I am sorry. I didn't know how many of you were going back to old one.

I was told to milk both sides completely. Well How do I know if I have emptied them? His side is always empty. I mean just looking you can tell it is empty. I milk her on one side morning and evening and get about 1 and 1/2 -2 cups each time. I milk her until the teat gets squishy and soft and there is less comeing. Then I massage the utter and try a few more times. I get a little more out but not a lot.It looks almost like his side then. How do I know if her utter is empty? Do I try to just keep milking until the utter is like his side? I can feel his side and the utter is sometimes loose skinned?Very loose skinned. Do I need to keep milking? Is it possible to keep milking her until it gets to this state? I do not want to make her sore.

And as for the tape thing; is it necessary for him to nurse both sides and me to alternately milk both sides to keep production going well on both sides? I guess I do not really understand. I know I am going to be embarrased one day for being so ignorant. Ouch and the idea of tape there? I know what tape on a breast feels like! Yikes!

He was born Friday around noon. How old is he, when he gets weaned by me? I do not want to wait for her to do it.Maybe two? three? months old??? I do want to have good milk production going when he is gone.I want to keep milking her.

Speaking of which; how do I get her to give lots of milk? I feed her maybe 1/2 cup rabbit pellets,1/2 cup corn chops, and then the rest sweet feed in a 1 pound coffee can every morning at milking and every evening at milking. And all the water she will drink. I also put maybe 2TB of apple cider vinegar in her water bucket, which is a 2 and 1/2 gallon bucket. But she is not very old either. She was bred very young by her previous owner. She is fairly large though. But not necessarily a large goat at that. I do not know how much she weighs.She is not skinny though.Oh and some alfalfa hay, couple hands full. Maybe a layer off the end? Hard to explain.And she is free to brouse the feild and soon the woods. Lots of honeysuckle vines there. She loves that more than anything. More than alfalfa! I do not know how much milk I should expect. Do I need to milk her three times a day to get her produceing more? I assume she is produceing more for his side. Is that it? Am I letting him nurse the other side to get mine to produce more? And so they both will be produceing well when he is weaned? ??

Oh. and one more thing. I wash her with a fairly warm rag before I milk. Do I need to put bag balm on her after I milk? Do I do this like hand lotion on a person and should I feel anything when I am done? Maybe wipe off any excess. Is this bad for baby goat to get in his mouth. And does this bag balm stink? I am very allergic to a lot of scents and petroleum products.

I am sorry, I know I said one more thing,but the kids keep asking when they can start drinking the milk. I assume soon?????

Thanks to you all!

-- Bonnie (josabo1@juno.com), March 05, 2001

Answers

Personally, I think at this point, I would consider pulling the baby off and hand feeding it. It has been years since I have been in that position (I was a kid myself) but I have a goat due, past due..waiting for her to deliver...anyway, growing up, we could not get any milk for ourselves if we let the goats nurse. It did seem like they would "save" it for the nursing baby. If the goat was just really attached to the baby and went nuts without it, we just went without milk for 3 months. That is probably why we had more then one goat. I am planning on hand feeding the new kids when they are born since I currently only have the one milk goat and we need the milk. As to the bag balm. We used that all the time on the goats udders, rubbed it on like lotion, it never seemed to bother the babies. I may get corrected on those that are more experienced then I am , but that is how it was for us. I used warm water to massage the udders prior to milking, and a baby wipe. Oh, we only put bag balm on the ones that the kids were suckling on, the others didn't seem to need it.

What is the vinegar for? I have heard of doing that to insure doelings born every time...but nothing else. Do I need some more information myself? :-)

Hang in there, you are doing fine!!!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), March 05, 2001.

Bonnie those early days to goatkeeping can be frustrating.One good thing,the learning curve is steep!Ok,here we go.I can't believe that leaving the kid to nurse is a good idea.Pen him up at night,milk in the morning,both halves.Let the kid have all the milk during the day. This way he will clean up what you miss at the morning milking.Wean him between 2 and 3 months.Also remember that he will be able to breed at three months or soon after. As for milking out.Milk it completely out.Do it gently(don't pull)and you won't make her sore.Avoid Bag Balm as it collects dirt. Your feeding program might make some of us flinch but after a careful re-reading it really doesn't sound too bad.If you have a choice,go to regular GOAT sweet feed.Feed 1 pound a day for the doe and 1 pound for each 3 pounds of milk she is producing.The alfalfa is good.Watch out for the honeysuckle.Some put it on the poisonous list.Oak leaves are also on that list and my goats eat tons of leaves and acorns each year. We usually wait a week before drinking the milk.

-- JT in Florida (gone2seed@hotmail.com), March 05, 2001.

Hi Bonnie, his side is softer than yours because her nurses constantly all day. All you are really trying to do with your side is to keep the production up so that when he is bigger, like next week :) and can drink from both sides, your side will not be dry, which it would have been had you not been milking it! Whew!

Watch you little one nurse his dam, he sucks on the teat, and then bumps the udder with his head. When you milk, first clean the udder and teat, I use wetones, than milk the teat until no more milk will come out, then massage the udder, which is like the bumping the kid does, and then milk some more, do this maybe 3 times until no more milk comes out. If you are desperate for house milk, than yes, you can keep the baby in his own pen at night, milk most of the milk in the morning, and then let him have his mom until evening again. No matter how you choose to do this, make sure that each day you put her up on your milk stand once a day, and clean out the udder, this will give you a chance to give her extra grain, to clean the udder and to keep her used to being handled, so that when you wean the baby at 12 weeks, or whenever you notice her butting him away, that you will have milk left for yourself to milk for house milk, if that is what you choose to do. If you don't want to milk than let her nautrally wean him. After I milk I spray each teat with water (a quart horse spray bottle) that has about 2 or 3 tablespoons of bleach in it, I also put a squeeze of Avon Skin so soft or oil in the water, shake well and spary each teat about 5 times. This helps the orifice in the teat to close, and also keeps the teats soft, and neither will hurt the baby. I do not like bag balms as they attract dirt to the udder, making a mess.

Rabbit pellets are not good for goats, mostly because they are just ground up alfalfa, and by products, most are sprayed to make them green. They also can contain any animal by products that the feed mill wants to put in them (read the Mad Cow threads) that is why you really need to be feeding a calf starter, sheep feed, or goat feed. Even sweet horse and mule feeds can contain animal by products. With a flake of alfalfa hay each day, all you really would need to feed your doe is a good allgrain mix. Our feed store carries an All Grain that is oats, corn, alfalfa pellets and a mineral mix, to this just put out some loose horse or cattle minerals. Give her 1 pound of the grain mix for body maintence, more once your see her kid eating with her, and then on the milk stand feed her as much as she wants, well within reason! Remember to make all feed changes slowly, so at least for a week 1/2 and 1/2 you new program with your old, then switch over. Your goat is very lucky to have the woods! My girls do very well gleaning what they need off ours, I really do think they know alot more than we think, and eat things that their bodies need.

Go to caprinesupply.com order their catalog, get yourself a weight tape, and maybe their book Goat Keeping 101, Have a great time. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 05, 2001.