# Who's still miking?



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Feels so good to have gone down to once a day since yesterday! I am now only doing morning milkings...I started in April milking 3 twice a day and now am milking them only once in the am's.

I know there are some people milking longer than me, but I hate milking in the winter lol 

So how many and how often are you milking?


----------



## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I'm milking two goats once/day. I've been milking Nubbin every morning since summer 2015 and I probably won't dry her off till December or so (if I dry her off at all this year). I recently started milking Petunia when I weaned one of her kids in late September. I plan to leave her open and milk her for another 12-14 months or so. I stagger my girls' breedings every other year so I can milk through the winter. I don't like buying store milk! I figure if I'm going to pay all this money and do all this work to feed goats all winter I like to have something in return. In winter I move my stanchion to the basement where there's a wood stove, so winter milking is quite pleasant for me--by far the nicest "animal chore" I have in winter. Sure beats breaking ice on water troughs, unfreezing hoses, shoveling gates open, and pitching out dirty shelters!


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Oh yes, milking with a wood stove in the room might change my thinking


----------



## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

Every cold-climate milk parlor should have a wood stove in my opinion.  

I don't have a barn (my goats live in calf hutches), so our sunny walk-in basement became my barn as soon as we moved to this house. I started by keeping saddles, harnesses, and other horse paraphernalia in there. Then I got goats. Need I say more?


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

lol...no! Our two bay detached garage is now my "barn", complete with stalls. :lol:


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

I'm still milking!  Only one doe, though - I'm letting everyone else dry up. I get almost 2 quarts a day if I keep to the schedule of 12 hours between milkings. I'll probably dry her up in December, though. I'll miss my hot chocolate but I agree that milking in the cold is not very fun at all.


----------



## IHEARTGOATS (Jun 14, 2016)

We have 8 does we are still milking twice per day.
We are on DHIR milk test and our last test was on Oct 20th and our days in milk ranged from 190-229. So, we will be milking into January.


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Wow IHeartGoats! Good for you guys 

ShireRidge....I am debating keeping one for a bit longer this year...not sure yet. I am getting 4 quarts or so a day from 3...that's what I am getting each milking right now but I just cut back two days ago from twice a day to once a day.I was getting 6 quarts..also one doe never came into her normal full milk this year.
Trouble is my upright freezer is jam packed with baggies of milk. I have a soaping business so I will go through it before I milk again but there is literally no more room lol


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I only have one in milk right now... I will not be breeding until fall of 2018 or 2019.... that's the plan....


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Really Janeen? How many do you have?


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

7, however 3 probably will be sold with their kids when ready. I just want my original 4


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

we milk until December...and yes...we have a wood stove : ) right now we only have 2 in milk...


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Do you find after the girls are with the bucks that the milk gets strong?


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

NyGoatMom said:


> Do you find after the girls are with the bucks that the milk gets strong?


I've really never had that issue. I do know the milk gets more creamier in the fall/winter though... My mom even commented yesterday about that.... I sold Charlie my ober buck just last week, and he was living with the ladies, since I had no one under age...., no problems with the milk at all.


----------



## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

We're still milking 2 does in the AM. I dried off our LaMancha because I thought I'd have to board her for breeding. Our plans have changed, but I'm still quite happy to have a lighter work load. We live in Maine and I am not a die hard milker. So once it's too cold for me to enjoy milking, we'll be done for the year!


----------



## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

My StarryNight kidded in February. She is only giving me a quart every other day. She is due in early Feb 2017 but is looking pretty big already. She would probably have milked through December but we were gone so much that her milking schedule was erratic. 
Angel dried up after a case of mastitis and Starr went to the mountains. So our fresh milk supply will run out soon. I got plenty in the freezer this year.


----------



## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

I really regret having dried of all my girls early this year  I love having fresh milk. Gonna try milking through next year.


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

> Do you find after the girls are with the bucks that the milk gets strong?


we pen breed....buck are only with the doe long enough to get his job done...so no issue


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

I should try that....^^ Just always afraid it won't be enough. And the boys love having the girls to themselves for a month lol


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

groovyoldlady said:


> We're still milking 2 does in the AM. I dried off our LaMancha because I thought I'd have to board her for breeding. Our plans have changed, but I'm still quite happy to have a lighter work load. We live in Maine and I am not a die hard milker. So once it's too cold for me to enjoy milking, we'll be done for the year!


I hear ya Groovy....here in upstate NY it gets cold too! Not a big fan of milking in winter..............


