# Can you get a goat to produce more milk?



## CanucksStar-17 (May 3, 2013)

So one of my sisters does gave birth to a very small female goat 2 days ago She was 5 days premature! But she was amazingly strong. She learned how to drink from the bottle in 1 day when it usually takes a couple days for them to suck without you having to hold them. Anyway I am milking her mother Breeze, and she is only producing enough milk for her baby (not even I am feeding her a bit of cows milk) so is there a way to make her produce more milk? She is giving more and more every milking though.


----------



## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

It really seems to be a supply and demand thing. I would try milking her completely out at least 3 times a day as well as increasing her grain ration.


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

if she isnt on alfalfa I would add that to her diet. Grain can help but Ive found and other breeders around me also agree that its the alfalfa that will put the milk in the bucket more then grain will


----------



## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

Some newly fresh does will take a few days, or even a week or two to come into their milk. She should gain in production over the next month or so. What are you feeding her now? Alfalfa is important in a dairy animals diet as it is high in calcium and protein that is easily digested. If you can't get alfalfa hay you should be able to get alfalfa pellets. I feed my full sized does 2-3 lbs of alfalfa pellets per day along with 2-4 lbs of grain per day depending on production, and free choice pasture.

Milking her 3 times per day should help also. I have had some does who were a bit slow to come into milk and milking them the extra time per day for a week or two helped increase their production.


----------



## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

Does do not peak in production for several weeks. They have a set amount of colostrum, so when that is gone, some can be slow to start with the milk. As was mentioned, milk her dry at least 2 times a day, make sure she is not withholding it for her kid. Alfalfa hay or pellets, grain or some other concentrate and plenty of water. Make sure she was de-wormed, since the hormones will make the worms very active. What % protein is her feed?


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Being premature can also affect that initial milk production and take longer to come into milk.


----------



## CanucksStar-17 (May 3, 2013)

I'm feeding her Timothy hay, I know it is really bad hay but that is all we have on our fields, we are planning on re-seeding next year though. I am feeding 1/2 pound of grain a day, I am slowly increasing it to 1 pound.
I talked to my sister about the Alfalfa hay and she says that she was talking to her friend who has goats (for like 40 years now) and she said that it only helps them produce more milk if they aren't a good weight, since Breeze is a good weight she won't produce much more milk even if you feed them alfalfa hay or pellets. 

Yep I milk her dry twice a day every day!

I am also grazing her so she is getting a lot of dandelion leaves and stuff


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

sorry but your breeder friend isnt correct about the alfalfa


----------



## still (Mar 16, 2013)

StaceyRosado said:


> sorry but your breeder friend isnt correct about the alfalfa


I agree! Alfalfa is good to give a milking doe regardless of her condition.


----------



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

What kind of grain is she on? She should be on a lactating Dairy ration. My does get 6lbs of grain a day, with 2lbs beet pulp. 
Also a good hay will increase her production, the hay is what helps them make milk the most.
If you can't feed alfalfa hay, add pellets to her grain diet.
Make sure she has fresh clean water at all times, fresh enough that you would drink out of it.
Make sure she is wormed regularly. 

I give oat/grain hay one day, alfalfa the next. Keep to the same grain. Also add sunflower seeds and calf manna, or Farmers Feed makes a supplement that is a bit better than calf manna, its called Excelerator.


----------



## CanucksStar-17 (May 3, 2013)

She is on lactating Dairy ration. I am now giving her 1lb of grain a day 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the evening and I am going to be increasing her to 1 1/2 tomorrow morning I think. I can not make the decisions about what I feed her! I have to give my sister your ideas and if she says yes go ahead, then I can do it but she doesn't usually let me, since they are her goats and not mine.

I will ask her about the beet pulp, we have a lot of it because we feed it to our cows. 
I will talk to my sister again about the alfalfa pellets.
Yes that is something I like my animals having! Fresh/Clean water at all times.
She is.

We also have a lot of sunflower seeds so I can talk to my sister about them too.

I don't know what my sister is going to say about my suggestions. :worried:


----------



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Well, you've got pretty much all you need already, hopefully she will say yes to something that should greatly help her does production!


----------



## CanucksStar-17 (May 3, 2013)

She said to start feeding her beet pulp! And in a couple days to start with the sunflower seeds, we just have to slowly introduce them.
Thank You guys so much for letting me know what to feed her


----------



## victoriasterling (May 22, 2013)

lottsagoats said:


> Does do not peak in production for several weeks. They have a set amount of colostrum, so when that is gone, some can be slow to start with the milk. As was mentioned, milk her dry at least 2 times a day, make sure she is not withholding it for her kid. Alfalfa hay or pellets, grain or some other concentrate and plenty of water. Make sure she was de-wormed, since the hormones will make the worms very active. What % protein is her feed?


How do you know if she is withholding


----------



## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

When I switched to good hay, I noticed an immediate positive difference in production. My girls get grass hay and alfalfa pellets, that's all. They have produced well on it in the past ... this year production was lower than I'd like because we had no hay other than really BAD hay, so that really took a chunk out of production.


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I have found over the years that the best way to up a does production with one who delivered a single is not only a good high protein feed but also with alfalfa pellets AND milking her as if she had her kid nursing from her... VERY frequently. Those first few days to 2 weeks a kid only eats for a few seconds at a time and very often. Even though I work a full time job I still manage to get in 4-5 milkings per day .... getting a doe on the stand to do that does not take much effort at all and a handful of alfalfa pellets each time then the normal feed ration twice a day. If you only milk 2x a day with a newly fresh doe, you are allowing milk to sit in her udder and tell her body she doesn't need to produce more... the more empty she is the better her production. After 3 weeks, go to 3x a day milking then after a week of that 2x a day... you will be pleasantly surprised at that time with the effort you put forth now. 
As far as with holding milk... I have found that even if I bump and massage forever, my doe Binkey simply will not let down until I add another 1/2 cup alfalfa pellets to her pan and then I can literally feel the milk dropping from the top of her udder into the bottom to fill her teats


----------

