How To Milk

 

 Squeeze and pull, that's what they do on the old westerns to milk a cow but that's more likely to get you kicked than put milk in the bucket. 

First of all don't pull.The action does nothing but make the dairy animal uncomfortable and simply squeezing will more likely send the milk shooting back up into the udder than down. There is a bit of a trick to getting the milk out but hardly rocket science.

Proper milking is done by first encircling the teet with with your thumb and forefinger in the fashion shown in the above picture and lock them together. This keeps the milk in the teet from retracting up into the udder.

 

 

Then pretend you are playing scales on the piano. Encircle the teet as much as possible with your middle finger and press against the palm of your hand. 

 Then do the same with your ring finger and in doing so you will force the milk downward toward the orifice and out into the bucket. 

 

Don't let your pinky come near the orifice. This is an open passageway and bacteria from your hands can find its way into this  inside the udder. 

Release your grip but don't take your hands away. Simply grip the teet once more between the forefinger and the thumb to contain milk into the teet once more and play the scales with the fingers. I guarantee you will make music - swish, swish, swish. Do this in a rapid manner and before long the pail will be full.

To strip, don't encircle the teet and pull downwards like in the movies. This will bring your fingers in contact with the orifice. Remember that is a big no, no. Simply milk as before but reach higher up onto the udder and lock your forefinger and thumb and play your scales. The udder will be soft and saggy so this will be quite easy. If you feel your goat has not let down her milk fully then bump her in the udder firmly but lightly. I'm never as rough as her kids. It might take a few times but be sure and wait a moment between each one and check to see if the spout fills.

Then if that fails to bring her milk down then massage the udder. This has never failed for me. Milk a bit and when it is barely coming out, message once more. This is particularly effective on nervous new milkers or new to you milkers.

Now go inside and enjoy that wondrous milk. It is within the first hour that goat milk is super high in antibacterials. I often drink it warm at this time to take advantage of that.  

Handling The New Milker

You got her on the milk stand, HURRAY! She's eating her grain, great! You reach for her teats to milk and she squats down. Her udder tucked inside the milk bucket. Surely she can't hold this position for long? She can't so she uses the bucket as a prop and there she remains eating her grain. You stare, wondering how in the world you are going to fit your hands inside and milk her. Actually you won't but then you might have figured that out by now. Been there? Me too, more times than I can count. In my experience of 32 years of milking goats, a few horses, pigs, sheep, and yes - cows, I've learned a few lessons and have some tricks up my sleeve. 

I'll share some of those with you in regards to milking goats. The other species have tricks unique to them but that won't be discussed today. The first tip is to breed your doeling at around 60 or 70 pounds. You want them to kid when after they turn 1. You might think dairy goat yearlings milking for the first time is way too young. Actually for you and for them it is better. It will require a good feed program yes. But having kids at one does not stunt their growth when fed properly. Speak to any National Dairy Show herd owner and they all breed to kid after they turn one - not two. A linear appraisal judge, I believe it was Whiteside (He was awesome and very matter of fact.) ended a debate I had with a couple friends of mine on the subject. The increase in hormones helps physically and mammary wise in their development. The guy should know, he was raised on a goat dairy and has had goats for probably his whole life. Keep in mind I am speaking of dairy goats. I can not speak for the smaller breeds or meat breeds. 

I prefer the smaller size as they are easier to handle. If need be, you can physically lift them on the milking stand. Don't think because they have been on the stand since they were a month old that they will automatically jump up. Their udder fills and all of a sudden it is, 'Oh my, can I really jump up on that stand. It looks so high?' You think I'm being dramatic - oh just wait, you haven't seen drama until you've met a yearling Nubian who's milking for the first time. Be sympathetic, they are like a hormonal teenager, their body has changed and that makes everything so much more emotional and difficult. You WILL have to be patient and yes, you may have to at least lift that now so..... heavy back end up for them. Usually you can get them to put their front feet up and then of course they will want to work there front legs over to where they can eat the grain but not resort to putting the back end up too. Simply stand where they can't reach the grain unless they jump up. It usually works best if you position yourself so they have to mount from the back end of the milking stand. Don't pressure any more than absolutely necessary. It just impedes progress.


