Nig Dwarf milking question

[epona4]

Hi all.

Noticed all the talk about NDs and got excited. I would love to have one or two someday but was wondering about the production. How much milk to they typically produce? How much do the larger ones produce?

They are so darn cute, I just can't stand it. Of course if I brought one home right now my husband would shoot me.

Thanks,
b

 

[hcammack]

How big are your hands? I have big hand and I can milk large size goats and cows with no trouble but cannot milk dwarves easily because of their teat size. This may not be a problem for a smaller person though I am a big guy

I may get a ND but I need to get on bred for dairy which are rarer.

Henry

 

[helmstead]

Mine average 3-4 lbs a day each...my 'pet' quality Nigis probably only 2-3 lbs. Teat size isn't really an issue for me, I have little hands. There are different teat sizes amongst Nigis, some have ITTY BITTY ones (like the last part of your pinky finger) and others have more substantial ones.

My milking averages aren't good, though, because I don't milk from the start like you should. I only start milking once I've weaned the kids (8 weeks fresh) so I'm sure I'd get a much better yeild if I did it like you're supposed to.

 

[Chatychick]

Yep some Nigis have small and some are bigger. I milk both as I have the large dairy goats and the small Nigis. I get about 1/2 gallon from my nigis each and some less. The larger produce like my La Mancha she give 1 1/2 gallons a day when she freshens. She is giving less as I am trying to dry her off soon.

 

[epona4]

Thanks all.

I've wanted some goats for a while, but it's never been the right time. So many things to think about.

Would it be "wrong" if I got a young doe now (meaning within a year) and did not have her bred for a couple years till we were ready for milking? And there's always the chance we'd never be ready to do that...so she'd just be a pet. Or should I just get a whether instead?

b

 

[epona4]

Here's another question. What are the stall requirements for NDs?

 

[epona4]

Do you folks drink raw milk or pasteurize it? How hard and time consuming is it to pasteurize?

b

 

[Chatychick]

We drink our milk raw...but when feeding babies I pasturize it for them.Baby goats...My grandkids drink it raw also.Its better that way.
If by chance you do get a goat and dont want to breed her then by all means have her spayed as she is more prone to ovarian cancer if not bred. They make better pets when this is done also as they dont have heat cycles. Wethers make good companions for does that have been spayed. We had 1 spayed as she always had birthing problems and it was cheaper to get her spayed.

 

[PotterWatch]

I don't have my goats yet. We don't pick them up until the first week of Nov. When we do have goats and they start giving milk again, we plan on drinking it raw.

 

[epona4]

Thanks for those replies. I know it's a personal choice and we'll need to decide for ourselves but I did want to hear from folks here on what they chose to do.

Thanks again!