# I milked for the first time! I have questions.



## emmaandoscar (Jan 20, 2013)

Well, I finally did it! It's been a long process getting to the point of having our own fresh milk. It's exciting, yet a giant learning curve for me and my does.

It was a lot of work, both does want to just lay down so I can't even get to their udder. Gawd, what brats! Any suggestions as to how to handle this situation? I have them in a stanchion and they are willing to almost choke themselves to just lay down. I had to hold them up to milk them.

I opted to construct one of the battery operated milking pumps and that's the only reason I got milk from both of the does. Geez, if I had been hand milking, I wouldn't of gotten a drop as a milking pail would have been tipped over about a hundred times. 

Both my does are nigerian and if they had been big breeds of does, I would have never been able to lift them to milk them.

I am letting my dams raise their kids. Each doe had single kids. One doe has hardly any milk on one side (kid has a favorite teat), and I am wondering if I continue to milk it, if it will produce more eventually, or will it just keep producing that small amount, since it's supply & demand?

Also, how much milk should I expect to get if I am sharing milk with a kid too--separating at night--and milking doe in the morning. I only got a cup each from the does--a total of two cups. I am just wondering if they're holding a lot of milk back from me.

Thanks everyone! 
A side note: The milk tasted soooo good, my husband is the milk drinker said it is the best milk he has ever had. I tasted it too, and thought it was really yummy. This is very exciting!!! Can't wait to try making cheeses!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

You can put a bucket under them to keep them standing up. I have found the best method to teach them to stay still is to just keep milking. Regardless of how badly they kick, squat, jump, etc. They learn that no matter what they do, they're still going to get milked in the long run. 

Are they both FFs? 

They might not be producing much because singles don't drink a lot. So they adjusted their production according. How long ago did they kid?


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## lilaalil (Sep 5, 2014)

I just trained my 2 FFs to milk. They were crazy on at first, jumping around so much I had my husband kind of hug them to hold them still so they wouldn't fall off the milk stand and break their necks. But I noticed with both of them, as soon as I actually started milking, as soon as the milk started flowing, they stood still almost right away. I think it's some kind of instinct for when babies are nursing. If I would stop milking for a few seconds, they would start jumping again.This only lasted a few days, and then they started just standing there eating while I milked. Within a week, they were perfectly behaved. Not sure if it works the same way with a milking machine, since that might be a kind of odd sensation.

The side of the udder with very little milk, is it the one the kid is favoring, or the one that the kid is ignoring? If it is the one that he is favoring, then that is fine, he is just milking it for you. If it is the one that he is ignoring, then it has partially dried up, due to lack of demand. I'd milk it multiple times a day (3 or more) to stimulate production, but it might not get back up to full production this time around. 

How old is the kid? I like to keep an eye out from day 2 and if one side is not being used, start milking that side right away so it doesn't dry up, or worse yet, get congested or mastitis.


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## JK_Farms (Nov 12, 2016)

What I do is when my girls kid I train the kids to the milk stand after a week of them being born. I touch their feet, teats, where the udder forms, etc. I do this every day till weaning age or until they are sold. This way they are already trained and you might have buyers that will come buy again in the future!


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

Agree with a lot of the above. Expect to lose milk at first - after all they have no idea what you are doing and they don't know what to expect. Let them kick and jump - just keep milking. After a couple of days they settle in and get the hang of it. I always hand milk - I like to be able to feel what is going on with the udder and I don't have problems with adjusting pressure, etc. Keep it up - volume will increase a bit I think once they settle in.


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## emmaandoscar (Jan 20, 2013)

Suzanne_Tyler said:


> You can put a bucket under them to keep them standing up. I have found the best method to teach them to stay still is to just keep milking. Regardless of how badly they kick, squat, jump, etc. They learn that no matter what they do, they're still going to get milked in the long run.
> 
> Are they both FFs?
> 
> They might not be producing much because singles don't drink a lot. So they adjusted their production according. How long ago did they kid?


Yes, they are both FFs. One was born on April 11th and the other April 13th. I had read that you should wait till babies are at least two weeks old to start milking the mama's. I waited till just over two weeks old.


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## emmaandoscar (Jan 20, 2013)

JK_Farms said:


> What I do is when my girls kid I train the kids to the milk stand after a week of them being born. I touch their feet, teats, where the udder forms, etc. I do this every day till weaning age or until they are sold. This way they are already trained and you might have buyers that will come buy again in the future!


Wow!! That is a good idea. I will do that. These are my first kids! Thank you!


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## emmaandoscar (Jan 20, 2013)

goatblessings said:


> Agree with a lot of the above. Expect to lose milk at first - after all they have no idea what you are doing and they don't know what to expect. Let them kick and jump - just keep milking. After a couple of days they settle in and get the hang of it. I always hand milk - I like to be able to feel what is going on with the udder and I don't have problems with adjusting pressure, etc. Keep it up - volume will increase a bit I think once they settle in.


I have watched videos of hand milking, but man, their teats are small. I have trouble getting the teats to squirt the first test samples before I hook up the teat cups and get the milker going. They really don't seem that full in the morning despite being separated from their kids all night. But, maybe I'm not separating them long enough? I put them up at about 9 p.m. and am milking at 7:30 am.

