# how to stop milking?



## backyardFarming (Jun 13, 2013)

Ok.. I want to breed my milker that I have now, in December. She has a almost 3 mo old kid now. I know she will start try to start weaning him soon on her own. In December when I get her bred I know I can milk her up to her last two months of pregnancy but how do I do that? I know I can't just quit milking one day.. because she can get engorged and get mastitis from not milking all of a sudden. Her last two months, do I milk her out 1/2 way, 1/4 of the way out?? Doesn't that cause mastitis too when they are not completely milked out? I know I have some time yet but the earlier I know how to do this.. the better I can make plans. 
What advice can you give me? Any would be appreciated! Thanks


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I milk once a day for a week. Then I milk every other day gor a week. Then I go to every 2 days for a week. Then I go to every 3 days for a week. But I had a heavy milker that doesn't like to dry up. You can always to some type of adaptation to that. I would start drying her up about 3 months prior to kidding to make sure she is dry the last month.


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## TeriA (Apr 29, 2012)

I am not sure what causes mastitis I think it's a bacteria. I have had goats that due to kicking or small teats did not get milked all the way out each time. They did not get mastitis. I had a doe get mastitis for no reason at all seemingly. I usually do what Karen recommends, but for mine there does tend to be some engorgement for a time. My mentor says sometimes you just have to stop and let that happen. 

I have a doe that freshened August 2012, when the other does freshened in February she came back into milk even though her kids were sold in December. Not a lot but enough to fill a big coffee can half way every 3-4 days. She is still not dry even though its been over two weeks since I milked her and she is due in August. I hope it's ok.


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## WarPony (Jan 31, 2010)

ksalvagno said:


> I milk once a day for a week. Then I milk every other day gor a week. Then I go to every 2 days for a week. Then I go to every 3 days for a week. But I had a heavy milker that doesn't like to dry up. You can always to some type of adaptation to that. I would start drying her up about 3 months prior to kidding to make sure she is dry the last month.


This is basically what i do. or it ends up that way, anyway. I cut down to once a day (I usually do this by milking once, then checking to see if she is painfully engorged at the time I normally milk her the second time and take the absolute minimum amount of milk to relieve pressure until she stops being engorged at the time of the second milking (I usually cut morning milkings because milking in the PM works so much better with my work schedule) Once I have the doe on once a day milkings I do that for a week or two then repeat the process to cut it to once every other day. After a week or two of that I switch to only milking her when her udder is full. Which just naturally seems to follow the "every second day for about a week, then every third day for a about a week" and it isn;t long after that when the udder usually stops getting really full and I can quit.


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## laurenlewis24 (Jul 2, 2013)

Wouldnt it be better to do it more naturally? Like just milk less amount every day? Similar to a baby starting to eat solids and not drink off momma? Sorry I am new to this and just wanting to keep my goats as comfy as possible.


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## goatgirl132 (Oct 18, 2012)

so you have a goat in milk about 10 months out of the year?? 
no wonder all have so much milk haha. 
I thought the were just in milk for a few months longer than lets say a boer.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

laurenlewis24 said:


> Wouldnt it be better to do it more naturally? Like just milk less amount every day? Similar to a baby starting to eat solids and not drink off momma? Sorry I am new to this and just wanting to keep my goats as comfy as possible.


It really depends on the goat. The heavier milkers would end up with mastitis that way. With Boer goats or light milkers, that would probably be fine.


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## backyardFarming (Jun 13, 2013)

I milk once a day already.. I seperate momma and kid at night and after milking in the morning, I unite the two for the whole day. Then after momma weans her baby, in about a month, I was planning on still milking once a day. So since I am already milking once a day, I would start milking every other day for a week??
Then the rest of your advice would apply.. right?
2nd week= milk every two days
3rd week= milk every three days
4th week= milk once a week
5th week= no milking

Is this correct?

Thanks again.. this info really helps! This is my first milking and will be my first drying up process.


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## backyardFarming (Jun 13, 2013)

P.S.

My milker gives me a quart of milk every morning ( once a day)... plus feeds her baby through out the day. So is she concidered a heavy milker??
(She is a small goat. She is suppose to be a full blood Alpine, but someone said she must be part Pygmy because she is small)


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Is she just feeding one baby? You would need to see how much milk she is giving without the kid on her to really know for sure.

Adjust the schedule as you see fit. You may be able to speed things up if you get less milk quicker.


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## christinajh (Jan 24, 2013)

Also stop feeding grain when you start to dry her off


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## backyardFarming (Jun 13, 2013)

Thank you all for responding to this post! I feel better now k owing what I need to do!


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## WarPony (Jan 31, 2010)

goatgirl132 said:


> so you have a goat in milk about 10 months out of the year??
> no wonder all have so much milk haha.
> I thought the were just in milk for a few months longer than lets say a boer.


My Boer/Alpine milked just over a half gallon average for 10 months straight and would have kept milking but I wanted to breed her again had other does in milk so I dried her off, but she was still producing and was kind of hard to get dried off. Not high milk production by any means, but delicious and consistent. I ended up having to milk once a day for close to a month before her production dropped enough to cut it to every other day. Some people milk through and only breed their does every other year, so way longer than 10 months!



backyardFarming said:


> I milk once a day already.. I seperate momma and kid at night and after milking in the morning, I unite the two for the whole day. Then after momma weans her baby, in about a month, I was planning on still milking once a day. So since I am already milking once a day, I would start milking every other day for a week??
> Then the rest of your advice would apply.. right?
> 2nd week= milk every two days
> 3rd week= milk every three days
> ...


I have never had a doe completely wean her own baby, and the hand full of people I know who did have a doe wean their kid it was because the doe had dried up already on her own. So you will need to evaluate her milk production when you separate them at that point to decide what to do. Not that does who are still in milk don't ever wean their own kids, just that I've not ever seen it personally.

If the baby is still nursing at that point than no, do not go straight to once every other day, because the kid will have been milking her for you while they are together. When you pull the baby just keep milking once a day but check her at 12 hours after you milk her to see how full she is and if she is uncomfortable full just release the pressure so she isn't miserable. If she does wean the kid on her own you will likely have seen a sharp decrease in her milk at your milking anyway.

It isn't really being engorged that causes mastitis, it is the trauma it can cause to udder tissue making the conditions more favourable to the bacteria that causes mastitis. You just want to taper off the milking in such a way that their body can adjust gently to the change without trauma to the udder that will allow that bacteria to cause problems.



christinajh said:


> Also stop feeding grain when you start to dry her off


Yes, I forgot about that. When you want her to dry off stop graining her. Just give her some hay or something to munch if she needs something to do while you milk.


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