You've physically lifted them on the stand, yes!! They are eating their favorite grain, good. Now how do you get around the newby squat. Simple - you don't use a bucket. Instead get a baby bottle or anything similar that you can grip nicely. You grab hold of the baby bottle in one hand and the teat in the other. Then squirt the milk into the bottle. Yes, that means a larger mouth on the bottle is needed. It takes longer but then you can milk almost the whole herd before you get that first time milker done so plan on it. Think ahead of something the girl can eat that isn't all grain like pelleted hay. It could take a while and you don't want to cause tummy scours from an over load of COB. Word of caution milk makes the bottle slippery and you will get some milk on the outside so frequently empty the milk into your milk bucket which is preferably not on the milk stand that she is tap dancing on. With the baby bottle you can still milk to a degree while the tap dance is going on, very important because you have to teach her that the show must go on. Now if it a high stepping  Riverdance leap kind of stepping then a bit of preparatory work is in order first.

Put the milking supplies to the side and simply put your hand on her udder -- firmly. No tickling! Sometimes I run my hand down the hip because they are use to that and then stop on the udder. When she begins to become more comfortable with that, then move your hand a short distance (remember firmly) and then stop with your hand still on her udder. Do NOT take your hand off. If she holds relatively still for a  millisecond then remove your hand. Begin again and when that area is good, move your hand further and further until you are feeling the whole udder. If she can remove your hand by kicking and thrashing then she will do it because it works. Teach her that what works is to hold relatively still and your hand will leave. Slowly keep your hand on her udder longer and longer as she tolerates the touch better. 

Pudge is hardly a Newby but she liked my to lean into her slightly. One could hardly help but not to she was always so pudgy. 

 
Some newbies like you to lean gently into them as it gives them reassurance. 

For safety sake, so the newby does not fall off the other side while their neck is locked into the stanchion, we have a side on our stand. I lean on the doe gently and she leans into the side. This often calms them down. Goats cluster in the corner pressed up against each other and the wall or fence when frightened. I just take a page out of their own play book and use it. When they are relatively calm with this, then move to the next step.

Don't milk, just hold your hand (just one) in the position of milking with your fingers around one teat. Less stimulus for the newby. Then I release my hand when the behavior is positive or in other words they hold still even a short, short time. See a pattern? When the goat begins to tap dance less and hold still more, then I hold my hand a little longer and a little longer as the behavior grows more positive. Speak sweetly to her. Not, "You little piece of ......!" Unless you can say it in the kindest of ways. This is all suppose to be positive. 

You want the milk stand to represent good things like grain, a more comfortable udder, and gentle hands. This reward system does take skill to develop but it works incredibly well. When one hand is excepted reasonably well then move on to using two hands. Be aware that it might be a one hand at a time milking method for a few weeks. My well prepared yearlings are almost all milked one hand at a time for the first week and sometimes two.

Now let's say you can milk her but she still has the occasional kick. Most newbies do for a while. Just put the bucket in back of her legs and squirt to the south end because 99 percent of goats will kick forward with the leg or legs. Occasionally I've had one try and kick with both legs. Yeah, it ends up with an upset heap on the milking stand. Normally they don't do that twice. The whole getting comfortable having you handle intimate parts of their anatomy takes time, weeks of time if preparatory work was not done. If the newby was worked with far in advance of kidding then all this newby behavior is usually over in a week or a little longer with intermittent forgetfulness.

I start training my doelings at this age. Handle the doeling everywhere. Pick up her feet and especially rub in the area of her udder. You aren't milking at this stage just preparing to so don't tug on the teats. 

I sold a yearling this spring with her two male offspring and the buyer is thrilled. He says his grandson is milking her while she stands un-tethered in the middle of the pen. He just thinks she is the most laid back goat he has ever seen. My husband failed to tell him that I trained her to do that. I train ALL my yearlings to do so. If the preparatory work is done, it is quite simple to do. I get the newly kidded doeling up against the fence and press against her. Keep her from moving forward by putting a knee in her way if need be, then shift backwards a bit toward the udder. On rare does I have to tie them to the fence to stop the forward motion. Then I press and milk one baby bottle at a time, milking one side and then the other going back and forth to encourage the let down.  A nice udder massage works wonders to help her let down. I use it on the milk stand also when needed for the young and older does. 

 I searched and searched for pictures of newbies being milked and realized I didn't have any pictures 
and now even this last little doe who kidded this year is gone. I have only a buck and one doe left, both Saanens and the beginning of a new herd.
 
