Hi,
I'm having trouble milking a goat and would appreciate some advice. She delivered a still born 3 weeks ago. On this website I learnt that the milk for 2 weeks is colostrum, so since I have no freezer, we just milked her and didn't catch it. We milked her usually twice a day, morning and evening, (occassionally another time in the afternoon). She stood beautifully still and was a dream to milk, we could take our time.
When the 2 weeks were up, I started catching the milk, and since then she has become a nightmare to milk. She does not want to stand, to be touched, to let me milk her out. Milking her is a complete battle. So I'm wondering, what changed in her? Apart from the fact that I'm using a cup more often to catch it, I haven't changed the routine at all. That's why I'm wondering did something change in her when the colostrum changed to milk?
I know that mother goats have a special call that they use to call their kids to drink, and that the kids are just allowed a short quick suck each side, which is over in a few seconds, and that they do that each hour or so. Well, sometimes if I pass the goats in the afternoon, she seems to do that call, and she will let me milk her for a short amount of time before walking away, just like as if a kid were drinking.
So my questions areː did a change happen in her when the colostrum changed to milk? And secondly, how can I train her to being the great milker that she was in the first 2 weeks?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Katharine
Replies
Hi Debbie, so the hormones changed, that explains the change in her milking behaviour. I hadn't been tying her or feeding her as she had been so good at standing still, but with the change I have started this - I used to do it before with my other goat. We're pretty low tech here, so it's just tying her to a post in her shed and giving her a dish of food! It's going well now, usually, although some days are better than others. We had a friend come to visit from the US who keeps goats and she was so helpful and encouraging. She milked her and was so relaxed and calm. When the goat started jiggling, she just took away the cup and poured off the milk into a container, but kept a hand on the udder the whole time until the goat settled down again. I've been doing this and it's been good. thanks for your comments re colostrum in your other post.
That does sound strange at first glance, but I did think of one thing. If this sounds weird to you, it's because I've known people who've tried this, so bear with me. Do you have her in a stanchion where her head is held into place, and are you giving her something to eat while you're milking her? Or have you just been milking her while she stands in the middle of the ground with no restraint and no food? Although many goats will let you milk them out of the blue when they first kid, once the hormone levels fall, they need to be getting some type of reward (usually food) and be locked into place on a milk stand during milking. I've heard of a couple of people who've been able to milk goats with zero reward and zero restraint, but it's incredibly uncommon, and I have no idea how they do it. I have some very experienced does who can be milked without me locking the head gate, but they're eating grain, and if they run out of grain, they simply turn their head and give me a look, knowing that I'll give them more.
Do you remember where you saw it written on here that does have colostrum for two weeks? Unfortunately, that is not true. I've always said that when doing official milk test, we are not allowed to send in milk for the first four days because it is colostrum. If you know where you saw that, I'd love to edit or add a comment correcting that info.