The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: mariegold on September 07, 2015, 10:03:24 pm

Title: Advice on drying up my girls
Post by: mariegold on September 07, 2015, 10:03:24 pm

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of drying up my two milking goats so they can be put back into kid in the Autumn. They didn't kid this year but did the year before.

I've got them down to milking once a day by cutting out concentrate but they are still really full and producing about 1.5 - 2 litres each.

I still need to get them on the milking stand when I milk them in the morning and to achieve this I need to feed them something.... giving them a cup of oats and some sugar beet at the moment.

Can anyone suggest a less protein rich feed option please? I've tried just giving fruit and veg but there not very impressed by that and start kicking off whilst I milk them. Also I don't want them to get into bad condition pre kidding.

Any advice much appreciated. Thank you  ???

Title: Re: Advice on drying up my girls
Post by: Anke on September 07, 2015, 10:17:41 pm

Mine are on wee bit of shreds and a dusting of oats when milked once a day. I then just leave out one milking, so milk one-in-three for a few days and so on... but, do you really need to stop milking completely? They will happily milk once a day on some concentrates until about 8 - 6 weeks before kidding, and it allows you to feed a bit more without worrying about them getting fat. They will dry off completely quite easily in Nov/Dec time, just now there is still quite a bit of good enough grass around...