Milking Through.

[2doordad]

Just wondering what the longest someone has milked through one of their girls? I am going on the 19th month and still getting a gallon a day. I have never weighed my milk so I'm not sure how many LBS I'm getting, but I was curios how long I can go.

[CaliannG]

~smiles~ You can continue to milk her as long as you feel she is giving you enough to make it worth your while to put her on the stand.

I have heard of goats milking through for several years.

[Laverne]

Spring of 2013 my one goat, Sadie, will be milking 4 years straight. I have gone to once a day milking for the first time this winter, but I know I will have to milk twice a day this spring when she naturally goes up. Another one will have been milking 3 years and another 2 years. I make a 5 lb. hunk of cheddar every 5 days all winter long to use up all the milk.

[Hannah90]

Sorry to steal the thread, but I have a question. I havent heard of anyone milking goats or cows this long. I am flabbergasted! Is it hard on their bodies or bad for them in anyway?

[CaliannG]

You have to adjust your management to it, Hannah. Just like everything.

Does put a lot of copper and selenium in their milk, so your management would consist of supplementing these things just as if she were getting pregnant. I.e., if you managment consists of giving Bo-Se injection before breeding in fall, and before birth in spring, then if you were milking through, you'd still give her Bo-Se those two times per year.

Milking is hard on a doe's body, but so is pregnancy and delivery. If you are, however, providing everything the doe needs to maintain her condition through lactation, then it is actually easier on her than going through the yearly cycles of pregnancy, birth, lactation, repeat.

[Hannah90]

Huh... Who'd a thunk it? I am so naive on some of this stuff.

Thanks for the excellent explination, as always caliann

[Alice In TX/MO]

I have an Alpine who went twenty months, and after Cassie the Mini Mancha had quintuplets two springs ago, I milked her till November .... let's see.... that's about twenty months, too.

Getting rid of kids is a hassle, as I hate to part with them. I think I may not rebreed a few after they kid this spring. We are kidding seven, and that's toooooooo many.

[Hollowdweller]

I think around 3 months for me. I like to give heavy milking first fresheners a rest so I'll milk them for 2 years or so.

The most mortality in goats is related to kidding so if you can keep milking you increase the lifespan of your goats.

[Shayanna]

What breeds are known for longer lactation periods if any? Or is it all about management?

[mammabooh]

I got my goats at the end of March 2011. Both of them were first fresheners and had kidded two weeks prior to me bringing them home. One of them kidded again March of 2012, but the other was milked through. So, it's been 21 months. Hopefully, that one is bred now, and I will dry her off in February. Now, she hasn't been producing huge amounts all this time, but I didn't expect her to...she was a FF and she was moved to a new home just two weeks into her lactation. I am very happy, though, that she's allowed us to have enough milk for everyday use and I haven't had to buy any milk since March of 2011.

It's my plan to eventually have 4 milkers, but only breed two each year and milk the other two through.

P.s. Mine are Lamanchas.

[Hollowdweller]

Originally Posted by Shayanna

What breeds are known for longer lactation periods if any? Or is it all about management?

I don't know if you know what the Sire Summary is, but I have found that daughters of the bucks on the sire summary or closely related to any animal that has high PTAM (Predicted Transmitting Ability) for milk in the pedigree is a good prospect.

[harvestmoonfarm]

A pint = a pound

[LFRJ]

Our Kinder doe kidded for the first time in June, 2010. At peak she gave 2.5 pounds daily. At 18 months she flatlined to a steady 1.lb per milking, once daily. I finally quit weighing it, was tired of writing the same thing down day after day, after day. At 26 months I began the process of drying her off, I was tired of it and needed a break. She, apparently, felt otherwise. It took about two months to finally bring her down. So that's what - 28 months or so? She's a great little milker.

[Frosted Mini's]

Originally Posted by Hollowdweller

I don't know if you know what the Sire Summary is, but I have found that daughters of the bucks on the sire summary or closely related to any animal that has high PTAM (Predicted Transmitting Ability) for milk in the pedigree is a good prospect.

Since this is a trait I am trying to breed into my mini's, I will look for that! Thank you for this tidbit of info!

[Frosted Mini's]

Is PTAM on the ADGA Genetics site, or somewhere else?

[JoannaCW]

I've read that only goats with really good genetics will milk through, but that doesn;'t match my experience. I've never gone for pedigree goats but have bought healthy and affordable ones where I could find them. I have 2 does at a time and breed each one every other year, and I've never had one fail to milk through. at least until her second month of pregnancy(so a 21-month milking) I had one doe who wouldn't conceive but kept milking for more than 3 years, at which point we sold her; she still seemed healthy except for not conceiving. We're in a cold-winter area so they always drop their production sharply in the deep winter, but it bounces back nicely come spring even if they haven't just freshened.

[mammabooh]

Originally Posted by JoannaCW

We're in a cold-winter area so they always drop their production sharply in the deep winter, but it bounces back nicely come spring even if they haven't just freshened.

Yep...I went down to once a day milking last fall/winter, but then back to twice a day in the spring.

[JoannaCW]

Neat, I didn't know you could do that...I've always milked my through-milkers twice daily, and as thoroughly as I can, during the winter for fear that otherwise they'd dry up.

[Shayanna]

Dumb question maybe. what are "through-milkers"?

[mammabooh]

Originally Posted by Shayanna

Dumb question maybe. what are "through-milkers"?

The ones we're milking through.