Okay my life started out fine 2 weeks ago, I bought the goat, milked her fine, was soooo excited. She gave me about a quart, remember!!! Well after that first milking, she has given me about 6 oz. a time. Here in Maryland it is raining and raining, it has rained for a solid week. As I trudge out to milk the very sweet Stella, my boots are sticking in the ankle deep muck. I wash off her udders with warm soapy water that I also have lugged out to her. Now, I am ready to milk her and today she gives me only 4 oz. It has slowly gotten down to this level. I came away from the milking alittle less than satified. Am I being a snit, am I suffering from a strong sense of entitlement that she should give me more than 4 oz. I am wondering if this is even worth it. That means I get a cup of milk a day. So for getting myself and one of my boys ready 2 times a day, washing all equitment and having to be home at the 7:30's I get ONE CUP a day. Would any of you other Goat Milking Ladies do this?/?// I think I am crazy, I wanted her to give me alot everyday so I could make cheese and make soap and lotion. Well that isn't going to happen when I use the morning milking in my morning coffee. OH well, thanks for letting me vent. signed, frustrated Karole

-- Karole (Biz3boymom@aol.com), February 17, 2001

Answers

Well Karole,I'm not a milking lady but I can tell you no one milks for a cupful a day.I dry my goats off when their production drops below 2 quarts a day.I do milk the last one down to 1 quart a day so we will have milk for the house. Your goat is drying up.Make sure she is bred so you will have milk again in a few months.If she is a decent milker,you should have plenty of milk for cheese etc.when she freshens again.

-- JT Sessions (gone2seed@hotmail.com), February 17, 2001.

I hate to say this but I think you are wasteing your time,let her go dry and rebreed.

-- renee oneill{md.} (oneillsr@home.com), February 17, 2001.

Hi karole,

I guess my first question is what have you been feeding her and how much? Then my next question is, do you know if she was exposed to a buck? i'd say that your girl is drying up. She may be drying up due to having been rebred, they will slowly taper off. We experienced this last yr with our older does who got pregnant and then kidded in November. They were bred in June while we were away showing at nationals, the older gals got out and visited the buck, our son was holding down the fort and he said he got them back in. Never suspected pregnancy as its a weird time to get preggers. by late August they had tapered off in production. We are on DHIR test and were very concerned. It was a few weeks later that they dried up. Now that may or may not be your trouble here. You can try to increase her production by sprinkling a little fennelgreek seeds and dill seed topdressed on her feed. I use about 2T's of the stuff. It may help promote production. If she is drying off, don't panic, you can give her a rest and then rebreed her in the fall and you'll have a milk next yr. i know thats not what you were hoping to hear, but sometimes with goats theya re sooooo unpredictable. I know what you mean about the mud, we live in VA and its bad here. Its sunny today though so perhaps we will have a break from the rain. Got to run, back to the barn, have a kiddign frenzy going on. take care.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 17, 2001.

Karloe, you said she just had babies beginning of February right before you got her. She should not be drying up. I milk my goats for 10 months after they kid. Are you giving her any grain? She needs something to make milk with. I have noticed on my goats that if I only have corn, they give 1/2 as much as they do with grain. I have to make sure I don't run out. Do you have any alfalfa? Her bag should get bigger as you milk, not smaller. You said she was 7, that's not very old.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), February 17, 2001.

I noticed in Cindy's post that your doe had kids the first of this month!She should not be drying up this soon.Make sure the kids aren't nursing through a connecting fence.Be sure to milk her out completely each milking and of course don't ever skip a milking.You might also check to see if she has hard areas in her udder.If she kidded this month and is already drying up somthing is very wrong.

-- JT Sessions (gone2seed@hotmail.com), February 17, 2001.

Good idea to check for kids nursing through the fence. I've had that happen when I thought they were well separated. Another consideration might be is she sucking herself? May sound funny, but goats are very limber, and some do. If you teat tape her you will get a better idea. It is very discouraging to milk when you don't get a good amount. Good luck, mary

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), February 17, 2001.

Karole:

This is definitely not normal. Are you milking her twice a day? Normal production requires twice daily milking. A full grown doe should give around a gallon per day. Even one quart per milking is not good. Unless she is self nursing or a kid is nursing off her through the fence, you have another serious problem. I've never seen a doe dry up this rapidly under normal conditions. My first suspicion is inadequate feed. A milker needs free choice good quality grass hay and alfalfa. She also need 2 to 3 pounds of grain - get a good dairy goat mix. If you are already doing all this, then there is a medical problem. Could be milk fever or acidosis. Milk fever is caused by a calcium deficiency and you will need the help of a vet to correct this. We are dealing with it in one of our does. We periodically need to give her calcium gluconate and propylene glycol in large quantities. We are also supplementing her diet with Tums. Once this sets in, the does milk production will not recover until she freshens again. I would recommend drying her off and making sure she is getting proper nutrition before getting her rebred.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 17, 2001.

