[Thrift Bee]

Two kids are 3 and a half months old. For the last week I have separated them from Mum through the night.
In the morning Mums udder is very full. She lets them suckle but not for too long. I have no idea how much they are taking.
We have a home for them and they are willing to take them next weekend. I was going to keep them entirely separate this week, but with the small shed space we have its kind of tricky.  Is it easier on them if they are weaned properly before they go?  I'm also worried about Mum. Not sure when/if/how much to milk her when they go.
Your comments are so appreciated.


 

[Lesley Silvester]

You can probably milk her twice a day at this stage. As to when, that is up to you and what suits you. I wouldn't leave her more than 14 hours between milking though. When I was on twice daily milking, it would be around 9.30am and 7.30pm but I have done 9am and 11pm. If she's only producing a small amount, ie less than a couple of litres a day, you only need to milk once a day but the yield will stay up better if you milk twice.


Continue milking until she is stripped out. When the milk stops flowing, I always massage the udder as they seems to hang on to some. I then take a bit more, massage again and take more. I do this until there isn't any more to take. It doesn't take very long. If you don't strip her out, she is at risk of mastitis.

[Thrift Bee]

Thanks so much for your reply (as always).  I didn't explain myself properly. Mum came to us as a 5month old and she was already in kid. So I wasn't planning on milking her for ourselves. She's over one year now, and in good condition but I had felt it was better to let her recover rather than milking her?

Anyway, my original question was more about preventing her from getting mastitis as we wean the kids, and at the same time not encouraging more milk production.

We have separated them at night for the last week and I'm giving mum less dairy nuts and topping up with a sheep munch.

She is very full in the morning and im worried if i keep the kids off her during the day too is mastitis a risk.

I hope i'm explaining myself properly.

[Lesley Silvester]

That's young to be in kid. I see why you want to dry her up. In that case, you need to cut out concentrates and milk most of it out every day until the quantity drops enough to be able to milk once a day, then every other day, then every third day and it should gradually dry up. However, if she is producing  that much, it may not work. I know someone who had a goat who kidded at 9 months and she produced so much that it didn't want to dry up. She did seem to cope well with being milked though.