When to Stop Milking

[Jabe Thomas]

Background: 

We are milking our doe once a day in the morning. We didn't start milking her until June 1, when her kids were two months old. At that time she was giving a little less than 2 cups of milk during that morning milking. At her peak she was giving 2 cups or a little more. Recently she has been giving quite a bit less... about 1/3 to 1/2 half less. My first question is... is this normal and to be expected? She looks and acts great.

Also, how long will the kids nurse? When I put them with mom in the morning, after milking, they still run to nurse and do so throughout the day.  

My third question revolves around preparing her to be bred again. We are going to breed her late October/early November. When should we stop milking her to allow her to dry up? What does that process look like?

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

On stopping milking ... it is better to just stop cold turkey. It is not a good idea to milk without emptying the udder. The udder will quit producing milk after about 5 days of feeling full. It is that fullness that signals the body to stop producing. Continuing to milk a little bit (or every other day) just confuses the body and is more likely to lead to mastitis. Of course, this is easier when her production is low -- and with the level of production your doe is currently at, it would work fine. She would probably never get really full.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

The standard lactation for a goat is 10 months and looks something like this ... doe kids in January, you breed her again in August, you stop milking her at the end of October, and she kids again in January. If your doe is a first freshener, that could explain why her production is dropping so much already. Some first fresheners are not able to produce for more than about 6 months. However, you can keep milking her and see how long she goes.

Kids nurse for various lengths of time. I have almost never seen a kid wean before six months, although sometimes if one sibling is taken away, the other may stop nursing or the doe may not let the remaining kid nurse. It is pretty rare, but I have seen that happen. I personally never wean my doelings that I am keeping. I let them nurse during the day as long as they want because they grow big and healthy, and I am more likely to be able to breed them as yearlings.

There is no reason to dry up a doe before breeding. At this point, if you don't want to keep milking, you could just stop and let the kids continue to nurse as much as they want. Or you can continue separating overnight and milking once a day. By the way, if one of those kids is a buckling, he should either be separated from the doe or castrated so he doesn't get mom or a sister pregnant.

[Julia @Woody Glen Farm]

She probably shouldn't be dropping so much in production this early in her cycle. I'm not sure why that is happening. We don't dry off our does when they are to be bred. Most of those on this site don't. They can be milked straight through after being bred until 8 weeks (2 months) before they are due to kid. Then they have 2 months to rest and rejuvenate and that seems to be fine and is what most farms do. My doe I milked through winter last year milked with good production until she was about 3 month from kidding and then it started dropping but some will keep it up fine until you dry them off 2 months before kidding. Hopefully someone can help you with ideas on why your doe might be dropping in production. One thing I have noticed is when my does are in heat, the milk production drops off pretty dramatically for a couple of days but then comes right back after she comes out of heat. 

[Sarah Boussuge]

Well, I am milking one of my goats twice a day and I am getting about 1 quart p/ day.But since you are only milking her once a day but letting kids nurse, I don't know if that's normal. I think that you should start trying to wean those kids. My kids nursed off of my doe for 10-15 minutes at a time. But would continue to nurse throughout the day. And what I do to know when I need to dry up my does is, I just dry them up 1 month before they are going to get bred. It just allows her body to relax a bit. When I am drying up a doe, I don't just stop milking her. I still milk her but I don't completely empty her udder. That process, for me, takes about 7-16 days. It just depends on how much milk you leave in her udder. If you just stop milking her all together, she will get really sore, her udder will swell and she won't want her udder touched at all. And this is what I do. Hope this helps.