So do I just stop Milking her

Doug Hodges · #1 08/11/13, 02:30 PM

She is due in two months. I tried to only milk a little out of her each day for the past week. She gets to looking uncomfortable. I just squeezed a little out this morning. When I got her she was milking less than a half gallon a day. Now she would be closer to a gallon if I milked her out. It's amazing what grain and browse will do. Advice?

DEKE01 · #2 08/11/13, 02:50 PM

I've read that it is best not to slow the milking, you just stop all at once. It makes them uncomfortable for a while, but it is best for their body. I would be interested in hearing what experienced folks have to say.

Doug Hodges · #3 08/11/13, 02:51 PM

I was told to only milk once per day and only about half of what they had for a week. But she's putting off more milk instead of less.

dozedotz · #4 08/11/13, 07:20 PM

Doug, Others will disagree but we have dried off three of our girls so far because we have big family doin's in September and do not want to have to be milking so many then. All we did was stop milking, stop feeding grain (obviously - they got it on the milk stand) and wait for one full week to pass and then we milked them out completely all the while looking for any signs of problems. We did NOT use any mastitis preventive. We have done this in the past and did not have any problems. Now, I've said it and others can jump in and tell you why this is bad form and what they do! Good Luck!

**mygoat** · #5 08/11/13, 07:32 PM

Stop grain. Stop milking. It is better, IMO, to dry up goats FAST as dry up period is a good time to get mastitis. The faster, the better. The better her nutrition is, the more she will have a will to milk.

The uncomfortable feeling of not being milked is what signals her body to stop producing. Milk is produced according to demand and nutritional ability Wait 2-3 days, and you can milk her out for comfort's sake if you'd like.

Doug Hodges · #6 08/31/13, 08:32 AM

Ok. I've been trying to dry her up. I've went several days and her bag gets huge and she fights to get to the milking stand to get relieved. I feel sorry for her. She looks like she is in pain. Am I doing her a dis service by milking her every 3rd day or so? She's just not drying up and is due to kid in 6 weeks. (That's the due date I was told when I got her. It could be wrong) Shes supposedly a 3 year old Lamamcha but I can't tell by her teeth. They all look like baby teeth and the two middle ones look dis colored.

Backfourty,MI. · #7 08/31/13, 09:37 AM

If you've cut back to once a day milkings, cut out her grain then I'd stop milking all together for a week. Then milk her out completely, look for any clumps, etc. If everything looks good don't milk her anymore & let her dry up. That's how I did it last year with good results.

Doug Hodges · #8 08/31/13, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backfourty,MI.

If you've cut back to once a day milkings, cut out her grain then I'd stop milking all together for a week. Then milk her out completely, look for any clumps, etc. If everything looks good don't milk her anymore & let her dry up. That's how I did it last year with good results.

She's cut back to "when I feel sorry for her" milkings. She wanted milked this morning. I didn't let her to the stand or let her have any grain.

Otter · #9 08/31/13, 10:56 AM

As someone experienced with dairy animals AND as a women who can out-lactate some goats - if you have a heavy producer, you can not just stop milking cold turkey. The "discomfort" that lesser producing animals feels goes right to "dear God please do something about this pain!!!" in high producers. And there is a very high risk of mastitis when cold-turkey drying up a high producer.

The very real risk of mastitis is the reason for all the drying off antibiotics on the market - because yes, really, it is that common a problem, and not because drying up is dangerous, so get it over with quick, but because we've bred these animals for huge amounts of production, their bodies don't want to dry up, milk grows bacteria and you're leaving it in there. If you haven't had to deal with mastitis, lucky, lucky you! But I have cleaned up some very nasty cases and experienced it myself. Every Single Case of serious mastitis I've dealt with was due to cold turkey drying up (even my own, my baby spent a weekend at her father's, and I thought it was no big deal. Ended up in the hospital on IV antibiotics) and I will never, ever do it with any animal I own.

The safest way to dry up a high producer is to cut the grain ration in half for 2 days, then eliminate it the third day.
As soon as you cut it, don't milk her out, just milk her halfway. The third day, just relieve the pressure at milking time.
Then ease her once a day for a few days as the milk production drops. Let HER body tell you the schedule. If she's tight and uncomfortable, ease her. If she's loose, leave her till tomorrow. If she keeps being loose, keep leaving it till tomorrow.
Any signs of mastitis, milk her out totally and treat. You can cure mastitis with nothing but milking, if you are willing to spend the time at it. But if you go at it easy you shouldn't have any problems. Remember that teat dipping and cleaning are more important now then ever.

Most does will slack down quickly. If she's not, it's probably because you are drying her on your schedule and not hers.
Keep her in a low-light spot in the barn with plenty of low-protein hay for a few days. The low-light conditions, total lack of fresh greens and lower protein all around simulate winter and help tell her body it's time to end this. Putting a drying animal in a stall for a few days used to be just the way everyone did it. Now we know all the reasons that it helps the animal, in more ways then just making it easy to keep an eye on her.

Doug Hodges · #10 08/31/13, 11:03 AM

That makes a lot of sense. I'll try that. I've been doing the relieving part. I hate not feeding her the grain as she is getting closer to kidding. However. I'll give this a shot.

jwal10 · #11 08/31/13, 11:35 AM

I stop grain a week before last milking. Then cold turkey and dry hay. But I always know the due date and the doe is slacking off production anyway. I monitor her udder, If very tight after 4-5 days I will relieve a little, once or twice in 3-4 days. Never had a problem. When completely dry I start with a little grain, back to regular feed before she kids....James

chewie · #12 08/31/13, 11:49 AM

otter's way is what i have to do with one of mine, she's a great producer and just stopping would be flat out cruel. so i just cut her grain, and milk only half out for a few days, then skip the night milking. milk half in the morning, no more at night a few days,, then done.

Otter · #13 08/31/13, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwal10

But I always know the due date and the doe is slacking off production anyway.

^This^ is the key to how you get away with cold turkey drying out. if you're working with your doe's body and natural schedule, and her body is already telling her it's time to dry up, it is worlds easier. The problem comes with animals who have the genes for very strong production. Their bodies simply don't signal them to stop - you have to do it for them.
Or if you go against their body's schedule; if you tried to dry out that same doe cold turkey 3 months in to her lactation, you'd have some problems.

As James said, once she's dry you can go back to giving her a bit of grain to support the growing kids. A couple of weeks without grain at this point in her pregnancy won't hurt her one bit.

Well, except for her feelings. Don't you love me anymore??? Maaaaaa!

Doug Hodges · #14 08/31/13, 10:00 PM

You should of seen her tonight. I only gave her a mouthful of grain and milked her until she wasn't so tight. She would still produce over a gallon a day if I milked her out.