# New to Milking



## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

So my doe Nala, a Nigerian Dwarf, gave birth yesterday to triplets. She gave a pint of colostrum last night, 10 oz of milk this morning, and 6 oz tonight. I'm pretty sure the decline is due to my inexperience. I'm using a maggidan milker. She is also not really interested in eating at the moment. 

I pulled the kids at birth and am bottle feeding them. 

Does anyone have advice?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Maybe work on milking by hand.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

I plan to, I'm just horrid at it right now  hopefully she will have patience with me as I learn


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## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

If she's not eating well that could also effect production.

How often are milking?


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

Twice a day 6:30 and 6:30, she had the kids yesterday at about 7:30pm, I milked her for colostrum at about 8pm. I feed 17% sweet goat feed, free choice hay, minerals, and baking soda. I picked up alfalfa pellets today in hopes she would like them. So far she nibbles her sweet feed and turns her nose up at the alfalfa. She has been eating some hay and she is drinking water well.


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## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

Maybe offer some warm molasses water?

Does she seem depressed about not having the babies?

Or have any other symptoms? Such as a temperature?

Did you need to assist and/or was it a difficult or premature birth?


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

She gave birth at 144 days. Her labor went very quickly with no time between the babies, the last was breech but other than helping pull out the babies I didn't really assist. She passed the placenta about an hour later. I've not checked her temperature yet, should I go check her? Her rumen is working and very active, I could hear it quite well earlier. 

I was very surprised by how quickly the babies came to each other, I hardly had time to make sure they were breathing and pass them off before the next baby was coming.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

I have given her nutridrench as well


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## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

Checking a temp wouldn't hurt. I'd keep milking her and encouraging food.

She may just need some time for her milk to come in and be a bit sore.


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## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

I dunno. Maybe someone else has other thoughts?


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I agree ... TLC and treats too


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

She's eating today!  and my mentor came over tonight and helped me milk her. We got almost a quart from her tonight


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

I hand milked Nala this morning, I brought 11 oz inside. Though she did give a bit more I lost some from her stepping in the bucket. She decided to show her displeasure with my newbie fingers by pooping on the stand every couple minutes.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Glad you were able to get some help.


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## wndngrvr (Dec 10, 2011)

Maybe she is depressed because she doesn't have her babies? My Nigerians are such wonderful mothers that there is no way I would take their babies. Also saves me a lot of work to have them take care of them. When they are eating good I lock the little ones up at night and milk moms in the morning until I can wean the babies and then milk am and pm. I know some people take the little ones and bottle feed. Maybe I am getting lazy in my old age - but I don't like having to go out at night to bottle feed and that is what I do if I have one on a bottle


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

So I'm hand milking her since she hates the maggidan milker. She is giving 1lb 5.5 oz twice a day. Is that good for a third freshener ND?

Also, do they withhold their milk? I milked her tonight and forty minutes later her udder had more than doubled in size again. Do I just milk her again when that happens?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would milk multiple times until you get the hang of milking. Once you really have the hang of it, you can massage her udder and get most of the milk out.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

I agree. Keep practicing on the hand milking. The first year we had a Nigie in milk my daughter could milk out twice as much as I could! I do fine now, but needed lots of practice.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

I'm milking her till I don't get any more milk, so I thought that I was milking her out. 

I can only milk one side at I time due to wrist issues. I usually alternate though what side I milk as I'm milking, would that make a difference? The orthopedic doctor I saw thinks I have a torn TFCC and has sent me to a hand surgeon which I see next week


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Are you massaging her udder towards the end? You can milk one side out then the other. There isn't one way of milking.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

I do massage her, and her udder gets really tiny by the time I'm done milking her. I just thought it should take longer for it to look so much more full.


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

So... I have another question... How long after kidding will she come back into heat? I've read that when in heat they might give less milk (she's given less for a couple days) and that they might be super sensitive with their udders (she is, she even attempted to sit on the milk bucket and knocked it over at one point  )


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

In my experience, they cycle right back after kidding


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

Thank you everyone for your responses and advice. I greatly appreciate it.


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## moonmilk_creamery (Oct 21, 2015)

Don't use a hand milking machine!! They are really bad for the goats and are not that effective. If you want to use a machine you have to buy those giant commercial ones. That probably wouldn't be worth it in your case. I would suggest just hand milking her.

Also the drop in production could have been due to the fact that maybe you didn't milk her out completely...?


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

Once I figured out that it was a constant vacuum I stopped using it. I remember how much using a breast pump hurt when I used it and it wasn't a constant vacuum. Though I did amuse myself for a while with trying to figure out a way to convert my breast pump into a milker


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## TeyluFarm (Feb 24, 2016)

So milking has gotten much more interesting since now my wrist is in a brace. I have had to go back to using the maggidan milker because my left hand isn't strong enough to completely milk out both sides.

However, her production seems to be dropping. She is giving barely over a pound now (at each milking). I do finish milking her out after I get what I can with the maggidan milker.

She's also not finishing her food. I give her 3 cups of sweet feed twice a day, I can definitely see a difference in her milk production between when she actually eats everything and when she doesn't. How can I get her to eat better?

Here is what my wrist looks like currently...


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