I fill bottles with colostrum and make sure the newborn kids get plenty within the first hour of birth. I don't worry about their nursing until they get on their feet strong. Just takes a few hours. Then either work I teach the kids to suckle or simply leave the kids with the mother and milk her in this un-tethered position multiple times a day. For me it is much easier than keeping milk in the refrigerator and heating it up four times a day.  When newborn I also milk and feed in the middle of the night for 2 to 3 nights initially. Frequent demand stimulates the mother's milk production increasing her supply.

From the time the kids are small, I have them getting on the milking stand with a reward of a small treat. It does not have to be every day but at least a couple times a week. The last few weeks of a yearling does pregnancy, I do not ask her to get on the milking stand. It is hard with the weight of twins or triplets. Yes, most of mine have twins and even the occasional set of triplets.  I do not ask the doe to get on the milking stand for the first three or four days after kidding. They are sore. I milk squatting or kneeling on the ground.  Even though they have been on the stand for a year and their udder handled frequently in the pen and on the stand, they will do some dancing. It is uncomfortable. You nursing and past nursing moms know what I'm talking about. 

Even with all this preparing of the doeling, they will might do the newby squat and dance. This will last for a short while and in comparison very mild to what you would have dealt with had you not prepared her.The last yearling I worked with this year held one leg up the whole time when milked. At least she couldn't dance in that position. It worked for her. It worked for me.By next year I'm sure both feet will be on the ground. I think anyway since I sold her.

The Birthing Process

Fresh milk!!! I am so excited. I can finally quit using frozen. Good thing because I'm about out. Yes, indeed Belle gave birth last Wednesday. Those of you who follow Easy Living the Hard Way Facebook page know this and have seen the photos but since this is an informational post, I've got lots to teach some of you. The rest of you can tell me if indeed this has been your experience. 

 But first let me introduce the oldest, a lovely young doe with great potential. She was born around two in the afternoon. The hour in which Belle had her first set of twins, five kidding seasons ago. Yes, a doe will normally have her kids within a three hour window of the first time she gives birth. If you know the day your doe bred and how many days that particular doe's gestation is, then you know when to head for the barn and keep a close eye out for possible complications. This has become more and more important as the years go by and my energy level keeps taking vacations. Getting up in the night for nothing makes getting up in the early morning to get grandkids off to school much more difficult than when I was young.

That means I have a tendency when possible to cull the night kidders. Two o'clock in the afternoon is perfect and that is just when Belle's had her first lovely little brown doe.

I was a little late for her arrival but hey, she was still all wet and slimy so it could not have been by more than a few minutes. I ran back for towels and the Betadine to do my job. I waited as mom and baby greeted each other and kept looking for the tell tale signs of the next arrival -- nothing. 'Well, this was getting ridiculous', I thought so I slipped under Belle and filled a baby bottle with colostrum. You can see there is no shortage of it. Look at that udder. I always make sure each kid gets as much colostrum as possible in them even if I am going to leave them to nurse their mother.  The only way to accurately gauge that is to bottle feed them the first time. After that I can teach them to nurse or let nature take its course. Yeah, like I've ever really done that. LOL "What if they get too weak or one of the other kids pushes them aside." See, I just can't take the pressure so I interfere. No one seems to mind.


This particular doe I leave her to mother the little ones but she is not keen on nursing. She was not taught to by her first owner and it did not come natural to her. In fact she would not even mother her kids until she came to my house. I started to teach her to suckle her little ones but then I thought I would like to keep some of her offspring and bottle feeding alleviates weaning problems. My does will nurse forever if given a chance and the kids can slip through the tiniest holes to get their moms so no, I don't let any little ones I want to keep nurse.  The other reason I bottle feed most of my kids is that they can go to new homes right away since feeding them does not require their mother.  This gives me the milk I need for the kitchen.


As I gauged whether I was going to keep this little one, I kept looking for sign of Belle being uncomfortable and pawing the ground but she was relaxed and happy. Relaxed and happy is not what I needed. You don't have this size of an udder and sides sticking wa... y out for nothing on a hay diet. There had to more kids inside. Each of our does will follow a certain pattern year after year that is characteristic of her as an individual when she gives birth. There are odd years of course when the doe refuses to follow her set pattern but for the most part she will do the same thing year after year.

I decided to just watch and wait. I would on a younger doe pull the rest of the kids I knew were inside if she was in hard labor and they failed to appear within twenty or thirty minutes. That or labor was not progressing along meaning a possible breach birth or two kids who's legs were tangled near the opening. The reason is if you wait too long the kids will be dead. But Belle was comfortable and relaxed and this was not her first kidding season. Experience has taught me after thirty one years of delivering kids and a gut feeling born of, been there done that's. This felt right and so I bent down and filled a bottle as she stood licking her baby. Milking stimulates uterus contractions. Sneaky aren't I?

