The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Lesley Silvester on April 15, 2014, 11:02:43 pm
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Cloud has less than four weeks to go to her due date and is getting huge. I have tried running my hand along her side to see if I can feel any movement but she objects strongly. She swings her head round to my hand and paws the ground (or my leg if it's in the way) quite angrily. My other goats have been fine about being touched and she used to be. Has anyone else experienced this behaviour?
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Only when I try and touch the udder. Not the sides, but I have found that I can see the difference once the kid(s) has dropped so no need to touch.
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Hi mine has just over 8 weeks to go and she is exactly the same, she has always stood to be brushed or stroked but will not let me stroke the sides of her belly anymore, still likes her head & face stroked but for a shorter time if I am in the pen, will let me do it a lot longer if outside the pen.
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Anke, she doesn't like her udder touched either. It's her first kidding so she is just beginning to get something there.
Trixie, that's exactly like Cloud, although she will take head and face being stroked for as long as I am prepared to do it.......... unless there is some food in the offing.
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maybe she is just embarrassed by her size... ;)
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She wants to stop gorging herself then. I'm sure she has more than her fair share of the food. She was quite a barrel before she was in kid. ;D
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I can't touch her udder either, although to be fair she has never liked her udder being touched unless she was in season when she would just drop her rear end and let you do it for a short time. I was told by an experienced goat woman to always feel her udder so she would get used to it but since she has been pregnant and not coming into season not allowed near it! Mine is also a first time kidder and after she was mated there was a noticeable change in her straight away, still a gorgeous girl but totally different, as if she had grown up over night, which I suppose she had really, she is also a pig with food but wasn't fat before and is only big now around belly, think it will take a while to get her used to being milked but as long as she can eat while doing it may be ok.
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And then mine, who can be very specific about how you will and won't stroke her (Ellie) or who doesn't really tolerate much stroking at all (Rowan) have become completely soppy as they came up to kidding. I don't suppose it'll last for long!
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Trixie, Cloud was exactly the same. She had calmed down quite a bit by the time I brought her back from her 'honeymoon'. When Pom was in kid, a couple of weeks before she was due, I started letting her into the area where I did the milking. I encouraged her onto the milking bench where she was able to start stuffing her face (always a good thing), sat down beside her and stroked her udder. Apart from a jump or two when she first felt my hand, she was fine about it. I'm hoping Cloud will be the same. Now I am less mobile, I will have to rely on my OH for help with the getting up and down twice in one evening and to hold Cloud. I haven't broken the news to him yet.
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That's a good idea thanks I will have to do that nearer the time. At the minute she is with the other girls but we made a milking parlour/ maternity area for her which at the minute our Billy is in as he came to stay at short notice so we had to put him there but busy making his heavier duty pen so we can move him out disinfect and let her get used to it before the big day. We bought a milking stand last year although I don't think we will need it for her as she is a Nubian and quite tall, me on a milking stool should be ok. I don't know whether this would be any use to you but we bought a small milking machine which has a battery on it and a back up hand pump.(supposed to be able to do 3 goats on 1 charge) I was looking at them for ages on ebay and then bought a cream seperator of a lovely lady who wasn't milking anymore due to ill health she had everything so I bought the lot of her including this milking machine, now I haven't tried it obviously but she said it was great, they are really inexpensive and although I want to milk by hand Just incase I'm not around I want to get her used to both incase OH has to do it anytime, also next year when I have a few to milk (if everything goes to plan) it may be a great help and as we get older and arthritis sets in we may be greatful of this little helper!! I'm sure your OH will be a great help after all he will be getting that lovely milk afterwards for his reward!!
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and if MGWM isn't interested ... we definitely are!
In the milking machine that is... :D
long story, but something we think might be a good investment - if finances allow!! :)
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Hi Little Blue if you are they are £39.20 + £13.81 postage from Dansha Farms United States also includes a glass jar with lid doesn't need to be next to goat so if goat kicks won't spill check them out on ebay make sure you get the two teat as some advertise for one, there is also a video you can watch on there, the chap is a bit clumsy who is in the video but gives the general idea, and supposed to work on goats with odd teats that we are all advised to stay clear of as hard to milk, and if you do get one remember to request your english plug adaptor. Also do a large all you need kit for about 90-100 + p&p if I remember correctly. Word of warning though the woman I got mine off got a custom bill too which she said they pick random parcels, so may be unlucky I don't know?
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That does sound interesting. I love hand milking but I have been wondering about using a machine when my hands are bad.
I'm sure your OH will be a great help after all he will be getting that lovely milk afterwards for his reward!!
I wouldn't bet on it. He prefers cows' milk, especially in his tea. I think that might be because he finds the goat milk too creamy since he switched to semi-skimmed. I need to invest in a separator especially when we have two of them producing.
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we've had a couple of different pumps from Dansha farms, hand and battery operated and they are a godsend! and they couldn't be more helpful when I email about the odd thing now and again.
