Training does to the stanchion

Now that my goat barn is finally complete, it is time that I start training my girls to eat on the stanchion in preparation for milking. Any hints on going about this? I had thought I would just let one goat at a time into the milk room, get her up there, close it, and let her eat. Two of my goats have supposedly been milked before, but I've no idea to what degree. For all I know, it could have been just to get some colostrum for later use. I assume I should let the senior doe in first, but therein lies another problem...I have two does that seem to share the title of herd queen. One is a 4 y.o. former bottle baby who is good with humans and a pure terror to the other does. The other is a 5 y.o. who took about two months to warm up to me. She doesn't really fight anyone but the younger ones seem to follow her more. And I have seen her seemingly protect another doe from the terror. So would "herd queen" go to the one who bullies everyone into submission or the one who they seem to follow? Or should I just feed the first one at the gate? I know this sounds stupid...I'm tired and so worried about doing this correctly.

Jackie

Oh my! That reminds me of my herd sometimes jumping on things outside at night....it gives me the heebeegeebees when I am here alone. It's so dark here I can't see anything if I look out there. If I could I would set up a camera just to make sure it was the goats making all that noise.

Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

I had thought I would just let one goat at a time into the milk room, get her up there, close it, and let her eat.

Sounds good to me! And once they know the drill, they'll work out who gets to go first. If you try to change things, the dominant one will not be happy. For three or four years now, Caboose has been our herd queen, which she makes most obvious at milking time. If for some odd reason she is not first, she jumps on the milking parlor door the whole time I'm milking the goat that managed to get in front of her. It always reminds me of a horror flick -- sounds like an ax murderer pounding on the door! Good thing I know it's just Caboose!

Replies

Adrienne October 10, 2011 at 9:46pm

Oh my! That reminds me of my herd sometimes jumping on things outside at night....it gives me the heebeegeebees when I am here alone. It's so dark here I can't see anything if I look out there. If I could I would set up a camera just to make sure it was the goats making all that noise.

Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

I had thought I would just let one goat at a time into the milk room, get her up there, close it, and let her eat.

Sounds good to me! And once they know the drill, they'll work out who gets to go first. If you try to change things, the dominant one will not be happy. For three or four years now, Caboose has been our herd queen, which she makes most obvious at milking time. If for some odd reason she is not first, she jumps on the milking parlor door the whole time I'm milking the goat that managed to get in front of her. It always reminds me of a horror flick -- sounds like an ax murderer pounding on the door! Good thing I know it's just Caboose!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle October 9, 2011 at 9:48pm

I had thought I would just let one goat at a time into the milk room, get her up there, close it, and let her eat.

Sounds good to me! And once they know the drill, they'll work out who gets to go first. If you try to change things, the dominant one will not be happy. For three or four years now, Caboose has been our herd queen, which she makes most obvious at milking time. If for some odd reason she is not first, she jumps on the milking parlor door the whole time I'm milking the goat that managed to get in front of her. It always reminds me of a horror flick -- sounds like an ax murderer pounding on the door! Good thing I know it's just Caboose!
Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres October 9, 2011 at 7:42pm

I'm not sure if you have influence or not... but if it were me, and if Deb said it would work, I'd choose the more docile of the two and use milking time to help her solidify her position as herd queen. I'm not sure if age has anything to do with it? I know that my oldest doe (a very sweet goat) was NOT at the top of the pile in her old herd, but she's an amazing herd queen for my little harem. :)

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