I'm nervous about this whole process, but I'm doing it and trying to learn. You mentioned "I like being able to feel what is going on with the udder". What should I be looking for in the udder aside from stringy looking milk, off colored milk, blood in the milk or a hot feeling udder? I guess I'm not sure what an udder is supposed to feel like since I have nothing to compare it to. Thanks for your help! Sure appreciate it!


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## emmaandoscar (Jan 20, 2013)

lilaalil said:


> I just trained my 2 FFs to milk. They were crazy on at first, jumping around so much I had my husband kind of hug them to hold them still so they wouldn't fall off the milk stand and break their necks. But I noticed with both of them, as soon as I actually started milking, as soon as the milk started flowing, they stood still almost right away. I think it's some kind of instinct for when babies are nursing. If I would stop milking for a few seconds, they would start jumping again.This only lasted a few days, and then they started just standing there eating while I milked. Within a week, they were perfectly behaved. Not sure if it works the same way with a milking machine, since that might be a kind of odd sensation.
> 
> The side of the udder with very little milk, is it the one the kid is favoring, or the one that the kid is ignoring? If it is the one that he is favoring, then that is fine, he is just milking it for you. If it is the one that he is ignoring, then it has partially dried up, due to lack of demand. I'd milk it multiple times a day (3 or more) to stimulate production, but it might not get back up to full production this time around.
> 
> How old is the kid? I like to keep an eye out from day 2 and if one side is not being used, start milking that side right away so it doesn't dry up, or worse yet, get congested or mastitis.


The kid is just over two weeks old. The udder that she is ignoring is almost dry...there is a little bit, but not much. How will I know if she has mastitis? I don't know why hearing that word scares me, but it does. When I milk, I get a little out of it. I'm guessing if I keep just doing it once a day like I have the past two days, it will only produce as much as I'm taking, right? This doe is my wild doe. I bought her and her brother and both of them were really wild. In hind sight, I probably should not have bought them. I have been working to tame them, but, man, it isn't easy. I will say this, since she has had a kid, she is WAY more tame. It might have actually been a good thing for her. Maybe I'll try hand milking. I know I'll have to throw the milk out though since she will kick like crazy and there will be tons of hair in it. But maybe, a little bit of wasted milk will be worth her getting used to the process. What I like about the milking machine, is nothing can get into the milk jar, and everything is really clean. You are right though, it is all foreign to both the does, since this is the first time they've had babies or been milked. The milking machine makes quick work of it if you can get them to stand for five minutes. How much milk should I be getting on average do you think, if I'm letting mama nurse the kid too and I'm sharing--only milking once a day? I'm sure each goat is different and there are lots of factors, but just an average guesstimate. Also, the older the kids get, do they produce more milk to accommodate a growing kid, or do the kids nurse less since they're eating hay and grass? Thanks for your help!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

If a half is drying up, you need to milk multiple times per day to get production up. It will just dry up otherwise.


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## emmaandoscar (Jan 20, 2013)

ksalvagno said:


> If a half is drying up, you need to milk multiple times per day to get production up. It will just dry up otherwise.


So if one side is pretty well dried up, is it ok to just keep milking the one side and leave the other side be? Will her udder produce ok the next time she has kid/kids?


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Yes and yes.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

If only one kid is born, start milking right away. That way you don't have a problem with one side drying up or low production due to low demand. If the milk tastes bad, feed it to the chickens or use it for fertilizer.


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## emmaandoscar (Jan 20, 2013)

ksalvagno said:


> If only one kid is born, start milking right away. That way you don't have a problem with one side drying up or low production due to low demand. If the milk tastes bad, feed it to the chickens or use it for fertilizer.


Why would the milk taste bad if you milk right away? Is it because it would be colostrum at first?

Just a side note: I have never been a milk drinker myself, except to dip yummy cookies into it, but my husband is like a baby goat, he HAS TO HAVE HIS MILK. Neither one of us has ever tried goat's milk before so we recently bought some goat milk from Albertsons grocery store and tried it. It tastes like a buck smells...not super strong, but you can taste the smell of a buck. Neither one of us cared for it, but I read that it shouldn't taste like that. So...all that being said, the little bit of milk I got yesterday from two does (2 cups), I quickly put it on ice and in the fridge after milking, and OMG, my husband said it's the best milk he has ever had!!! I even tasted it and it was so good. Tastes like cows milk to me...and my husband said the same thing. He normally drinks 2% cows milk and he said the goat milk tasted a little heavier than 2% but not real thick like whole cow"s milk. We are super excited about how good this milk is especially because we were expecting that bucky goat taste like the milk from the store.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Colostrum in the milk makes it taste bad to us. Can be in the milk for a good 2 weeks.


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## Summersun (Apr 24, 2014)

You don't have to throw out the milk that you hand milk. Take a coffee filter, out it on a jar and hold in place while pouring the milk through it. That will filter out any hair and debris that gets in it from her kicking. You can even filter it 2 or 3 times using a fresh filter each time. I milk into a jar then put coffee filter over a liquid measuring cup and filter the milk. That let's me see exactly what I'm getting. My ff is giving me 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups while nursing a single and seperated from 7:30pm til 7:30-8am. I just took her doeling away for good so tonight was my first time milking twice a day and I got a cup of milk.


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