| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Nov 18 2009 : 11:13:25 PM
i hope to milk racheal for the first time this week. the kids are 2 weeks old today. do i strip heer out and feed to the babies the first time or just put a couple of suirts on the ground and keep the rest? peace connie in alaska |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Nov 24 2009 : 10:49:33 PM
i forgot to tell you that i finally named both little girls. the first one we named "stripper" cuz she wouldnt keep her sweatshirt on and the second we named "tutherun" becasue after we named stripper because we were always talking about "stripper" and "the other one" *grin* i used to have a bird named "nudder bird" cuz when he was a tiny baby and i was hand feeding him people would ask me what i was carrying in the cloth all the time and i would tell them i had another birid, hence "nudder bird" lol. as you can tell i like names that are differrent yet have meaning lol. peace connie in alaska |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Nov 24 2009 : 10:37:07 PM
her milk is delightful!! hubby likes it a lot! he has never tasted goats milk that was "drinkable" till now. i want as much of her milk as i can get without making the babies suffer. we are paying $3.99 a gallon for milk in the store but even with that price buying milk is less expensive than buying milk replacer! i cannot wait till they are weaned!! if i milk her a little bit every day it should make her produce more if they are anything like other mammals and raise production to meet the need (to a point) peace connie in alaska |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Nov 22 2009 : 3:09:27 PM
Connie, if you don't need the milk, keep the kids on the doe. That's the good part about the doe raising the kids. You just milk when you need it and the kids get the rest. That's what I am going to do next spring. I'll have 4 does and I'll just milk when I need it. Unless I have some milk customers. Then I will put the kids up at night when they are 2-3 weeks old. I wean at around 2 months, depending on size and if I am keeping them. I have never bought milk replacer. It is expensive and the real thing is so much better for them.
How is her milk?
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Nov 22 2009 : 2:34:15 PM
kathryn, are the kids still on sienna? i want to leave mine on racheal most of the time, sperate them for several hours, milk her, then put the babies back on. what ya think? we dont need a heck of a lot of milk right now tho if hubby gets used to it and likes it i will definately take the babies off. milk replacer is VERY pricey here so dont really want to take all the milk from them. after they are weaned then i can have all the milk *grin* what age do you wean them? with the temps around 30 below zero i am not in a real big hurry to milk her myself lol.
peace connie in alaska |
| magnoliakathy |
Posted - Nov 21 2009 : 3:19:26 PM
I have two does milking; I put the first 6 squirts in a small bowl and give it to LeaLou,farm dog extraordinaire. The rest I get in the EZ milker, take to the house, strain and put in glass jars, in a bowl of ice water in the spare fridge. The quicker the milk is chilled the better it tastes. I have learned that good feed and good hay result in good milk. When the girls had their kids in June, I left the kids on the does for a month before I started milking for us. Every one who has goats has a different length of time they leave the kids on the does. The boy kids are always scheduled for processing later, so we don't hand tame them. We are hoping for doe kids next year and I will leave them on the does for 10 days and then start milking and bottle feeding to tame the baby girls. BTW Sienna my senior doe gave me a full quart by herself this morning. I milk once a day, in the mornings.
When you free your mind your heart can fly. Farmgirl # 714, |
| maggie14 |
Posted - Nov 19 2009 : 4:29:22 PM
I don't strip mine when I milk because it's too big of a risk of hurting there udders. Good luck and I'm glad the kids are doing well.
Hugs,
Channah
If you can dream it, and if you are willing to put forth the work and effort, you can have anything you envision. |
| Alee |
Posted - Nov 19 2009 : 06:50:54 AM
Connie- you can strip her udder out and then bottle feed the babies their breakfast if you want. That will also help them learn to be friendly to people. All you need is some 20 oz soda bottles and then buy a scew on nipple from a farm store. Milk the goat and filter the milk, then pour the still-warm milk into the bottles. I would start them out at 10 oz and see if they are still really hungry. Baby goats will usually keep eating even if their bellies are full but they slow down from frantic to almost lazily sucking when they are getting full.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
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Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Nov 19 2009 : 05:11:14 AM
How exciting, Connie! I bet those kids are just too cute right now. I can't remember if you told us what they were?
What I do is milk out the first few squirts in a bowl for the dogs and cats that are sitting there begging for it. That way none gets wasted and I have happy cats and dogs. Then milk the rest into a very clean stainless steel bucket. In Alaska you won't have to worry about the weather. It should be cold enuf to not worry about it. I say that because it's very important to get the milk as cold as possible right away. But you are lucky enuf to live in a refrigerator right now so you don't need to be in a hurry!
Sometimes it's taken awhile to get the milk tasting right at first, too. A few of mine sometimes takes weeks to get it good. And one in particular just started having good milk a few months ago after kidding in April. But hers is very good now.
So good luck and let us know how it is. I am just milking 3 of mine every other day and just barely get 1/2 a gallon. I
m going as long as I can. I don't usually dry them up til Feb.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
