Nigerian dwarf questions!!!

[kwynn's birds Alaska]

I have a Nigerian dwarf. She's had a set of kids(before I got her, and was in milk. The person I got her from said she was being milked twice a day. On some of the reading I have done, It says that goats can be milked once a day. which is better? I've been doing it twice a day, because it was on the schedule she was on, but do I need to? Since it is her first time milking, I read where they don't put off that much milk to begin with. Just wondering

 

[cluckychick]

milking once or twice a day is up to how much milk you want. If you want more milk you milk twice a day, if you don't want as much cut back to once a day. If you stop milking it will signal her body that milk is no longer needed and she will dry up. Always try to milk at the same time everyday.

I read this in the many milk goat books that I have gotten at the library. I am reading up on them because I would love to get a goat.

 

[kwynn's birds Alaska]

Thanks1 I've been doing a lot of reading too, mostly online. i just got her in July, so I'm pretty new to goats. Mine is the perfect size...My dogs are bigger than her

 

[Chirpy]

Milking twice a day is considered 'better'. However, if you chose to milk just once a day because you want less milk apparently you can. I have always been told you need to milk twice a day unless it's during winter when their milk production is naturally down. I am not familiar with the books that cluckychick talks about but will believe her.

The bigger issue is to decide on whether you are going to milk once a day or twice and then stick with that. You cannot milk once one day and then twice for a couple days and then once again for a day or two, etc. Cluckychick is right that you should try to stick to a 12 hour schedule if at all possible. If you milk an hour earlier or later once in a while there shouldn't be any issues, but you don't want to do that too often.

I see in your signature line that you have one goat. Are you aware that they are very social animals and really do better when they have the company/friendship of another goat? A single goat can get bored and cause problems plus they can end up with health issues due to stress.

Edited for one of those things that drives people crazy... using "do" instead of "due".

 

[kwynn's birds Alaska]

Quote:
i do only have one goat. She was raised with kids and dogs from a newborn, and when it was time to put her with the rest of the goats...she was not happy. She was mean to the rest of the goats, and the farm owner could not have that...so she was given to me as a pet placment. She's not totally alone though. When she wants to let the chickens out, she does...if she don't want them to bother her, she snorts at them, and they scatter. I was asking about the milking because I wasn't sure if i should be doing it once or twice a day. She's on a schedule, and I didn't want to mess it up, unless I was sure. I just might stick to her schedule though. She's being milked twice a day, at 8am and 8pm.

 

[Chirpy]

Goats often do well with another animal as a friend. It sounds like yours might be one of them ... that's good.

If you can, I agree with you and would stick to her milking schedule. That's when I milk too!

 

[helmstead]

I milk twice a day because I have Nigis and I wouldn't get enough milk if I only milked once a day. I know several large dairy goat owners only milk once a day and it's fine because they oft get 1+ gallon off each doe that one time a day.

The biggest thing, as has been said, is consistency. As soon as you start getting off schedule, they'll dry off and FAST.

 

[kwynn's birds Alaska]

Quote:
The owner who had her tried everything to see if there was a certain goat that she would like, or a few goats, and the whole herd, and she didn't want anything to do with any of them. but she does like to let the chickens out, especially if i don't want them out!

I am just going to stick to her sched. I don't get whole lotta milk to mess things up right now

 

[toddntiff]

I just wanted to comment that for Nigi's, it's good to milk twice a day because they fill up and it keeps them producing. In the winter when their production is lower then you can cut back to milking only once per day.