virgin milker

[doodles]

I have a new 2 year old French Alpine. She has never been bred but has a nice udder and has milk. Her owner who is a very experienced said that she was a "virgin milker". I milked quite a bit out (about a quart) today. I really feel that I can increase her up to normal production over a few weeks. Has anyone else had this experience?

[chamoisee]

It's curious that she's still a virgin at two years old. If you milk her twice a day and increase her feed (but not to the point of making her fat, after all, she is a virgin two year old) her production should increase.

[Carrie C]

Precocious, that's what I've always heard what you describe called. I've had one, and a few more who aborted early on in their first pregnancy and get "hysterical pregnancy", aka psuedo-pregnancy. Because I want to breed them, I've always given them some lutylice (sp?) and it gets them to dry up as well as come into heat. However, if you give a precocious doe more grain and try to get as much milk out o her each milking, output usually improves. It is a gamble to keep them in milk, because you never know when they'll decide to dry up.

[doodles]

This doe came from an elderly man that because of his health problems never bred her. She has not been exposed to a buck but has been around other does as they were freshening. I wondered if this was a natural mothering response to being around the birthing process and rearing of the other does young. None of the kids nursed her. Either way she is very nice and I hope to breed her this fall. I will continue milking her until summer.

[Laura Workman]

Heck, I'd continue milking her until 2 months before she's due to kid, if she'll keep going that long and you want the milk. There's no reason to dry her off before breeding her, as long as she's in good condition. Congratulations on your precocious milker!