 I've learned that with older does they often have a longer labor. More light labor in the beginning and a period of rest in between kids is common. More so between the first and second kid. The third follows shortly after. Patience is a virtue with these older girls. Sure enough, a little under an hour later Belle acted agitated and pawed the ground a few times and just three pushes later I saw.....

 The water bag with two feed inside. They are the dark mass just below her tail. Three pushes and out came a strapping buck. Most of the time a water bag appears first and then the feet but not with this doe. Five minutes later and three pushes, out came a little doe looking like her mother. Belle was done, she had her triplets.

How did I know she was done? Three kids is the normal max for a dairy goat. I've only had one doe have four. Four is too many since a doe rarely has enough milk for that many. Besides there are the pushier kids that hog all the milk. If left alone one or two of them will die.You don't want four. I did not expect four and besides, Belle's sides were sunk in in an empty look.

Some does take a while to pass their after birth but Belle's began to appear shortly after. This is what it looks like. No water bag, and no feet sticking out. Nope -- notice the fibrous texture though. This is the placenta and it has little buttons inside. No, not buttons like the ones on your coat but round dark red solid tissue masses that they call buttons. When I would be in charge of a mare foaling for our neighbors, I was required to count the buttons to make sure the mare had not retained part of her placenta. 

I admit, I never count the buttons in a goat's placenta. I have no idea how many there are suppose to be so how would I know if they are all there? The only thing I make sure of is that the goat does pass her placenta and hopefully in one long connected mass. It should of course be in proportion in size to the amount of kids it held. If it does not come out it putrefies. Big time infection. If ;your doe fails to pass hers within twelve hours I'd head to the vet for a Lutalyce shot. It will put the doe back into labor. She'll hate you but it is for her own good.  How do I know this -- experience.

Don't be alarmed, when your doe bleeds a light amount after giving birth. This can last for a few days and sometimes slightly longer in goats that had a tough delivery. To slow and stop the flow on a doe who is in my opinion bleeding more than I'd lie, I milk more frequently. This naturally tightens back up the uterus, stopping the flow. The larger the uterus size due to multiple kids, the longer it takes for the uterus to shrink back to pre-pregnancy size. If there is an infection, the bloody discharge after birth will become a more maroon color, not a red blood color. It will be thicker, and have a nasty smell to it. Then she needs a penicillin shot, a few of them.

I've taught my does to hold still without restraint in the pen and I bend over at will to fill baby bottles right from the tap. Since I bottle feed four times a day, 6 am, 12 noon, 6 pm, and 10 pm, this is plenty enough to get things cramping. With triplets, for the first few days where there is only colostrum being produced, this method empties my doe's utter each feeding. If there is extra like there was with Belle, I freeze it just in case I need it for kids born to another doe. At night I am sure to drain the doe fully before heading to bed.

 At five years of age, Belle was in light labor for several days after giving birth. She did not eat a great deal or drink much. Then on the third day, it abated and her milk began to come in. By the next day she was crying for relief in the morning. "Please milk me!!" 

She gave 3/4 a gallon this morning and the same amount tonight. Impressive for a Nubian on her first day of her milk coming in. Her supply will steady increase for a while before leveling off. The second morning, this morning, she gave the same amount. 

Remember, the more demand for milk, the more the doe will produce, within reason of course. This means milking three times a day produces more milk than milking twice a day and of course once a day. Milking frequently will up production but if sustained over a long period of time, this will decrease the longevity of your doe. Since I was gone much of yesterday, I only milked twice. Today, I will milk three times and give this poor girl some relief as her production should be greater yet.

To Ghee Once Again

It has been a few years since I made ghee. Time is so constrained with so much to do. I am trying to figure out ways to save on our grocery bill and I do have lots of cream. I have made ghee each week from freshly made butter but now I can see the next batch will come from the freezer. I was wise and froze quite a bit. The goats are quickly drying up as the low temperatures drain their bodies. Calories are being spent on keeping warm, not producing milk especially since they are pregnant.