One of our nubian crosses is in kid for the first time this year and she has changed so much! She was always a big dopey thing but now its like she's all grown up, can;t wait to see how she handles having kids of her own, she's great with everyone elses, like sh'e's the big aunty that shows them all how to get into mischief. But she's not happy about anyone touching her past her hips, especially if my OH tries to check her teats, the look of utter indignation he gets is hilarious and now she always makes sure her backside is away from him when he goes near her ;D
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Fiesty redhead331. That's good to know that they are helful.
MGOM, the electric milk cream seperator I bought of the same woman was from the ukraine and also off ebay I had been looking at them for a while too as my daughter, mum and dad don't like goats milk (say it tastes like lard) so I thought if I do them pasteurised semi skimmed I might get it down them!! We all get through a huge amount of dairy products each week might save a shilling or two? On the cream seperator the woman said it was easy to use too! They are £67.99 £26.90 p&p for electric or £47.90 + £26.90 p&p for a hand one and of course this is for new ones. I can't wait to start using all this equipment not long now!
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I did look at them and wonder what they were like. I think a little ebaying is called for. ;D
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As you can tell I am always looking at it and buying - too much stuff - but it does save me alot in the long run
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I agree with your thinking Trixie, all of ours are used to being hand milked or machine milked, just in case some total stranger has to milk them in an emergency. It's unlikely for us given our circumstances, but better to be safe rather than sorry.
Beth
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Hi Ballingall,It would only be myself or my OH to milk but as we are limited on time in the mornings we get up between 3.30am -4 everyday (except xmas day) we are only gone for 2-3 hrs but it would either be get up half an hour earlier to milk in which case we could take it in turns to do it he would use machine I might as well in the mornings, or do it later but if between 8 - 9am then that would make us later milking at night and we go to bed early because of early starts. I know in books and speaking to people you are supposed to milk every 12 hours or as close to it as you can if you milked earlier than that would you still get same amount of milk or less? Sorry if its a daft question but new to this and thought it must be that amount of time for milk to fill udder up again, that doesn't sound right but I'm sure you get what I mean, thanks
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Your goats have to fit with you. So develop whatever routine suits you. You don't need to milk at 12 hours apart if that doesn't suit.
At shows, it often happens that you milk the goats in the evening at 6pm, then in the morning they aren't milked until 7:30 or 8am- which is a 14 hour gap.
We have a friend who worked in her local chip shop- she used to milk the goats at 1am when she got in from work, and in the morning at 9:30 once she'd got the kids off to school.
Personally I don't believe in the goats ruling your life- they have to fit in with your life. I've also known people who milk at 6:30am, and 6:30pm on the dot, and if you deviate from that their goats get really traumatised, so I don't think it's the best.
Beth
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Hi Beth thanks for that, as 1 of us is always at home apart from early they do sort of rule us a bit they get loads of attention and I am sure they can tell the time!!They are always bleeting at the fence at feed times during the day will have to start altering times abit in readiness for milking.
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I can just imagine the looks I would get if I tried getting this lot up for milking at 1am! I get funny looks if disturb their beauty sleep before 7am!
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I only milk once a day, in the mornings. And leave the kids with mum all day (by the time they're old enough for me to be milking, I shut them the other side of a mesh partition overnight).
I have a full-time job away from the house, with variable end times, so this system suits me and the goats. And since there's only me, that's still more milk than I can drink, when two of them are milking.
I use an Udderly Ez (http://www.udderlyez.com/goat_milkers.php) for milking, have done for years. It's a hand pump, has been robust, you can get spare parts. For me it speeds things up because I milk straight in the bottle, the bottle goes in the fridge, job done. No filtering or anything. No long tubes to clean, and if someone else has to milk occasionally for me, it feels much the same to the goats.
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When I was on twice daily milking, I milked at 14 hour and 10 hour intervals as that suited me. The goats were perfectly happy with that.
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I use an Udderly Ez (http://www.udderlyez.com/goat_milkers.php) for milking, have done for years. It's a hand pump, has been robust, you can get spare parts.
where did you buy it, please? they look fab.
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Hi Little Blue if you are they are £39.20 + £13.81 postage from Dansha Farms United States a
thanks for that :)
(sorry, not been on here for ages....!)
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I bought my UdderlyEz directly from the States years ago.
I get spares from sales(at)horserequisites.co.uk. I see they sell the pump and bottles for horses (it was originally developed to milk colostrum from mares). Website www.horserequisites (http://www.horserequisites),co,uk
The pump is universal, The only differences are the insert tubes to fit goats' teats and the quart bottles necessary to accommodate all that lovely goats' milk. It might be worth talking to them, they can probably get you the goat parts.
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I just bought an Udderly EZ from Ebay. It was new and from one of the UK stockists. It arrived very quickly and it has been a godsend for milking the poorly nanny while she is lying down. If there isn't one listed at the moment let me know and I will pm you the contact details.