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

> I should try that....^^ Just always afraid it won't be enough. And the boys love having the girls to themselves for a month lol


I like to know who was bred and when for due dates.. I look for 3 good connections, then move the buck out, girls arent as stinky that way and we get babies every year  My boys are also trained to go to the breeding pen on their own, and my Nigies actually went back to their own pen when we removed him...My big boys walk with a lead sulking all the way lol


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

happybleats said:


> I like to know who was bred and when for due dates.. I look for 3 good connections, then move the buck out, girls arent as stinky that way and we get babies every year  My boys are also trained to go to the breeding pen on their own, and my Nigies actually went back to their own pen when we removed him...My big boys walk with a lead sulking all the way lol


I can picture the sulking bucks...


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

hahaha! I may try that myself this year...


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I have Nigerian Dwarf. I'm down to 3 in milk. I'm also on DHI we will reach 240 on this next test for 2 and at least one will be dried off. I will keep 1-2 in milk for our family needs until I can't do it anymore due to the cold. I made it to Christmas last year. I hope to go further this year. My son always gets sick right after switching to cows milk. So I'm going to experiment this year and try and keep him on goats milk longer in hopes of keeping him cold free through and after the holidays. Wish me luck.


----------



## BoulderOaks (Sep 24, 2014)

I'm down to only 3 does, 1X a day in the PM. I may switch to AM after daylight savings ends though. 2 of those does will be 305 DIM in December, and both are bred to kid again in February, so I'll dry them up in December. I believe the 3rd doe didn't kid until April or May though, so I may keep milking her until January or February, if I'm not burnt out on milking by then lol.


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Good luck to you both!


----------



## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

I have milked through a couple of years and it really wore me out. As much as I like to have fresh milk; it is nice to have a couple of month's break and go back refreshed in the spring.


----------



## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I have 8 still in milk. One is feeding her twins, so I don't milk her. One is being dried off, so I only milk her once every other day at this point. The other 6 get milked twice a day, every day.

I was getting ready to dry off several of them, leaving maybe 2 in milk, until a woman wanted 2 gallons a day for soap making after her does dried up on her. So, I guess I will be milking for a while.

I milk right up to January or Feb. My barn is cold, no wood stove (I live in Maine)but I don't really mind milking in the winter. I have to be out doing chores anyway, so why not?


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Wow Lottsagoats...you must be an ol' new englander for sure!


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

luvmyherd said:


> I have milked through a couple of years and it really wore me out. As much as I like to have fresh milk; it is nice to have a couple of month's break and go back refreshed in the spring.


I understand that!


----------



## Hollowdweller (May 5, 2011)

I don't have any right now. 

Every 5 years I take a year off and this is my year.

So I freshened most of them in March and April 2015, and then dried them all off June 30, 16. I did have one doe that I was milking thru from 2014. 

I was most proud of her. I had her at a 1 day test in 8/14 and she milked 9.8 lbs with 4.1% Butterfat. Not a super amount but a FF 2y/o and above average butterfat.

In 2015 I started doing owner sampler milk test. At 519 days in milk she gave 9.1 lbs at 4.4% Butterfat. 

She's a daughter of North Coast Jaison Collin who was a famous buck back in the day, an AI kid.

I've got her and the rest bred for spring so back to milking. 

She and 3 others are bred to Ch Sartyr Eclipse Tyrone whose dam was national champ so I'm excited to see what I get.


----------



## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Ok...so we're drying up the last two now. I draw the line when it's in the teens outside. ;-)


----------



## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

Ah... I feel so lucky! It was 12 degrees the other morning, the wind was howling, snow was driving, and chores were miserable. But after I got done smashing ice in all the water troughs and thawing out my frozen spigot I came into the nice warm basement with the fire crackling, and snuggled up to a cozy goat and thawed out while I milked. Nothing beats milking a goat by the wood stove to warm me up on a chilly morning!


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

I'm going to have to stop milking soon, since my girls will be getting bred in the next week or so. But I will miss my fresh goat's milk hot chocolate!!!:coffee2: :tears::mecry:


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Damfino said:


> Ah... I feel so lucky! It was 12 degrees the other morning, the wind was howling, snow was driving, and chores were miserable. But after I got done smashing ice in all the water troughs and thawing out my frozen spigot I came into the nice warm basement with the fire crackling, and snuggled up to a cozy goat and thawed out while I milked. Nothing beats milking a goat by the wood stove to warm me up on a chilly morning!


You are lucky.....


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Hollowdweller said:


> I don't have any right now.
> 
> Every 5 years I take a year off and this is my year.
> 
> ...


That's actually a great idea


----------



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Pfft, am I still milking the girls this time of year, of course I'm NOT. I was so excited about having to milk them this year I was drying them up in June :ROFL: That's how hard core I am these days 
Just lost all interested in everything for a bit this year, it'll come back though, I'm sure of it! :lol:


----------



## Hollowdweller (May 5, 2011)

janeen128 said:


> That's actually a great idea


Well I raise all my kids on pasteurized milk and heat treated colostrum, separate from the adult herd to make sure they are all clean from any disease or parasites.