The plan is to have enough separated milk to keep buttermilk, and yogurt going. I usually use whole milk but not during this time of year. I will use separated milk and hopefully have enough to drink also since we don't drink much milk. I  put away some canned milk for cooking earlier this fall and hopefully that will help ease the need for frozen milk. The cream I froze will become sour cream of which I have not started culturing. It will probably have to wait until Christmas gifts are done. I also will make ghee and cook with cream. It will be interesting to see if I have frozen enough. What would have been better is if I had already made my ghee and canned it as I wish to eliminate one of the three chest freezers we have. I also want to play with making cultured butter. The butter I make now is not as flavorful as I like so I buy less expensive butter to cook with and Amish cultured butter to eat.

Someday I hope to be making all my own butter and ice cream but energy, time and enough cream is a problem.  Problem is winter is when I have the time to do the most things with our milk and it is at its lowest supply. I could make lots of butter and pack it away in the freezer. I could make lots of ghee and can it for the rest of the year in the winter IF there was more milk. 

 It is impossible to do everything all year long. Winter I could also try my hand at cheese and freeze some. Maybe dear little Ellie can fill that winter void. I hope to calve her in September of 2018 allowing her to raise her calf for five months. She would produce more milk than the calf needs so the extra would supply us with milk during the winter along with the plethora of things that it can be made into. I know how to make Feta and mozzarella, and want to start making Monterey Jack. The last being a cow's milk cheese. I would continue to milk the goats fall and into December and hopefully this would help create that freezer surplus along with milk from Ellie.

One of winters tasks this year will be trying to figure out when different tasks can be done and how to push others into a season when the tasks can more easily be done  because things are just a hair bit slower.We need a cellar I can see to help with the vegetable side of this.

Ghee lately has been substituted for most of the olive oil we once used. That is definitely saving us some money. Ghee is now what we fry with since it has a higher smoke point. It is what I use in bread making too. It is not the best in pie crusts and cookies - rather greasy. It would be good if it was except I would never be able to keep up making the stuff because unfortunately we love our sweets. We want to use ghee because it is even more nutritious than olive oil. We don't use it because it is cheap. It is only less expensive for us because the base (whole as in cream and all milk) is something we already have.

The children who dislike the smell of it cooking don't dislike the taste. Some of the children think it smells like buttered popcorn, others think it stinks.

What I learned is that ghee comes at a price. These two half pint jars that I figure is equal to a wide mouth pint jar is what is left after cream is separated from over two gallons of milk. I get about three quarts of heavy cream from 2 gallons of milk this time of year. This cream is then made into butter. The butter is then cooked down removing the dairy part. The dairy forms a clump on the top of the oil and sticks to the bottom of the saucepan.What remains is this pint of ghee. I saw one person feeds the butter cast off to her dog. I think I will start feeding it to our barn cats. An area I am working on saving money too is buying less cat food.

If you wonder why ghee is so expensive at the store. Over two gallons of milk down to just one pint is the reason. The health benefits make it worth the effort but I don't recommend that you go to the store and buy organic butter to make ghee from except as an experiment to learn how. I have been going through about a pint and a half a week - pricey indeed. But this is all a part of self-sufficiency. What I have not done yet is use this oil for light. Yes, that is possible. Ghee is indeed nutritious and versatile.

New Lessons Learned About Yogurt and Buttermilk

A little reminder, using a dry erase marker on your glass jars helps you remember the date the milk was taken. This way I know which milk to use first and which to give to the chickens. The oldest of course. Feeding milk to the chickens saves financially as I do not have to buy as much oyster shell to increase their calcium levels. Egg shells are mainly calcium and we like hard egg shells. If I have an abundance of old milk then the garden gets fertilized with it.

I also label my buttermilk cultures and yogurt with the date cultured since they are in glass jars. When you do something like this week after week the brain gets muddled or mine does as to the exact day you did it last. Of course if you had a nice calm life you could do it on the same day of the week. What would that be like? 

Yogurt and buttermilk I've done quite well keeping going. Not perfect but pretty good. In doing so I have learned heaps. My yogurt quality has increased. One gal asked me when I first blogged about it if our goat yogurt turned out slimy like hers. She had quit making it. Ours was indeed a bit slimy but I've learned the solution to that problem and it wasn't through research. It was experimentation and time. I have learned that you need to warm your milk very slowly. I put my electric stove, I wish I had gas, on 2 and the milk takes nearly an hour to come up to the 180 F it has to reach. The length of time it takes depends on how much milk you are heating at one time. Then I either cool the milk quickly or slowly according to whatever is happening around here at the moment and when it reaches the proper temp, I add the culture.

