Do you have to milk does and feed kids?

Willowynd · #1 01/27/10, 07:43 PM

I have looked over many goat publications and online and can't seem to find an answer. I was wondering if instead of pulling kids from does if you can let the doe feed them and milk her once a day or every other day? Is it possible? If not why not? The reason is I want 2 Nubian does but I doubt I would use that much milk as it is just hubby and I...most of it would probably be used for cheese and I feel as though the best milk for any animal is its mothers....so would feel like I am stealing the milk from the babies so to speak. Would I be better off going with boers? And if I did...then would I be able to get any milk out of them for my own use?

Briza · #2 01/27/10, 07:54 PM

We dam raise our kids. After they are 2 weeks old we separate them at night and milk in the morning and let them spend the day with their dams. They get half the production of the doe and we get some too. The kids are given a medicated pellet to snack on while no milk is available and they soon learn to run to their little area to get the pellets each evening and don't even care that mom is not coming too. For the first few weeks they cannot drink all the milk so we milk morning and night to keep production from dropping off and then move to mornings only after the kids can drink fully half of the output.
B~
Peyton is stunning!

Natural Beauty Farm · #3 01/27/10, 08:00 PM

Get a couple of good high producing does and they will produce milk for kids and you. Best to milk out at least once a day though so that you don't mess with their production demand going up one day and down the next. They will produce to supply demand if it is constant. Here we milk 3x or 4x a day when we need more milk. Our does just step up and give us what we want. Some older kids here are drinking almost a gallon a day and their mothers are putting out 16lbs or more to keep up so we have plenty to go around.

SerenityMama · #4 01/27/10, 08:59 PM

We dam raise our kids, I try to seperate the kids out at night when they are about a month old so I can get more milk. Since only one of my does really produces we milk twice a day.

I just don't have time with my own 4 kids and all the other animals we have to bottle feed any goats, now if one relied on it I would but if mama can do it that's the why nature ment it

Willowynd · #5 01/27/10, 09:20 PM

Thanks! That is what I was looking for. I did not want to be tied down to milking 2 and 3 times a day and raising kids in the house since I work a couple days a week. Once a day I can handle fine though.

Thanks Briza for your comment about Peyton. No pups out of him yet, his co-owner does plan a litter with him this year though.

wintrrwolf · #6 01/28/10, 03:37 PM

Yes milk usage isnt high at my home except on the weekends when my son comes over. I work 5 nine hour days through the week so really wasnt wanting to bottle feed unless the situation demands it. Then got to thinking milking twice a day is going to be hard with my schedule (sigh) though milking first thing in the morning isnt going to be a picnic either. So good to know that I dont have to bottle feed, and milk 2x a day

deineria · #7 01/28/10, 08:20 PM

I hope to do this with goats and our cow.

okgoatgal2 · #8 01/28/10, 09:04 PM

don't have to milk in the am. if milking in the evening works for you milk in the evening, just pull the babes in the am. i've done it both ways and both ways work. teach babes to drink out of a pan and any milk you don't use by day 2, feed back to them.

my schedule: say it is easier for me to milk in the evening.
am: go down, separate babies-10 min max the way my barn is set up. and that's if no one cooperates.
pm: milk, turn babes back in w/mamas.
i take milk to house, strain, refrigerate. i use quart jars. write date w/sharpie. on say...3 june, i take any left over 1 june milk to barn and feed it to goats (the dams will drink it too) or dogs or cats. on 4 june, 2 june milk goes to barn. i don't use for us milk over 48 hrs old. no need to. i did dry everyone off really early as this has been a weird year and i was gone for over a week at thanksgiving, so i am currently buing milk. ugh.

jil101ca · #9 01/29/10, 06:03 AM

Last year I pulled the kids at night, got my milk in the morning and left the kids with mom all day. I also milked at evening just to keep in the habit but never got much so am only milking once a day.

Okgoatgal2- I read that goats sleep at night so pulling the kids during the day will end up with them getting less milk. I would prefer to milk at night as it would give me more time to enjoy the process. Did you notice any difference with kid growth pulling them during the day?

okgoatgal2 · #10 01/29/10, 01:20 PM

not really. i milked around 5 or 6 so it was easy for them to get several hrs in before they went to bed, and i know the kids ate at nite b/c i checked the mamas in the ams and they were EMPTY. i just didn't want to be that rushed in the early mornings before work. ive done it both ways. but, like i said, i get the babies to drink out of bucket, and pour 2 day old milk back so they grow fine. i do not pasturize my mmilk