For my wife and I, the most labor intensive part is the kid care and selling of kids....not the milking.

Also where we live the kid market is not really hot so one of the things I like to avoid doing is having a lot of kids I have to take care of all summer till I sell them.

I'm also into cheesemaking and actually doing stuff with the milk so the more work involved with the goats the less time for actually doing something with the milk, making full use of it.

I really like to have ten or less kids, although this year I will have more. But my system is set up to have ten or so kids and when I have more I have to use 2 feeders and calf hutches.

Anyway so normally I breed goats that are capable of milking longer than the standard 305 day lactation. That way once fresh I can milk a portion of the herd thru, get milk but not have too many kids that will take me too long to sell.

Because I am milking year round every 5 years I give myself a break and give them the year off so a farmsitter can only come once and we can be away from the house more than 12 hours.


----------



## olfart (Mar 7, 2013)

I'm only milking one doe, and I milk on the back porch of the house. It's covered, so it's nice and dry, but it's also open, so it's (not so) nice and breezy. I put a small ceramic electric heater under my leg as I sit on the little stool and use it to warm my hands. Polly says she really appreciates that. The extra heat rises to my face and Polly's underside, and she appreciates that as well.


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Still milking here. I have two I milk once a day. It's been so cold this December but I am determined to get through this next milk test and see where we are at. Does are all bred so production is down.


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

ShireRidgeFarm said:


> I'm going to have to stop milking soon, since my girls will be getting bred in the next week or so. But I will miss my fresh goat's milk hot chocolate!!!:coffee2: :tears::mecry:


You can milk them when they are bred! I'm doing it now


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

I read a while back that you should stop milking after they're two months into the pregnancy? 

I figured I'd just make it easier on her and dry her up relatively soon (I'm just milking one doe regularly.) It was 7 degrees the other night and all my milking supplies were frozen, even the udder balm...


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Most does if in good condition can handle both milking and pregnancy. If I keep a doe in milk I will dry her off 1 month before kidding. 

But if the doe is struggling with weight then drying off before or just after kidding is best. 

You don't want to be reducing feed and drying off just as you are breeding though. This can lead to singles. As a does' body will not release as many eggs if her food isn't as high supply. Their body will determine what number of kids they can support by the amount of food available.


----------



## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

Hmm, maybe I will keep her in milk a while longer. She's the herd queen and certainly not lacking in food.  I'm also feed flushing my girls right now to make more babies - I did it last year and this doe had quadruplets!


----------



## IHEARTGOATS (Jun 14, 2016)

We've got one milk test left on Jan 15th
We will dry them off pretty quick after that
Ours are still doing great
The mature does all gave +\- 2lbs this week
And our last 3 hit the required pounds for volume so all 6 of our mature does earned stars for fat, volume, and protein
Our 2 FF stared in fat and protein


----------



## cinderrella123 (Sep 11, 2016)

SO i don't get when you say testing the milk how would you do that do you guys send it in to someone. 


I would be milking twice a day every day I can't drink the store bought milk so that would be my intake on it. Yeah i couldn't go anywhere but i don't go any where any way. 


I can't wait for kids this season If i get doe's they will be raised for milk if i have buckling's then they would be castrated and raised for meat for my freezer. as the Buckling's don't sell as good as the doe's do so i would rather give them a good life with me until it was time to be processed humanely.


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Milk test is done through a lab. I use dairy one in NY. It's a special program through ADGA that records the pounds of milk and pounds of protein and then awards milk stars. 

I like that it keeps their lactations in order for me and keeps records of length and production.


----------



## CecilandNellie (Aug 17, 2014)

I let mine dry up a month early because of visitors and college graduations. Cold weather is not an issue for us, but this constant rain is messing with feet. Strange to only need to feed and clean---no milking, no washing up, no hours at cheesemaking, etc etc etc.


----------



## wifeof1 (Mar 18, 2016)

I'm still milking one of my girls. I had to bring her in the kitchen on Christmas Eve because of the snow.


----------



## CecilandNellie (Aug 17, 2014)

Oh........I just told my daughter she would not even see me feeding (let alone milking) if there was snow! Here we have had 8 inches of rain between 7 am the 31st and 5 pm the 1st and still raining. We spent an hour just at the barn digging trenches to drain the outer edges and the empty (until March) baby pen. Everyone is dry and fed, but wow, it there was snow I don't know what I would do.


----------



## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

I am still milking! At least I have a heated parlor, but boy is the barn cold! (It stays above freezing in the barn, but, still, at 4ºF outside, it is chilly!) 
The cheese place wanted Winter Milk. So, like the dummy I am, all my does are bred to milk through the Winter and get dried off in Feb- April!


----------