I usually make yogurt and buttermilk at the same time, something new from the first blog post on the subject.  One pot holds all the milk. I pour a quart worth of the heated milk into a sterilized quart jar to cool as the buttermilk needs to be 85. The rest of the milk I let cool in the pan to 115 before adding the yogurt culture, mixing it in, and putting it in the yogurt maker jars.

The buttermilk jar when cooled to temp., I wrap with an old heating pad that does not have an automatic turn off switch. Mine is set on medium. I can do two quarts if I plan on making lots of recipes that week with buttermilk. My family LOVES homemade buttermilk pancakes and biscuits.

The texture of the goat yogurt done this way is smooth and creamy. Time spent culturing varies with the particular milk I'm using. This varies as to the period of time we are in the goat's lactation as the cream level changes. And what the goat's diet is also makes a difference. Right now they are getting orchard grass hay but later it will be a orchard grass alfalfa mix for later in their pregnancy.

 Sometimes it takes longer to reach the desired thickness and sometimes shorter. Keep in mind that store yogurt has gelatin or powdered milk to thicken it but I can do it pretty well with fiddling with incubation times. Greek yogurt is thicker because of the additives or some strain the liquids off of the yogurt to desired thickness.  Right now the cream level is really high at about 1/3, which seems to equate to a thicker yogurt. I sometimes make yogurt with milk that has run through the separator and then the cream runs through again once more which gives a heavy cream.  The lighter cream run off is then mixed back into the milk. 

Did you know that 2 percent milk sold in the USA is only one and a half percent less fat than whole milk? Yes, it was a great sell campaign that made it popular - not the facts. Buy whole milk and add water if you want 2 percent. You are just buying more water with 2 percent anyway. Better yet get a milk goat. 

I can use yogurt instead of buttermilk in many of my recipes and often do. Depends on how many fruit smoothies or buttermilk pancakes were made whether I have more buttermilk or yogurt in the refrigerator.

The other thing I have not done is to freeze buttermilk and yogurt. The learning just never ends. This is handy when the goats are dry as you just freeze milk and then culture once a month to keep things in reserve. Or better yet if you have the freezer room you just keep thawing milk and culturing.

The other thing I want to try is on this site where you use a powdered milk to mix with a culture and it keeps for a year in the freezer. This is often used to ensure a pure culture. http://www.leeners.com/yogurt/how-to/yogurt-culture.shtml
Things to learn just never ends. The problem comes in on how to keep everything going not just trying it once.

When Grain Is Important For Goats

Why oh why do I grain my does and the borrowed buck during breeding season? Less can me more. Let me explain. Bucks lose a great deal of weight typically when it is breeding season. All those heightened emotions, calories burned, and adrenaline being the culprits. The does can loose weight also as they are emotional and the buck chases them about the pen.

For the first time this year I simply put a buck in with the does. He is a well experienced guy and not as huge as my last buck, Touch. What a sweet heart he is. I wouldn't mind owning this guy. I'm not worried that he might hurt one of the does by accident. And with all that has been going on, I just haven't been spending as much time at the corrals and I've not noticed when my girls have come into heat. They have been more subtle than usual or I more blind and distracted which is probably the real reason I haven't notice. Without a buck next to them to flash their tails at it is far more subtle. Not so with my Saanens but these Nubians are another breed. No flashy tails have been notice let alone the unmistakeable wide eyed screaming that my Saanen girls performed each year. 

Nope no hand breeding this year, which I'm sure I'll curse come kidding time. Hand breeding gives me a time zone within the day and a few hours time of which they are most likely to kid. That saves fifty trips to the pen to check. A biggy when your pens are miles away from the house like they are now. Not quite as imperative with the girls soon to be housed just beyond the house.  I can check day and night with just a short walk. I do love a moonlight stroll. This year as I'm so slow in getting a buck in with the girls it will be a nice warm midnight stroll. I'm kind of looking forward to it. I like walking in the dark. When I was a kid my best friend and I had full moon rides each month of the summer. Just a halter horse ridden bareback, a bright full moon, and a country road was all we needed.

