Finally have dairy goat

[J C Collins]

Yes, after years of waiting I came home yesterday with "Rosie", who up until then had not been named. She is a year and a half old, stripe on her face, funny little ears, very loud, Nubian black/brown color,very sweet. My first episode milking went well as a friend held her collar and feed dish. She was very patient as I had never done this before. I got about 2 cups of milk; for the day she had I consider that good, and I didn't want tons of milk any how. Just wondering however. I got out all the milk I could, but not all, as she would fill the faucets in a minute or so. Do I milk her until absolutely no milk left? Do I just milk halfway out? Her owner was out in the hayfield and his daughter could not give me much info on her. I don't know when she kidded, etc. Any "udder" info you all can supply would be great. I have a pastuerizer already. We thank you!

[pookshollow]

Congratulations on your first dairy goat! I'm like you, wanted goats for years and years - got my first last May, and now I have 14.

When you're milking and the flow slows down, massage her udder and she'll let down more (if you watch kids nursing, they "bump" the udder - quite hard sometimes!). My little Nubian cross seems to slow down several times but starts up again when I massage her. My Saanen, on the other hand, gives all she's got, so when I massage her, she gives a little bit more, but then that's it. You don't want to strip every last drop out but if you don't empty the udder, the goat won't produce as much - supply and demand, her body is saying the kids are getting enough, stop producing. Hope that helps.

Oh, I'm assuming you washed and dried her udder (and your hands!) before you milked her - and do you have teat dip? All good things to do/have.

[AllWolf]

Congrats on the new dairy goat. I just not to long ago started milking here and I got goats last year at first started out with 3 and now have close to 14 and later more. I know you will enjoy milking your goat. My goat I millk once a day gives me 8 cups of milking and that is using a big measuring cup when I milk. I hope you are washing your hands really good before milking the doe with a antibacterial soap that kills germs because your hands need to be very clean if not she can get Mastitis. You do not want that to happen.Then you need to use a teat dip to clean her teats. I'm not trying to tell you what to do but it is very important to do this what I do. Plus I hope you have the stuff to test her once a week or every two weeks to make sure she does not have no signs of Mastitis. I test mine every week to make sure because if it does start to show up I can get it cleared up hopeful before it get really bad. To test her for Mastitis you can order CMT Kit unless you have a local feed store that carrys it.

Here is what I do I get the doe out of the pen and take her to the steps to get ready to milk since right now only one doe milking. My dh or dd holds the doe with sweetfeed for her to eat while I go back into the house and wash my hands really good with antibacterial soap and dry them very good. I then get my teat dip, paper towels, fight bac, my measuring cup to put her milk in. I go back outside and put the teat dip on her and make sure it is clean plus make sure her udder is to. When all is clean I start to milk her she is a great milking doe I put the measuring cup under her to catch the milk and then after I get done milking I run into the house really fast to strain the milk and put it into a gallon jug because after 3 milkings I have a half gallon of milk. I put the milk in the refrigerator to get cold. I then go back out and spray her teat with fight bac and then put her back in with the other goats.

Good Luck on your goat..

[TexCountryWoman]

My LaManchas average a gallon or a gallon and a half a day.

Nubians give a bit less in general.

heres how i milk,

I wipe the udder down with unscented baby wipes and squirt the first few squirts into the ground. (I have the goat on a milkstand, you really need one).

I milk the doe all the way out, it increases milk production, as stated above, supply and demand. If you leave milk in the udder, the goat thinks she has made too much and she will start drying up and make less and less.

Milk every 12 hours as best you can. You can eventually go to once a day, but twice a day until you are very good at this and can really empty that udder.

After I am through, i use a weak beach water solution as a teat dip and just dip the teats into it prior to releasing the doe back to her pen.

The milk needs to be chilled down to almost freezing very quickly. We drink it raw, so thats all we do.

I have a straining cloth over my milk pail so the milk is strained as I milk.

Practice makes perfect and you will get a very strong upper body and arms. Just keep at it, it gets much easier and pretty soon, there will be nothing to it. Takes a few weeks to a month or so to strengthen yourself up. Don't quit no matter how hard it seems, it is definately worth it.

[J C Collins]

Thank you all! I have been washing my hands well, using baby wipes on Rosie. I kept milking until the teats were "floppy" and not filling, then I was sort of bumping the udder. How can I tell if all the milk (or most of it) is out? Nothing more was coming into the faucets, the udder was firm, but it is really a tiny udder compared to some I have seen. Does the udder itself kind of shrivel up? I will massage it more from now on. I have no idea when she kidded or how many babies she had. She stands still for me real well, our interlude takes about 25 minutes and she never moves. I have milked three times now-last night (first time) was 2 cups, this a.m. was almost 4 cups and tonight was 3 cups. I think we are doing good for being just introduced to each other! Will get fight bac soon. I will put cheesecloth over the bucket to strain from now on, never thought of that.