The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: BrookfieldFarm on September 28, 2011, 05:06:00 pm

Title: Milking Goats
Post by: BrookfieldFarm on September 28, 2011, 05:06:00 pm

Hi All,

This might be a really stupid question, but if you were to breed a Golden Guernsey for instance, this year, she would have the kids march/april time. Then you would wean the kids at around 5 months of age. Would the nannies still need to be milked after the kids had been weaned?

Our nannies have always produced milk in the summer despite never having been pregnant and we thought that breeding them would possibly be a solution to the problem! Any advice would be much appreciated.

Elliott

Title: Re: Milking Goats
Post by: Anke on September 28, 2011, 09:30:46 pm

If you want to maximise your milk production you would take the kid(s) off the nanny at four days and milk her twice a day and feed the milk back to the kids by bottle. Otherwise she would start to reduce her amount of milk by July/August as the kids are taking less - and even if you continue to milk her after weaning the kids off she will be lower than she would be if she was milked from the start.

Another option would be to strip her out every evening.

If you do not want any milk for yourself she would wean the kids naturally sometime in the autumn, you could help that along with putting her on hay only and making sure the kid(s) are separated from her for a while.

Hope this helps - I was not sure exactly where your question was heading.

Title: Re: Milking Goats
Post by: Lesley Silvester on September 28, 2011, 11:04:30 pm

Wish my sanaans would produce milk without being pregnant.  I have real trouble finding a sanaan male.  I believe Golden Gurnseys produce good milk.   :goat:

Title: Re: Milking Goats
Post by: plumseverywhere on October 01, 2011, 10:31:57 am

My saanen is a maiden milker. a few weeks ago we were up to 8 pints a day which was surplus to both my needs as a goats milk soap maker and as a family using it to drink/ice cream/cheese etc!! Now I have another goat coming and she's due to kid end of march so I seriously need to find more uses for goats milk or up my supplies of soap making  ;)  have a feeling savannah will come into milk every spring now...Eek!

Title: Re: Milking Goats
Post by: ballingall on October 01, 2011, 10:45:34 am

Quote from: Mad Goatwoman of Madeley on September 28, 2011, 11:04:30 pm

Wish my sanaans would produce milk without being pregnant.  I have real trouble finding a sanaan male.  I believe Golden Gurnseys produce good milk.   :goat:

Whereabouts are you? And when you say Saanens, do you mean pure Saanens, or British Saanens.

Beth

Title: Re: Milking Goats
Post by: Lesley Silvester on October 01, 2011, 10:05:26 pm

Hi Beth

I'm in Shropshire and my girls are pure Sanaans.

Lesley  :goat: