New to milking - When to stop milking?

[paris3200]

Last week we purchased our first milk goats, 3 Nigerian dwarfs. Currently I am milking Casey who is on her second freshening. This is the first time we've ever had milk goats and I have a few questions.

How do I know when to stop milking? The guy we bought her from said she was giving a pint a day. This morning as the first day I've been able to keep all the milk and it only came to 3/4 cup. She milks great for the first little while, but once she is done with her grain she gets very agitated on the milk stand.

I noticed this morning that the does kids were crying for her and she was crying back to them. They aren't her kids, but she did calm down when I had my wife bring one of the kids where she could see. That gave me a little more time to milk, but not much. I'm going to move the milk stand so she can see the kids while she is being milked.

I've been milking her as long as she will let me. I don't really know how to describe it, but I've been milking at least until I can notice a change in the milk coming out. It seems a little less creamy and doesn't quite fill the teat as fast. There is still milk coming out, but she dancing all over the milk stand by that point.

When we went to look at her she was great on the stand. Granted she had someone experienced milking her with two hands. Currently I'm just using one hand.

[Alice In TX/MO]

1. You are in charge. Keep milking even if she is dancing. She will learn she can't win.

2. You stop milking when the milk almost stops. Sounds like you need to keep going just a bit.

3. A pint a day is two cups. One morning, one evening. You almost had it.

4. After you've had her a while, don't play the "can you see the kids" game. You make the rules, not the goat.

Welcome to the wacky world of caprine psychology.

[paris3200]

I was afraid I wasn't milking her enough. I wasn't sure though. To complicate things we also changed the time of day she is being milked from 4:30 pm to 7 am. I'm a stay at home, self employed, dad with an 11 month old. I've got to much going on at 4:30 in the afternoon to try and milk a goat and deal with a cranky son.

She is only being milked once a day. That is what the guy who had her previously was doing. I've considered milking her twice a day, but don't know if I should or not. I don't want her to dry up and I'm a little afraid that might happen with the problems I've had milking. I was thinking twice a day milking might help that.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Yes, I'd milk twice a day.

[paris3200]

Thank you for taking the time to answer. I appreciate the answers. Just curious as to why you would milk twice a day vs once a day. I really like knowing not only what to do, but also why to do it.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Goat kids suck frequently all day, stimulating the hormones that increase production. Milking once a day signals her body to shut down production.

[Crazy Farmgirl]

I agree with Alice I would milk twice a day if you can swing it, about 12 hours apart. This should bring up her production some and also will be great for the two of you to bond. Again as Alice said don't let her dictate how long you milk, if she dances continue milking even if you lose some milk she will get the point. As for her production verses what the guy said she was milking you have to give her some slack, she just had her whole life uprooted and now some stranger who is not sure what he is doing is milking her..it will get better as you get more confident and she gets to know you.

[paris3200]

Tonight's milking went great! I did move the milk stand to where she can see the kids. That won't be a permanent thing, but right now I can use all the help I can get. I told her straight off that she was going to be miked until done and she didn't really have a say in the matter. She jumped around a little, but I made sure to keep my hand on her udder every time. Once she realized I wasn't going anywhere she calmed down.

Ended up getting just shy of 2 cups today. That means I got almost 1 1/4 cups tonight. By weight, the total for the day was 14.65 oz.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Congratulations! You are a milker, and you have a dairy goat!