# Annabelle, Nigerian Dwarf feral mix, milking.



## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

Annabelle is daughter of Mamma Nacho. Some of you might know about her. 

Nacho was a totally feral goat. Annabelle is the offspring of Nacho and a nigerian dwarf.

Annabelle is just about a year old and just had her first kid. Yes, she was bred young. I sold her, she was returned, I gave her to Nachos original owner, then she was given back to me pregnant. Such is life.

Anyway, looking at my dairy goat rental idea I wanted to see what one thought of Annabelle.

She kidded a week ago? Maybe less, I'd have to look.

I milked her yesterday and got a quart, I know that milking early like this yields large results, it's just milk for Myra. But when she's 2 weeks in I'll be retaining the milk for human usage.

Today I got a pint. Afternoon milking while her kid was asleep. Here is a pic of the milk, the teat and an udder shot. I'll get better photos when I start pulling her kid at 2 weeks. She's an EXCELLENT mother! I'm so proud of her.

I have not weighed her in a while but I'm guessing she's 40 pounds.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

I think she would be a nice backyard milker! She looks like my Moon from the angles you have posted. A lot of people want milk but they don't want a ton of it. My Moon is giving about a quart a day and if we were just using it for us, that would be plenty most of the time. I say, yes, she would be a good candidate for your rent-a-milker program.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Her udder looks very nice. I know nothing of your Rent-A-Milker idea. Can you tell me about it, or point me to a thread that tells me about it? Very intrigued.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

mariarose said:


> Her udder looks very nice. I know nothing of your Rent-A-Milker idea. Can you tell me about it, or point me to a thread that tells me about it? Very intrigued.


Here ya go. 

http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/f193/dairy-goat-rentals-172881/


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I also forgot to mention that I barely grab her teats and the milk just falls out. I've never had a goat with teat openings like this!


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## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

I think she'd be a good candidate too, especially if she's that easy of a milker. A lot of people don't want a ton of milk, just enough for cereal, coffee, the occasional recipe, etc.


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## J-TRanch (Jan 31, 2014)

Would be good backyard milker. For show, no. But she has a nice little udder for a family 


Owner/operator
J-T Ranch Dairy Goats
NW KS


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

LOL @ the show comment. I don't think we have anything like that around here so that's never been a consideration.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

She looks like she has a good udder;-)


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

This morning was her first full milking. I pulled her son last night (oh the crying! broke my heart).

I got just under 3 cups. I noticed her udder is lopsided. I've never seen that before, is it terribly bad? I was thinking of breeding her to a specific buck that has a good milking mom to see what I get. Annabelles teats are so big for her size, it's amazing. And the milk literally almost falls out when I touch them the holes are so big. Her teats are actually larger than my sannen/nd mix Ballerine.

Is just under 3 cups bad? If I had really pushed her this morning I'm sure I could have gotten three cups. It was just such an ordeal since she's a new milker and I decided to end on a good note while she was behaving and her udder was pretty much empty instead of pushing her for that last little bit and ending on a struggle.

The Milk:










12 hour fill lopsided udder, the side that's larger is the side her son nursed on. Even the teats feel slightly different:










Left teat (son nursed teat)










Right teat, the one I had to milk/empty twice daily or her udder got uncomfortable on that side:


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

For being a mix like she is....I think 3 cups is pretty darn good. Definitely breed her to the buck you mentioned and see what you get for milking from their does. Sounds like a good mix to me. 

That's odd that the side the baby nurses on is bigger. Unless it has to do with how much he is requiring and he only nurses that side, so that's the side that produces more? Beats me. LOL


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

For a first freshener I'd say that was good. She probably won't be lopsided once you get a routine going.. Congrats!


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I just measured her and she's 21.5 inches at the withers. So still pretty small. I imagine she'll get a bit taller though. I have to go see just how old she is.

born 10-19-2013 so being pregnant almost half her life I'm sure she's got more growing to do.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Yeah, she will grow more. I have an ober/alpine mix that gave birth last Monday, she's 9 months, so I'm in the same boat..


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

When a kid nurses on one side only, that side will produce more than the side that is only milked out twice a day. Supply and demand!


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