Milking your goat "through"
 

Good Morning Everyone!
Just wanted to pass on a quick note about milking our 2 Alpine girls "through". Talking with a fellow goat person at the Farmer's Market and reading here where someone writes "you must breed every year for milk" caused me to come out of the woodwork so to speak, to say that one came back up to her last years milk levels and a good consistent level of the other. They are both 1 year and 2 months into lactation and I will continue to milk without breeding until I see a major decrease in production - whenever that should happen, this fall or next year or the year after that :). I know this isn't tremendous news to the experienced goat people but for those newer and wondering what to do with kids every year I thought it might be interesting to know that you do not have to breed every year to have milk. If anyone would like more detailed info from me, just PM since I usually am hanging out in the Fiber forum.

Liese,
saving the world, one sentient creature at a time

I Agree
 

I usually breed my does every year, but I am pondering not doing that this coming fall - partly because of how many kids they have. I had three set of triplets and one of twins from my four kidding does this year and everyone is alive. I left the kids on the does this year (registered Alpines), but have very little milk for the house at this point. This fall I want to breed two does and milk two does through. That way I will have milk available for dogie lambs rather than having to use milk replacer like I am doing now. My cheese customers will be real happy to have cheese all winter. I milked a yearling through the year before last and she did great. Really, I cheated - a calf suckled on the goat for three months of the winter and then I went back to milking her.

Our Alpine is also milking through. She kidded in February of 2007, so this is month fifteen! We're getting a half a gallon a day, which is down from almost a gallon a day, but it is adequate for our needs.

If she drops off significantly from this point, we will dry her off and breed her in the fall.

I'd never be able to go without babies... hehe. :)

We're going to try to pull a few through this year, too.

When we get to the fall, we'll see who is still really milky and save out a few to try. I'm nervous because if it doesn't work it'll be a big hit on the business ... we are a micro dairy so every doe counts. But I am getting more and more anecdotal evidence that we should be able to do it, even with our lower output breed (Nubians). I hope it's true - we don't need so many kids every year, either.

I'm hoping that my doe is bred for September freshening -- if she does kid then, I plan to see how well she'll milk through. I would have tried it with her mother if I hadn't lost her. I've heard of goats going three years or more between freshenings.

Kathleen

I've got three that I am milking through, and I'm only milking once a day. My scrawny little grade Alpine is still going strong at 13 months - just under 2 litres. I'm curious to see how long she goes, and I can't wait to breed her SaanenX daughter! My big Saanen kidded in July last summer, so there was no point breeding her - her first year she milked 13 months before I managed to get her dried off. Her daughter was bred in January, and I was struggling to dry her off - then I took a good look at her and said "you're not pregnant!" :grit: and she's back up to where she was. Figures - the one I actually paid a stud fee for.

I have one nursing a kid, so if the others all go completely dry (very unlikely), I'll have her as backup.

I'd love to hear more stories of milking through only once a day. Do they dry off naturally sooner than those milked twice a day?

I have a doe that has been milking for 16 months and still going strong. She is an FF nubian. She didn't get bred, so I'm milking her through and breeder her early as possible this fall.

wow, i am all ears on this issue--i would really like to keep a couple going thru winter at least. and a FF?! wow again. will this help make her 'learn' to have veyr long productive lactations?

I am planning on trying it this time too. I sold my buck and just have the one dairy doe now and her little mixed breed partner. We are getting 2 qts once a day right now and could easily get by on less as her production goes down over the winter. All those babies were just too much for me, cute as they were, still too many goats!

Sherry in GA

Not only can you milk through, but in some cases, you can even have one come back into milk after being dry. My LaMancha doe, Maggie, is milking a quart a day, plus feeding her gdtr, so probably a half-gallon a day. She was milking over a gallon a day at her peak, but had been dry for a year before letting her dtr's doe kid nurse. Next thing I knew, she was back in milk. She didn't settle last fall, so I'm hoping to get her to take early this fall. I'm not planning to milk her dtr through, but will probably milk our Alpine doe through this winter.

That book about natural goat raising says that Alpines in their native lands are often milked for two years.

Mine is still going great. :)

We milked an Ober and a Nuberhasli through this year, as well. I did finally breed them back but they both went well into their second year. Between the two, I was only getting 1.5 gallons per day with twice a day milkings, but it wasnt' so bad.

Very interesting thread! I have two FFs I'm planning to try this with. One gives about 3/4 gallon six months into her first lactation, and the other gives about 1/2 gallon six months into her first lactation. I don't like the months without milk, and hopefully, these two will keep going for me.

Is there anything special I should be doing to keep the milk coming?

NeHi

What breed?

One is full LaMancha and the other is LaMancha X Nubian.