Besides I have to grain. I just can't send home a buck who is skinner than when he came. I have this philosophy of when you borrow, you send it back at least in the same condition, if not better. People don't mind lending when you do that as long as it isn't often. The advantage of feeding grain just before and during breeding season is you up their nutrition just when the eggs attach to the uterus. That means more eggs are likely to attach because of the rich nutritional environment. It's a fact.  More viable sperm, more eggs, more babies and that is one of the mysteries solved as to why my goats typically have twins and triplets every year. By three years of age it is mostly triplets. Yes, genetics are involved but the same girls that gave me triplets each year have gone to other owners and produced singles there after.

In sheep they call this feeding of grain shortly before and during breeding - flushing. Of course a doe and buck need to genetically have the disposition for twins and triplets in their bloodlines but that is pretty common. If the doe has twins or triplets she will produce more milk. More babies to sell and more milk is a win, win situations most times. Fewer feet to trim, less feed, less housing needs for more milk and kids. More for less -- always a bargain.

Now after breeding season the story changes.  I cut down on the grain or out completely and give some beet pulp, sunflower seeds, and occasional beef pellets which has a little grain it but is high in protein. High protein is what is needed in the cold winter months to achieve peak body condition. This is maybe twice a week depending on the weather and the goats conditioning. Next week it is to be bitter cold so supplements and lots and lots of hay will be given.

Too much grain, too early in the pregnancy produces too much fat which complicates birthing. It also messes with the digestive system and lowers milk production later on. Timing, timing, timing is the key. Grain comes in once more a couple to a week, to a week and a half before kidding. Just small amounts depending on the individual goat and how she looks, belly excluded. Your paying attention to the fat levels cross the backbone, hips, and ribs.  A doe looses a great deal of weight in the first week after kidding. Of course after kidding you increase the supplements once more.

I hear goats have a phytic acid problem too. Oh the things I will change at the new place. This problem of digestion is partly why I feed beet pulp. It aids in digestion as well as being a nutrition supplement.

Another time we will discuss the types of grain you should use and when.

Udderly Confused At First

I spend a great deal of time fussing over decisions of what goats to keep and what ones to get rid of. Then I started breaking each one down. Their faults and their good points. I decided what was most important to me. I learned that I'm so... into udders. Half of the points for linear appraisal is for udder. To me that is mainly what a goat is all about, the udder or they wouldn't be called a DAIRY goat.

 

So at this time of year when I'm looking at who to keep and who goes down the road. The udder is the thing I'm looking at most carefully. This is Megan's. Discard the cow hocked look because she isn't that cow hocked but always stands goofy on the milking stand. The escutcheon could use a better arch. This one comes to a peek a little but for capacity this is pretty awesome especially since she is two and this is a picture of her udder at three weeks freshening with her nursing twins.

The udder isn't perfect but far above average I'd say. I'd like to see it collapse down to nothing when empty but it doesn't but the daughter I kept of hers does. I still get a 1/2 a gallon of milk a day besides Megan nursing twins so I can't wait to see what she produces when they are weaned. Her ears could be longer but what really do ears do for a milk goat? Lamanchas don't have any. And her nose is too small. Her hocks could have a little more angle and her back should be flatter though it isn't bad. She has a nice long rump and is a very big girl for two. She has a very classy smooth appearance. Her dairy character is developing nicely. Something she didn't have a lot of as a yearling. Over all, I like this doe.   

 

 I need to get rid of a doe and so I've started to break down each goat's faults and strengths. In doing so I've begun looking back at old photos. I've decided next winter I really need to put them in folders for each goat. That way I can see how the goat changes and develops. Maybe it would also help me to see what each buck I use does for my herd also. This is Megan's udder at one years old for a comparison to the two year photo. I know that Megan got her nose from her mother, not her grandmother and so it must of been the buck that did this dirty trick. Chicory's daughter, Daisy has a nice nose.  

The udder on the left is Megan's right after she freshened for the first time last year.  The one above is at three months. The one on the right is her daughter Mercedes just a few weeks after she freshened. It is an improvement on mother. This girl looks a lot like mom and her son is probably the best buck born this year. That makes me super happy because this is Chicory's great granddaughter. I can't wait to have her linear appraised and compare her score to her great grandmother's and mother's scores. It will tell me just where I'm moving forward and where I might of lost ground.

As for Daisy here. Her udder looks a great deal like her mother, Chicory.

