# When to start milking a doe??!!



## Lizzy_18 (Feb 15, 2010)

i have 2 does i plan to be showing at the sac county fair with 4-h..and one is due sometime this week and the other is on march 15...and fair is in May (last weekend) and i want to show them with a nice full udder....so when do i start milking them after the kids are born and how often??!! :whatgoat: 
Thanks


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## ProctorHillFarm (May 15, 2008)

I usually start milking my does about 2 weeks after the kids are born. At that point the kids can be seperated all night- so I seperate the kids from mom overnight for 12 hours and then milk the doe in the morning, then she goes with her kids for the rest of the day.

Sometimes you have to start milking earlier to keep the udder even, happens mostly with a single, and sometimes triplets as well, since one side usually gets more attention than the other, and then i milk out the side that isnt getting nursed as much from

full time milking usually starts once the kids are old enough to get weaned- although some kids really slow down on their nursing close to 6 weeks and the does need to get milked twice a day then to keep up production. You can leave the kids with mom for the day- but milk out anything she has left at night before you put her up, and then again in the morning before the kids go back with her.


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## Lizzy_18 (Feb 15, 2010)

oh ok sweet!!  this will be my 1st time milking a nigerian to keep her udder full...how much do i milk her when she has kids and i put them away for the night? :whatgoat: like i dont really know if you go till you fill a specific amount or what... :doh: (im new and i dont want to mess up..if you even can.. but knowing me ill find a way too!) :ROFL:


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## ProctorHillFarm (May 15, 2008)

i milk them down completely at night when the kids are seperated until morning

but to keep an udder even I usually just milk the full side down to match the heavily nursed on side- its pretty easy to see when its uneven and even again


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## Lizzy_18 (Feb 15, 2010)

ok thanks...BUT i just found out i might have to bottle feed...because some one wants my doe in milk MAYBE... so if i bottle feed can i have them be with the mom for a few days then take them away and try and bottle feed or will that not work at all :whatgoat: (and if i am able to bottle feed, my friends doe will also be in milk and she said i could use her does milk...will that be ok??!) :sigh:


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

If you are positive that you will be bottlefeeding her kids...it would be best to milk her colostrum out and feed the kids from the bottle as soon as they are born....since colostrum is the only "milk" a doe will make for the first 2 days, there is still some there when the true milk comes in, giving the milk an off taste, if you plan to sell the doe as few as just days after she's kidded I would take the kids as soon as their born, if she'll be staying with you for a few weeks, I would keep the kids with mom and still get them on a bottle so that they know there is food there too....and yes, you can use another does milk to feed kids...but it is best to use their own mom's colostrum since you'll have it readily available.


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## Stewart (May 31, 2017)

My doe just had a kid 1 week ago and I was just wondering when I could start milking her and drinking the milk???


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

If she is a dairy breed, you can go ahead and start milking once a day. Singles sometimes have trouble keeping up with their dam's production. At two week old, you can start separating the kid from her and milking in the morning.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

If you use goat milk from another doe to feed your kids, then be sure the other doe(s) is CAE negative. If you don't know then it would be better to go with whole milk from the store imo.


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

*When to milk*

A doe will produce the colostrum which provides the baby with the necessary antibodies for protection as well as food to start their digestive track to working correctly. The colostrum is only good to the kid for the first 24 hours after that it isn't worth much to the babies but can be frozen and used in other cases if needed. By all means have your doe tested for CAE and any other doe that you plan on feeding your babies milk from. CAE is transmitted through the milk. It is a hard dose of reality to swallow if you find out your animal or animals have CAE but it is by far better to find out early than later.


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