Hi,I am new to goat ownership. I have a Nubian doe that is due to kid in midddle of June. I would like to allow the kid to stay on the doe exclusively for about a week or two then begin milking for home use. At this time I would like to milk 1 time a day and allow the kid to stay with Mom. How much milk should I expect to get? Does it depend on whether I milk in the AM or PM? Thanks,Chris

-- Chris Dehne (mdehne@ccpl.carr.org), April 07, 2000

Answers

We do it that way, and have for years. When the kids are a month old, we start shutting them in a pen at night, and after milking the mother in the morning,let the kid out to run with her all day long. That way we don't have to fool around with washing hundreds of bottles, and in the experience we have had, the kids are healthier and bigger than bottle raised ones. Our goats don't have CAE so it is safe for the kids to nurse. I have tried to shut the kids up at a younger age, 2-3 weeks, but it seems to set their growth back a bit and is more stressful at that age. We also milk at night, there is just less milk , but the does still need to be milked at night. Our does average about 2 quarts each for the morning milking. How much you get will depend on the productivity of your goat, some do not even give enough milk to feed their kid! The morning milking is usually greater, and then the kid can run around in the day with her mom. Why shut a healthy kid in a pen all day long? Even when the kid is on the doe full time, you should still milk the mother, unless she has triplets or doesn't produce much, there will be extra milk that will need to be milked out. The only problem I have had with this system is that the kids are hard to wean, however, we have a lot of does and too much milk, so we let the kids nurse all summer long. Once the mother gets pregnant again, she weans the kids.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), April 07, 2000.

Hi,

I pretty much do as Rebekah (sp? sorry if I did) suggested. We are on milk test with our herd and so we let the kids nurse at night only. We also milk 2x's a day. Our herd tested CAE - so we allow the kids to nurse. How much all together you will get with milk depends on feed and bloodlines. I also play with the kids a lot since they are dam raised, dam raised kids tend to be more skitterish or wild. Good luck.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 07, 2000.

Chris,

We have raised kids and milk for home use for 3 years now. AM milkings tend to be more milk, perhaps the kids are less active at night! No problem on the once a day milking with kids on or for that mater after, you will get less milk but if its enough for you uses that's ok. Best thing to remember is the less sudden changes you make feed, kids, milking the better. Our childern spend time with the kids and it helps alot with their (Goats) disposition later.

Good Luck Tim and Cheryl Ritter

-- Tim + Cheryl Ritter (cbrooke@frontiernet.net), April 11, 2000.

Early morning wilkings probably are best, because sheep and goats both seem to bed down for the night. Horses and cattle doze on their feet, but don't quite shut down like that. So if you milk in the morning, before the kids have nursed much, you'll probably get more milk, and they'll have all day to nurse, which is when they will be awake and active anyway. It really is important to socialize the kids very well though, because we've had a doe that was raised on her mother and she was VERY difficult to handle and milk. She hadn't been abused, and the people we got her from had tried to socialize her, but evidently not enough.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 12, 2000.