# How Soon and How Often to Milk Out New Mom



## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

Beth kidded with a single yesterday. I think we're going to leave her on mom and just milk Beth out. I want to make sure Beth's production stays good and keep her udder even. How soon should I start and how often should I milk her out while her kid is on her?


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Start now. Milk twice a day.


----------



## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

Okay, thanks. I'll put her on the stand when I take her out this morning.


----------



## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

I just milked her. I was under the impression that colostrum was thick and yellowish. This looks like regular milk, except perhaps slightly less white. Is that normal less than 24 hours after kidding? I just want to make sure the little girl got what she needed.


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Normal. Can be anything from looking like milk to the thick yellow stuff.


----------



## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

Thank you!


----------



## sakooon (Apr 13, 2015)

Milk twice a day...???


----------



## GoatieGranny (Jul 26, 2013)

Everyone has their own way of doing this, so just do what works for you. 

Personally, I wait until the kids are two weeks old, then separate them at night, milk mama in the morning, and then let the kids be on her all day until bedtime. With that being said, if I see that one side of an udder is smaller/bigger/not even, I will milk mama to even things out as needed. I've never had to do that until this year, with Bella. 

With a single you might have to do it right from the start if the kid only nurses from one side. 

Have fun!


----------



## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I milk out my does right from freshening. Mine produce so much milk that if I didn't they would be in pain. Newborn kids do not eat a lot, so all that milk/colostrum would just stay in the udder, with the doe making more and more. Huge, painful udder is the result. I let the kids have their fill for the first 8-12 hours and then milk twice a day thereafter. I freeze the colostrum and lable it 1st day, 2nd day etc.


----------



## afullacre (Mar 17, 2015)

I am glad to see this post! Our FF just had her baby on Sunday and it was only one baby boy. Her udder is big, but not huge like some pictures I see. We figured we'd wait until this weekend to milk her so that the kiddo got all the colostrum there was.

It's interesting you say you separate them at night...isn't that the time they should be together? what would it hurt if I just let them all sleep together? Is it so that you get ALL the AM milk and the baby won't drink a lot of it before you milk?

If we do start to milk tonight, will the baby have gotten all the colostrum he needs already?


----------



## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

We just sold Beth's kid, but before that we decided to milk her out twice a dayfrom the beginning and day. With only the one on her, we got quite a bit of milk with each milking and were able to keep her udder fairly even (the little one favored one side). It doesn't hurt to leave them together at night, but you'll get less milk with your AM milking. However, I think most people leave them with mom at night until they're about 2 weeks old.


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Milk a 1/3 three times the first day or two to help prevent milk fever. When you strip out a newly fresh doe, her bodies response is to refill that udder. This can cause her to put to much calcium into her milk, taking away from her self, causing her to get milk fever.


----------



## GodsGarden (Feb 6, 2015)

How I do it is:
After kids are born and get a big nurse, I check the dam's udder. If is really full, there is no way the kids are going to drink it all, so I take some. Amount always depends on the dam's fullness. I have only had to do this on two does. Usually I wait 12 hours. 

Then I check morning and evening feedings. If one side is fuller then the other, I milk it even. If both sides are full I take some from both. The first week of kids lives I bring them to the udder to make sure they are nursing and have had their fill.

I don't separate at 2 weeks. I find that my kids go through a gross-spurt at between 2 to 3 weeks and want them to have all the milk possible to grow. 

At around 1 to 1 1/2 months I start to separate at night. When the kid is eating grain and looks nice and plump.


----------



## Matadequin (Mar 23, 2015)

This is the thread I was hoping to find! My Alpine doe is a first freshener and had a single kid late morning on Monday. I have only ever milked a cow before (we had an older Jersey for 3 years) and I'm finding milking my doe is quite different. I started milking Tuesday about 24 hours after delivery and then again that evening. It really looks like the kid is favoring one side leaving the other side of the udder untouched, so I need to separate them soon lest she become lopsided, correct? Here's my main question- I removed about a pint of milk from the fuller side at that first milking (12 ounces managed to get into the bucket but I knocked the bucket over after the first few minutes and sent a good amount into the straw, on my leg, etc.) but very little came from the less full side, the one I've seen the kid favoring. Is that the normal course of things because a kid of that size isn't getting very many ounces per feeding? When I milk, I keep up the milking action on the less full side even though not much seems to come out. This morning I got about 14 ounces into the bucket, seemingly all of it from the non-kid side. She's only three days fresh but I want to make sure I don't cause a problem for the rest of the season because I'd like to show her a few times this year. Thank you for your advice.


----------

