question about drying off

[JoannaCW]

Foolish question: I'm drying off my new Alpine in her first lactation who is about seven weeks from kidding. I did the usual things--cut her feed gradually, then didn't milk her out all the way for a couple of days, then milked her once a day for a couple of days--and hoped that would give her the idea (she was already down to 3-3.5 cups/day when I started this process) so that I could just stop milking her, but today after 24 hours she looks rather full and I may need to milk again tomorrow--not sure. If I do, can we drink the milk? Does it go 'off' in any way if it's left in the udder for a longer time?

[billinwv]

You need to just stop milking her. Her production is low enough it shouldn't be a problem. Some pressure needs to build in order for her to stop. She needs a break before she starts over.