Milking question

[KareninPA]

I am so excited to finally have a milking stand. Until this year I haven't gotten really serious about milking. My doe had triplets on Saturday (her 3rd freshening), and she has one 'blown teat' ever since her first freshening when I didn't know any better, so the newborns always have trouble sucking that teat when she gets engorged, and she gets lopsided. So I put her on the stand last night and milked that side out as much as I could. She only spazzed a couple of times - overall I was thrilled - she was so good. She evened right up and the kids nursed that side again.

I didn't intend on keeping the milk since she had just freshened so recently, so I dumped it. But this morning I milked her a little just to practice, and though I got much less, I saved it.

My question is, finally, how soon do most folks drink their goats milk after freshening?

[mygoat]

I usually wait two weeks because I deworm at kidding, and some does take that long to clear colostrum.

[KareninPA]

Oh great - I just drank it, and she did get Valbazen on Sunday. I didn't even think of that. It was less than 1 cup, so hopefully I'll live. It was good, but seemed strong in a way I can't describe - but not 'goaty' or funky in any way, and SO creamy! I'll wait a couple of weeks and try it again! I can't wait.

[marusempai]

Eh you'll be fine. I also wait two weeks because I don't like the taste of colostrum. It LOOKS like melted ice cream, but that's not what it tastes like! If it tasted good I would drink it a week past the kidding dose of wormer. I use Ivermectin though, Valbazen might be different.

[mygoat]

I don't know about valbazen - but for personal use, we rarely wait more than 3-4 days after dosing with ivermectin or cydectin. For our milk shares, we wait 2 weeks, though we rarely deworm other than at kidding.