My FF started out the first week at 20 ounces then went down to around 14 and now at about 8 weeks fresh we are back to 17 ounces. I am milking 2 times/day and have been giving enough grain that there is always a little left at the next milking. The grain is textured goat feed/1/2 cup calf manna and 1/2 cup BOSS and getting at least a pound/day and I would give her more but she won't eat it. Free choice hay and minerals. She is the only doe that I have in milk so I am just getting about a cup at each milking and it is just barely worth it, but i am drinking all the milk.
What I would like to know is the pro's and con's of keeping her in production through the summer, or going ahead and drying her off. I suppose that she might increase in production, but from what i have read online this should be about the time for her to peak.
Any thoughts please...
Replies
Thank you both for your input and tips. Though it is my first time milking, I do think that I am emptying her out. How many times should i massage, bump, and strip the udder out?
Here is what I am doing. In the beginning the orifice seems to maybe be open more, I don't know, but the milk streem is larger in the beginning and gets smaller at the end. I milk a cup out easily then I will massage and strip out, and massage and strip out again until I can't get anything else to come out. Also when I am striping out i also run my fingers up onto the udder and slide them down. It is hard to explain so I will try to get someone to help me and take a video. Also, I start milking from behind using both hands at the same time and at the end I move to the side and milk one side at a time until nothing comes out. I can't know for sure, but I do think that I have it down and am getting all the milk out. It may just be that she doesn't have a pen mate since she lost her kids. I am still trying to get her a pen mate. She does share a fence line with the buck pen which has electric on both sides. She may just not be happy enough. I have decided to go ahead and milk her through the summer and then reevaluate.
I agree with Deborah about continuing to milk her. If you want a milker, you need to milk her even if production is low. As she mentioned, you will get more proficient at milking.
I offer a suggestion here that helped me to be a better milker. I often found myself "accepting" what I easily got and production was slowly falling. After I started taking my digital kitchen scale to the milkstand and weighing as I went along, I found that the production was more consistent and even increased for several weeks. I would stay that extra few minutes and try harder to get as much as the milking before. We think that half an ounce really doesn't matter if we don't strip it out but that is half an ounce less they make to replace it. Milk is a supply for demand enterprise. Initially, my main reason was to try harder to get more milk out of Summer's small side since she was greatly out of balance with having had two sets of triplets. It took a lot of time and effort, but she did eventually get both sides the same - that was clearly a case of supply increasing on the smaller size and I didn't start milking her until at four months after kidding (the day her triplets left).
Another advantage of continuing milking is the udder stays active which could mean it will produce more next freshening. The practice milking means that you will be more likely to try different hand positions and techniques to find the one that is most efficient for you and that particular goat. It's amazing what a difference a slight change can make.
Of course, you want to dry her up at least two months before her next kidding; three is better.
I have read that in several places but don't really understand how continuing to milk her helps make future production better?
The only "advantage" of drying her off is that you don't have to milk her. Continuing to milk her is best for her in terms of future production and practice on the milk stand. It's also good for you to continue practicing so that you'll be more proficient when you have a goat that gives more than a quart at a single milking.