# Ok . . . Stop Making Milk Now, Suzie



## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

I just had a small (very very very small) doe freshen this year (an accidental breeding). I milked her for a few weeks and now I want to try her up so her body focuses on building her frame and not making me milk. The problem is that she refuses to stop! Milk is now leaking out of her teats all the time and I'm continually teat-dipping her. I've stopped milking her at all, but milk still drips out and her bag is still very full. How can I get her to quit? LOL


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## Thanatos (Mar 16, 2009)

At a minimum you should milk her for the first 2 months then start to dry her off. The kids would nurse for at least that long and her body is just hitting the milking peak at 60 days. you are fighting nature.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

drying off a doe is a process just stopping all together can cause mastits!

You want to milk her twice a day but dont milk her all the way out, just enough to relieve the pressure.

Then once she isnt producing as much go to milking once a day again only milking part of teh way out.

At the point when she isnt making quite as bit go to every other day milking once a day. 

Then go a couple days, milk her all the way out and leave her. You may have to milk her out again just in case but by then she will only have a small amount and will dry up quickly

THis process coudl take a week or 3 weeks.


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

StaceyRoop said:


> drying off a doe is a process just stopping all together can cause mastits!
> You want to milk her twice a day but dont milk her all the way out, just enough to relieve the pressure.


Oh yeah! I totally did that!  I milked her twice a day for about 2 days (just relieving the pressure) then I went to milking half way once a day for 2 days and then I just stopped. . . . buuuut she didn't stop. :roll: So now I'm just teat-dipping twice a day to try to make sure she doesn't get sick. Do I need to start milking her again? :worried:


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## RunAround (Feb 17, 2008)

Yes, you need to relieve the pressure. I'd milk her out half way if no all the way and they just start milking out enough to relieve the pressure when she fills up again. 

I go very slow so it usually takes me a month to dry up my does.


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

RunAround said:


> I go very slow so it usually takes me a month to dry up my does.


 :shocked: OMG!!! :GAAH: :GAAH: :GAAH:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yes you need to keep relieving the pressure at the very least till her body slows down.

Also cut out her grain and only give her hay.


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

she's super skinny though (part of the reason I wanted to dry her) :worried: . . . should i get rid of her grain altogether? 

we also graze them only, no hay (unless it's raining and they stay inside)


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## ksacres (Oct 30, 2007)

If you really have a doe that won't stop, yes, cut the grain altogether (you can start her agian when she's dry), and restrict her water intake. That's what I do, instead of having constant access to water, I let them drink all they want twice a day and that's it. Without lots of water, they can't make lots of milk.

And, for me at least, it's not any worse than winter time, when my water freezes solid and they only get watered twice a day when I do my chores.


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

Ok . . . in the space of 3 weeks her grain has been cut completely, and I've gone from milking her half-way twice a day, to half-way once a day, to not milking her at all. She's still producing so much milk that it's pouring out of her teats. :help: She's getting _very_ skinny and I'm worried about her not getting enough nutrition to keep herself healthy. :worried: I'm also concerned about cutting her water supply too because it's 101F out here and I don't want to dehydrate her. :doh:

I've tried talking to her . . . she doesn't listen! Kids these days, eh? :GAAH: What are ya gonna do? :shrug:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

you have to either keep milking her till she decideds it is time to dry off and treat her like you would any other lactating doe OR you have to keep up the drying off process and only milk what you can out of her once or twice a day


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

StaceyRoop said:


> you have to either keep milking her till she decideds it is time to dry off


Is it ok that she's so thin? She does not have a high worm count so I figured that she's thin because she's using so much energy making milk. I don't want to encourage her to make more milk, but I don't want to get her sick either. :doh:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yup some goats just put it all into the milk pail. IF you do keep her in milk I would *increase her grain slowly* and give her plenty of hay. Give her a grain that is high in protein like 18%


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

that little turd-burglar :roll: . . . thanks stacey, I'll give that a shot


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## Thanatos (Mar 16, 2009)

You can also feed her back some of her milk to help keep her in trim.


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

Thanatos said:


> You can also feed her back some of her milk to help keep her in trim.


woah :shocked: you can do that? i've never heard of that before do you just bottle-feed them or serve it in a pail or something? :scratch:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yup - offer it in a bucket or something.


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## lesserweevil (Oct 5, 2007)

stand clear though... when I let Whiss have her milk she usually sneezes half way through cause she sticks her nose so deep in the bucket... and I get milk froth all OVER me =]

LW


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## AlecBGreen (Jul 7, 2009)

lesserweevil said:


> stand clear though... when I let Whiss have her milk she usually sneezes half way through cause she sticks her nose so deep in the bucket... and I get milk froth all OVER me =]
> 
> LW


lol :slapfloor:


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

Something terrible happened to Suzie earlier this week. She suddenly developed severe mastitis, became septic, and died in my car as I took her to the vet. :tears: It was so sudden I don't know what to think. She was looking _slightly_ lethargic one afternoon and the next morning she was down, off feed, and feverish . . . 30 minutes later she was dead. Incredibly unexpected


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

oh Jess thats terrible I am sorry :hug:


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## kornhypknotic (May 15, 2009)

StaceyRoop said:


> oh Jess thats terrible I am sorry :hug:


Thanks Stacey :hug: . . . I wish I got a milk sample from her before she passed. I think it was a mycobacterium though . . .


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Sorry to hear that she's gone Jess :hug:


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