Something has gone wrong. If you leave milk in the udder, by not massaging and making sure she is letting down the milk, than she will make that much less each time, and soon you have a dry goat. If it is raining, what is she eating? Lots of hay, some grain? What do her gums look like? If they are pale she may need to be wormed. Lots of great guesses on the other posts but a doe of mine would be on her death bed and still give more than 1 cup of milk! And Bernice's does who were bred, were continuing to milk less and less, but some how I doubt she is talking about a cup? Mastitis, milk fever, and any of the other metobolic diseases would have you on the list, telling us she is down, feeling awful etc. Does she have fresh, unpooped in water and loose minerals out to make her want the water, to make milk? Remember milk is all water. If you fix the problem that you are having, more grain, more hay, check the water empty the udder all the way out, than she should start milking more each day for you. And honestly a doe who is only milking 1 cup a day at only 6 weeks fresh (and honestly the 1 quart you were talking about originally is very marginal for a milking breed) isn't good for much but the freezer, certainly not a doe you would breed for a daughter! But Oh!! She may milk 2 cups! :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 17, 2001.

Hi there, THank you all for your post. I am feeding her about 4-5 obs of grain a day. A goat feed from our local farm store. She has hay free choice and clean water. The previous owner called me when she had the babies. He took the babies at birth and I don't know how well he was milking her until he delivered her to me 1 week later. So I guess I think that she had a week to dry up after the babies and he didn't milk her so great that whole week. I am very dissappointed and will plan on getting her really healthy and try again next year. If she doesn't produce much I will make descisions then. OH well. I think she looks really good, is in a good mood and doesn't seem ill. I will check her gums tonight. I will miss the milk we love it. Karole

-- Karole (Biz3boymom@aol.com), February 17, 2001.

I had a doe do this too. I bought her at auction and she had not been milked since kidding. If you ask me you should milk four or five times a day. Is this your first goat? If so you may not be milking her completely out. It takes an animal awhile to adjust. My doe soon had her production come back up. Also what kind of goat is she? This is very important. A pygmy or another smaller goat may not ever milk very much. Is her udder shrunken significantly after milking? If not you are probably not getting all the milk out. It is also a good idea to massage the udder for several minutes before starting. Don't be afraid of hurting her. Baby goats are quite rough in their dealings with the mother. Also it is important that you feel the teat itself, sometimes there can be a waxy buildup of dried milk that won't let the milk come out. Is the milk coming in streams, or just dribbling? Also you should milk until not a drop of milk will come out. You also need to make sure that you trap the milk in the teat before squeezing with thumb and forefinger, then squeeze the remainder of the milk out with you other fingers, kinda like making a fist slowly. Do not pull down on the teats like in the movies. Squeeze from the top down. I hope this helps.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@calinet.com), February 17, 2001.

4-5 pounds of grain per day is WAY too much grain. You're running the risk of foundering her. All a milking doe needs is one pound of grain per every three pounds of milk she is giving. A gallon of milk is eight pounds. A doe milking nine pounds (a respectable amount) should only get three pounds of grain daily. You need to cut back to maximum one pound of grain and also find the real reason for the sudden drop in quantity.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 17, 2001.

Karole, you have kids on this doe, right? If that's the case are they on her during the night and all day? How many? If they are drinking the milk right before you milk her it could be the reason you aren't getting any. You can leave the kids on her during the day and take them away at night and then she should fill up any give you plenty of milk in the morning milking, but you will HAVE to determine if she is producing milk enough for the kids after you see if she is full in the am.

I hope you really don't mean the doe is eating 4-5 pounds of grain a day. Maybe cups...small cups? Best of luck with her!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), February 18, 2001.

A friend of ours had this happen to her, and what they discovered is that the doe was holding back. The daughter was doing all the milking-she would get about a cup of milk and swear that there was no more...and then get the rest of the chores done. Well last wek her mom finally went out to the barn and said that there is no way she can only have just one cup of milk in her-so she was to milk her until she had at least a half gallon. (the doe had a huge udder and history of producing a minimum of a half gallon each milking-more often clse to 3/4 of a gallon). So the daughter went back and milked her again-and she ended up with that half gallon.

could that be what is going on? I am no expert-but a cup of milk seems really unreasonable even with the break in being milked.

Hope you figure out what is wrong, and get the problem solved-we are having our own goat troubles, I can appreciate your frustration.

Sarah

-- sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), February 18, 2001.

Karole, is there any way you can find out if the previous owner milked her at all and how much milk she gave? Did he pawn off one of his culls on you? Even if he just didn't milk her after taking the kids, I don't think he behaved very honestly. It sounds like she freshened recently,right? If so, you should be able to bring her production back up by milking her several times a day, milking out thoroghly each time. Until her production comes up to a worthwhile level, I would not bother sterilizing all the equipment. It just is not worth the effort for one cup of milk! Bring a box of baby wipes and wash her udder off with that. Is there any chance that she could have mastitis? Sometimes they do not show many other symptoms besides reduced milk yield.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), February 19, 2001.

I agree with the notion that she is not letting down her milk for you. Sometimes does can be very stubborn with this. I had one doe that resented having her babies taken and it took a couple of weeks to finally persuade her to relax and let it go. A gentle manner, warm compresses on the udder and plenty of massage helped. It definately requires patience. They can sometimes prefer certain people milking them, my daughter always had better luck with this particular doe when she milked her. I used to joke that she had magic fingers! Follow the advice about feed and try frequent milkings throughout the day if possible and hopefully you'll see some results. Good luck.

-- Amy (gshep @aeroinc.net), February 22, 2001.