NeHi

I think it's good genetics as much as good husbandry. I also have a 3/4 Nubian/ 1/4 Alpine doe that will dry up almost as soon as her kids are weaned - she wouldn't milk through in a million years. I'm going to breed her Boer this year.

Just keep feeding them well. I had to buy a round bale of very grassy, very yellow hay, and I've noticed that milk yield is down on all three of my does that are milking through. I've added alfalfa pellets back to their grain which has helped bring it back up, and I've also just put in a load of their "usual" hay today, so I'll start feed that to them. (It's been an awful summer for hay - this is first cutting)

I have always milked my does for as long as they continued to produce reasonable amounts. My star Streak is half Alpine-half Toggenburg and she has been milking straight through for FOUR YEARS come August 15, 2008!!!!!! I've kept solid milk records and her average is actually going up over the years. And now she's halfway to becoming grain free. Milking through is NOT a myth.

I had a Nubian doe that I milked through. She gave 12lbs at peak and then gave around 8lbs, maybe down to 6lbs for a low.

One of my milk customers told me that when she was a little girl someone gave them a baby goat for a pet. After about a year they noticed that she developed an udder so they began to milk her. This virgin goat stayed in milk for the rest of her life, 14 years!

Christy

WOW, I wonder how much she milked.

That's what I asked :D She had no idea, only that there was always pleanty of milk for the family. I heard of another virgin milker too but it was not a first hand story like this one.

Goats are such lovely and amazing creatures:angel:

Christy

Oh I am soooo very interested in this topic! I'm not much interested in having kids every year nor even every other year (not at all would be ok with me! lol), but I want the milk of course. I have Nigerian Dwarf goats and am going to try this. I am a bit worried because when I do breed my doe she will be a FF and being Nigerian they give only about half of what a full size goat gives. Has anyone tried milking through a Nigerian?

I talked to the breeder I bought my Obers from and told her that I was planning on milking one of them (Tia) through, because she is just rock-solid-consistent. NOTHING affects this girl's production. Not heat, not rainy cold nastiness, nothing. I suppose if I treated her badly her production would go down. Not that I intend to try that.

Anyway, the breeder said that she milked Tia's mom for almost three years, and that while her milk went down a little in the winter, it was right back up in the springtime.

I also plan on milking one of my Lamanchas through. It will be nice to (hopefully) have milk all winter!

How is it going now?

My three are still milking quite nicely, thank you!

Actually, my grade Alpine has slowed down a little the last few days but she was in heat. She's very secretive about her heats, so I rushed her to the breeder on Monday. Hope she caught.

My two Saanens did pretty well at a fair in October, so I decided to take them to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, on Nov. 8, (we're talking "big-time" :D) and started milking twice a day. They more than doubled their production and their udders were awesome. The big doe, who was producing six litres at her peak more than a year ago, started milking five litres a day. Her daughter, a two-year old, was giving over four litres. I've since gone back down to milking once a day, and I'm still getting six litres between the three of them.

These stories are the genetics most folks pray for- some goats will do that- Saanens are nioted for it, but other breeds obviously do it as well. Redwood Hills has several of their big show does that do this, with very respectable milk records and in UK, it is very common to see milkers 'running through'.

The grandmother (Companeros Lomasi) of one of my bucks did 22,000lbs of milk in 4 lactations, milking through twice. Not sure what she has done in the last two years since I gathered that info. These are the animals that put it in the pail and with luck pass it along to their offspring.

a man in my area has saanens and he's trying to 'promote the breed here in south dakota' (super, as i'm trying to raise a few nice ones too) so he researched and bought some does and a buck from some high producers in wyo. (?, i think that is what he said) his one doe is on 2.5 years milking straight. she peaked at close to 16lbs per day, now down to a quart a day, only milking once per day. the buck he's going to use on this doe is a 'crawford' (he seems so happy about this bloodline)

i have only talked to him once, but found him interesting and hope to visit his farm soon. but his experience with this doe makes me hopeful to do the same some day myself.

I have a question - how does working through work when the buck lives near the does? I have Nigerian Dwarf's and the buck is ALWAYS in rut! I have almost given up on milking through with a buck on the premises...

Got any suggestions?

Why did you give up? My bucks' pen adjoins the does' pen. Hasn't caused a problem.

Not that I have given up yet... lol. It just seem really hard on the buck and me. The does don't seem to mind as much. I still have some work to do to keep the does and the buck separate. He has climbed the fence and tore the fence up with his horns (he is the only horned goat we own). It always seems like something is happening in the goat yard and barn because they are always in heat, coming in heat, or going out of heat... it's just wearing I guess. When the does are all bred we all get a 5 month break from the dramatics out there!

The other thing is it can't be good for the buck to always be in rut - in a wild herd they would all get bred and then things would be cool until a few weeks after birthing and the cycle would start again. But by my milking through, the buck never gets a break from it all. I have ND's and they cycle year round!