anyone here raise small goats for milk?

[fatguyaz]

I'd like to get some goats for milking. (one step closer to being self sufficient!) Anyone have any goats? A friend of mine has a couple nigerian dwarfs that she milks and loves them. I'd need something small like them, as i'm in the city. I've got a big enough area for 4-6 small ones. I'm wondering how long they will produce milk before having to give birth again. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[hatchaholic]

We wanted to get some saanens, but couldn't find any around here. I'd love to have some, though. My husbands family raised them when he was growing up.

 

[kinnip]

I haven't milked my Nigies yet, but they don't tend to milk through like the larger breeds. I know some folks who get a year and a bit out of them, but mostly freshening is an annual necessity. Have you seen their teensy weensy kids? You won't be crying about having more of those around.

 

[Jenlyn9483]

I have one Nigerian dwarf doe and an Ober. I haven't gotton to milk my Nigi yet as she was dry when I got her and I am just now breeding her this month. My other goat is an Oberhaslis. She is on the small side. She puts out a decent amount of milk and she is not a whole lot bigger than the Stud Nigi I have over here. Oberhaslis are of the Small/ Med sized variety of Diary goats, where Nubian and alpines are on the Med/ Large scale. They are kinda bossy and leaders of the pack but they put out ALOT of milk for thier size when lactating. Like anything some of them are smaller or larger than others, i think mine runs the Smaller scale. I am going to breed my Ober to the Nigi buck also and hopefully come out with Mini/ small milk goats that are not much larger than Nigis but have a little more milk. I already have takers for these babies. Oh and I plan to make soap, Mozerella cheese and yogurt for a start.. Hope this helps.

 

[PotterWatch]

I will be picking up my two mini-manchas in a couple weeks. Hurray! We are also in the city and I don't feel we have enough room for standard size goats, but I really like LaManchas, so mini-manchas are perfect for us. The lady we are buying ours from says that she milks about ten months a year, giving the does two months respite to build up a little before starting up again after freshening. Try posting in the Other Pets and Livestock section. There tend to be a fair amount of goat topics there.

 

[fatguyaz]

i'll do that, thanks for the help, everyone!!

 

[MagsC]

I still want to get a couple of Nigerians, sigh.But one thing at a time I guess!