How much grain when you milk only once a day?

[MamaDee]

We are giving our does who are at kidding or just kidded about 1 2/3 to 2 pounds of grain a day right now.

Before we pulled the babies after a week or so and milked twice a day and I know how to handle grain amounts in that situation.

But if the babies stay with the moms during the day and are separated at night we will only be milking in the a.m. for awhile.

My formula was to give the does 1 cup of grain per pint milked. But they will be nursing, too. Should I just stay with the same "at kidding" amount of 1 2/3 - 2 pounds of grain per day in this case?

Dee

[chamoisee]

They should get the same amount of grain you'd be giving them if they were being milked twice a day. Just because you aren't getting the milk directly doesn't mean they're not producing it. It takes just as much out of them to feed the milk to the kids.

[MamaDee]

Yes, I know....but you don't know how much the kids are nursing. So my normal formula doesn't work.

So....should I just keep them at 2 pounds of grain a day?

Thanks,

Dee

[chamoisee]

Give her the amount you typically give any milking doe, or rely upon what you gave her last year. My experience has been that a decent dairy goat will not put on fat while she is milking/nursing.

[Tallabred]

My 2 week old nubian doelings go through close to a gallon a day for the 2. And this was the 2nd day of them taking a bottle. They are also 14 lbs.

[jadedhkr]

My morning only milker is giving me 1/2 gal/day and she is getting 2lbs of grain at milking.

Less grain = I get less milk, more grain = waste
She is feeding one and has one sneaking sips all day.