Hi everyone, I wondered how old goats are expected to live. And how many years are they productive?(for milking) I have an older goat @8yrs.old and she seems to be decreasing in milk production. I was just wondering.I thought someone might know more about it. Thanks in advance. Patti NJ

-- (pioneerpatti@msn.com), April 18, 2001

Answers

Goats can live to a ripe old age of about 15 yrs, although I have heard of a few yrs longer than that. I think it was on another thread in this forum that the same question was raised on age. As goats age they will peak in their milk production, about 3-5 yrs, then decline gradually. This is not always the case, but as they near 10 they tend to not produce the abundance of milk they did when they were younger. Don't get me wrong here, i am not saying they still cannot produce a fair amount at an older age. I know a Alpine breeder who had a doe kid at 12 yrs with quads and didn't miss a beat either in her production.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 19, 2001.

We have in the past had some very old does, 14 and 15, though they did kid, we never asked them to milk. My oldest doe in the barn right now is 11 and had twins in December. I am not asking her to milk this year, though she milked about 6 pounds for 10 months last year. I just take this one doe at a time, my 11 year old is the herd boss, and didn't put on as much weight with this pregnancy as I would have liked her to, so the decision was not to milk her. Just let her absorb her colostrum. She is fine, down in her pasterns, but even dry has a lovely well attached udder. Though I would sell or buy a 5 or 6 year old, I wouldn't take a 7 year old an up unless she was coming here with a herd mate she knew, and I had a place to keep her separated for quite sometime. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 19, 2001.