# Milking in Winter



## cheyenne (Aug 21, 2011)

Does anyone milk all winter long? :snow:
If so, how do you do it? It is just now starting to get cold here and my hands are like ice cubes when it's time to milk! 

My 'milking shed' is very small and open on one side. I could close it in but even with lights it would be so dark in there. Was just wondering how everyone else did it....


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

we converted a stall in our barn to a milking parlor. even have a wood stove in it!!


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I'm starting to dry my girls off now lol! Our stand is out in the open in my barn.. It's not too bad, but enough for me lol! I'm gonna fill the last of our jars, then stop milking..


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## cheyenne (Aug 21, 2011)

I would do that too but I don't have a place to do it.... Money is too tight this year to even think of building something else. Maybe I'll just bring them in the house for milking! LOL They can watch TV while I milk! LOL


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## cheyenne (Aug 21, 2011)

I have been thinking about drying them off but figure I probably won't be breeding them until next fall again and thought I'd try to keep at least one milking through the winter. Not sure it's gonna happen tho!


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

just dried our last alpine off as she is headed to the breeders in a couple weeks. i have to find at least raw cow's milk as pastuerizing it makes me soooooo sick.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I don't enjoy milking so much in the cold... :/ I love milking all through the rest of the year, I'm out there twice a day every day! But once it starts getting cool I start milking once a day lol! I do that for some time, then completely dry them off... 
I just can't do that in the cold lol!


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

even with the woodstove iit's not a plan this year with Erica being pregnant.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Maybe I'll come and milk with the wood stove for the winter at your place then  lol!


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

as long as i get some milk!!


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Fine with me.. I don't drink it


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

what do you do with it?


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

My family drinks it.. I don't like to drink it but love cooking with it. Lol! But.. I got banned from making fudge (made a lot and none of it turned out lol!) soo.. I haven't been making much...


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## cheyenne (Aug 21, 2011)

So to drop it back to once a day milking, you just stop milking in the evening? It's ok to do that? 

They both seem to be giving less milk right now anyway...


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Well I start milking less and less at night for like a week.. Then do the same when I go to every other day milking


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## Axykatt (Feb 1, 2013)

I milk in the house. 

And before anyone points out that Peggy Sue lives in the house I will add that I milk ALL my girls in my laundry room.  I also only have minis, though. I don't know how that would work with standards.


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## GoatieGranny (Jul 26, 2013)

We milk through the winter. The barn is about 250 feet from the house, down a bit of a hill. Getting out there is not a problem....coming back up, if it's icy can be a trick, though. (Let's just say I totally understand the saying, "No use crying over spilled milk!" lol) Anyway, it's cold in the barn, it's not heated. I have to keep the top of the dutch door open so I can see because our electricity is out down there. Hoping to get it fixed, then we can close it up and at least keep the wind out. I keep one mitten on and milk with the other hand. It's not horrible since it's only once a day and only for a couple/few months. I'd rather go down there in the snow, then in 90-100 degree heat. Now that I can't stand! We try to take down a bucket or two of hot water for the goats. It warms up their innards. Also, I put a nice, warm blanket on them while I milk. The cloth we use to clean their teats with is made wet with hot water and kept in my pocket on the way out there, so it's fairly warm for them to be cleaned off, too. I guess we make it work because we love the milk so much and absolutely cannot stomach store bought cow's milk. Icky poo!


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## AmyBoogie (May 20, 2013)

We're drying up right now.
Next year, I plan to have 2 kidding in October...ish. So we'll milk over the winter. We have an area that I want to use that has a furnace in it which will be our kidding area this year. I hope to have it set up nicely for winter milking next year.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

If I had a nice warm place I would consider milking through lol! And if I had more help with milking.. Summer is quieter at work for me.. Now I'm working close to 30hrs a week and it's mostly night hours so that is a little tough.. I have someone to feed for me but not milk..


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Well, I will continue to milk through the winter... I have one in milk now, 2 girls are I think due the 1st part of January, so I will have no choice. I will use the sanitize wipes with aloe, and heat them up in the microwave before going out. That way I have something "warm" to sooth them and warm my hands at the same time... I don't have electricity in my barn, so a head light it is.... That's my plan


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I do have electricity so, I have a heat light over the milking stantion. It's not too bad.


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## MesquiteTreeHill (Oct 1, 2013)

This is my first winter milking too. I have 3 in milk now and plan on keeping them all in and milking 2x's a day throughout the winter. Thankfully, I live in Texas and though it can get cold here it's nothing like y'all in the midwest or up north get  I bought a heated cushion at atwoods the other day - not sure but it works with no chemicals or electricity but it seems to do the job . I think I'm going to replace my light bulb with brooder bulb over the stand and have started carrying my cleaning supplies into the house with me so the wipes aren't freezing for the girls. Once cold weather really gets here I think I'll start offering the girls a warm gruel in the stand instead of their normal ration....


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## SugarBush Farms (Apr 19, 2012)

I dried my last girl off around a month ago. She kidded in June and I want to give her as much rest before breeding her again soon. 
To dry them off I cut back to once a day, then only milking part way out, then every other day, then every three days, eventually I just stop.

I know people who just stop from three times a day to not milking.

I would milk in the winter but I like giving my does time to rest before kidding again and I really don't like milking in the cold.


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## DesertRose (Apr 12, 2013)

Well ...OK ... I try to milk thru the winter but it really just depends.

Western WA ... no problem.

Central WA/NE WA ...-35 for six weeks. NO WAY. Plus a griz ate my milker! And, both her kids in one night!

Central ID ... horrible, awful time trying to milk.

South Central MT ...-40 NO WAY!

High Desert, near border. NO Problem even at zero.

I dress very warm, I use hot water in pop bottles in my coat pockets to warm my hands and keep my gloves warmed up. Works like a charm.

I've had the milk freeze as it hit the milk pan!! That's when I called it quits for the winter.

Also, for those of you without power in their barn ... I use little led lights I get at the dollar store. Buy the batts there also. They will give you more than enough light and with super glue they will stick anywhere! Push off and on for the lights to work.


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

Dolly refused to dry off last year (she stayed in milk right up until weeks before her kids were born), so the poor girls had to milk all winter. Our barn isn't heated (or very draft proof) but at least blocked the wind. 

Of our 4 - DumDum (aka Mist - Nubian) has dried off already (not deliberately she just shut down when she came into heat) . Sparkle (Nigerian) is down to a cup a day. The girls have started trying to get Dolly dried off, she's dropped production, but not close to dried off yet. Haven't tried cutting back DeeDee (Dolly's daughter) yet - wanting to get some more milk in the freezer/canned first - but hoping a FF will be easier than her mother.


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

I milk year round in the barn. My original barn was snug and draft free so it was a coolish comfortable. I don't use water to wash the udders before milking once the weather gets cold, I just go thru the motions with my bare hands and then milk. After milking I use alcohol based hand sanitizer I keep in my pocket so it is warm as a "teat dip".

After the fire and I bought a milker, I tried milking her in my back porch. She didn't like it, so I milked her outside. Cold and damp, especially in the rain! I got a tarp type of shelter for storage and I set the milk stand in there. It was cold, but at least I was out of the wind and rain/snow. I had to walk her about 50 yards from their pen, but I did what I had to do. I had no electricity, so I had to wear a head lamp when it was dark. That was fun, but the doe finally got used to it and was fine. 

Last winter the barn was still unfinished, so it was open and windy. I still managed to milk 5 does in the winter. My barn should be mostly finished this winter, so it might be a bit warmer. I still won't use water to wash the udders (they don't get dirty anyway) and I'll use the hand sanitizer as a teat dip.


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