-milk
If you have additional questions not answered in that post, feel free to ask!
Astrud F. Wheeles said:
When can I start separating Star? He's only about a week and a half old but he's Big and gaining weight like everything! He was over 4 lbs a couple days after he was born and he's a lot more than that now.
We are having the same issue at our farm We got two does that just freshened (a 2nd freshener two weeks ago and a FF a week ago). The 2nd freshener we started milking w/o separating the kids because in the beginning her udder looked so tight and we wanted to get her used to us milking her (she is new to us), the first week we did not milked her out twice a day, but in the past few days I have been. I did noticed a few days ago that in the afternoon/evening she was pretty empty, but in the morning we would get about a couple of ounces. This morning I was able to only get a couple of squirts our her.
So should I continue to try to milk her twice a day and her production should pick up some? I don't mind trying since we have another doe that we are milking so we already have all our milking utensils out.
I am also milking the FF w/o separating the kids of course. Her kids were born thinner that the other doe's kids, but they have been gaining weight also. She also has more milk in the morning. This morning her udder was real tight and I was able to get about 7 ounces out of her. I did not empty her out completely, because by the time I got the 7 ounces out she was not having any of it. She is the type that flops down on the milking stand, so we have to put a bucket underneath her and tie her legs, even then she still puts all her weight down which makes it hard to milk her. She has improved a little bit, but I am sure we just have to waited out and continue to work with her.
So should the does still produce roughly what that had been given even though the kids may be eating more? I was assuming that as the kids got bigger they would eat more and we would get less milk unless of course we separated them. Which I was not planning on doing until they got older.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Yes, that's why you need to milk twice a day if you are not separating. Also, this was just one milking, and if the timing is just right, you could get nothing. That's why I said, "a kid is nursing." I didn't necessarily mean the older one. I just meant that someone drank all the milk before you got there.
Julia @Woody Glen Farm said:
This happened to my Gretchen, the babies figured out when I was milking and they gobbled it all before I got to milk, this was before I started to seperate them. It was pretty funny, they were very "healthy" LOL
Deborah, couldn't she be dropping because baby is drinking it all? Since she recently freshened, she is not separating the kid. Maybe her little piggy is drinking more than he needs and then when Myra goes to milk her, she gets next to nothing?
I've only seen something like that under 3 conditions:
1) heavy worm load
2) goat is very sick and dies a few hours later
3) a kid is nursing
I have seen kids start nursing a month or so after they were physically removed from a doe and then put back together. Sometimes forced weaning doesn't last.
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