Her medial attachment was wonderful. That is the line up the middle.  This is Chicory. See why I'm thinking this photo taking is a handy tool? I can look back at each doe and their ancestors and see just what has changed and what is passed on. Yes indeed, I'm gong to start making lists of traits for each doe. I have records of their births. How many kids they had and of what sex plus if I had to pull the kids or was it natural. I'm also keeping record as to the time of birth because normally they will kid within three hours of the time they kidded the first time. I then know whether they kid normally on the 150th day or sooner and approximately what time. Since I put the doe in with the buck when she comes into heat and don't leave him in the pen for days like many do, I know pretty close when my does will kid and don't spend night after night having to check them.

I've made a choice as to what doe to get rid of. The shocker is how much she developed cow hocks from a kid to this year. I would not of dreamed it. I'd like to tell the person who will be receiving her first before I blab all about it on here but some of you will probably figure it out. That will give me three does and a maybe four if I keep the little brown doe just born. She is so tiny I don't really know what she looks like.  And I've decided on only keeping two of the seven bucks intact. The rest will be banded. But first will check with an interested party to see which buck they might want of the whole group. Will I sell these two or keep them, I haven't decided yet.

The biggies in my book when deciding on whether to keep a goat or not is:
Udder shape and capacity ( I have dairy goats for the milk) Taste goes without question because we use it.

Structurally sound  or correct (That doesn't mean perfect but no large faults.) Extra points go to a doe who doesn't pass on her faults. If she consistently has kids better than she is and they are uniform to each other then she scores big.

Body capacity (If she isn't big enough, she can't sustain a large udder)

Has multiple births by two years old as mutiple births equates to more milk. Plus she doesn't require help with birthing. (Chicory was the exception because it wasn't genetic and all her doe kids have kids on their own.)

Personality (This is huge as I have to milk the doe twice a day and who wants to deal with a headache that often?)

In personality mothering ability is included. Megan is a bit of a pain at first when she kids but each year she is getting better and her other qualities make up for it. Her daughter didn't do so well this year but part of that was my fault so I'll give her another chance since she had the nicest kid and has a kick butt udder. She is a dream to milk too so she remains. 

Personality also includes how well they get along with other goats. I have NO BIDDYS in my herd. Cranks go down the road in a hurry because I want to be able to put more than one mom and her babies together in the same pen and shed. Crankiness is genetic and taught to the offspring so they get a double whammy. We once had a doe break ribs on a doeling of another goat. Yes, she hit the road. 

I had a women complain once that the goat she bought from me was too nice and ended up much skinnier than the rest of her goats because she wouldn't fight at the hay feeder. I say, weed out the the old biddies and replace them with sweet mild mannered ones. They just aren't worth it. There are lots of nice does that give lots of milk and you will thank yourself 365 days of the year. 

As for bucks, well I just don't know what you keep. I'm going on linage, what their mom and dad looked like, and if they are an improvement presently. I'm never sure how they will develop as I would have never though one of the goats I got last year would develop such cow hocks.

It is why I do linear appraisal. I learn a tremendous amount each year. I've only been doing it one year and watched the year before. I'm sold though. I will be doing it as a learning experience from now on.

As much as I've learned from this experience I'd highly suggest you undergo this same journey. Learn what is most important to you in a dairy goat. Break each goat down structurally and by personality. A wise Linear Appraisal judge told me that you can have one pet goat. The rest have to pay their way. That means being cut throat he said if you want to improve your herd. I agree. I don't have the money to pay for goats not performing. That is just a hard fact of life.

Goat's Estreus

The lone hold out. She's the only kid I haven't caught coming into estreus. She is the smallest by a little bit. Yet the whole female Nubian raise in my pen has been hard to decipher heat cycles in general.

 

But then in comparison  to my Saanens, which is the breed I had for years and years, who would come screaming up to the gate, the whites of their eyes in a full panic mode, their tails flagging to beat the band, and they let me know that they needed a buck and they needed him RIGHT NOW! So anything else in comparison would be more difficult.  

 These Nubians are a bit more shy and reserved. One might sidle up to the fence with Touch, our buck, and flag their tail a little but that is about it. You have to be watching pretty carefully.

 

This year has been more difficult than any other. My Meagan, our yearling on the right, flagged and was a bit more friendly than normal but no panic mode. She was in estrus for only 12 hours not the usual 24.

 

Then when Daisy, the black doe on the far left born in April this last spring year came into to heat, she just did a little wagging of her tail but not with the usual enthusiastic response we are use to. So I marked the calendar and bred her three weeks later when her tail wagged again. She is very large for her age but I none the less I wanted another month on her. I had thought I would be kidding Chicory and Meagan and then the younger does but alas, no Chicory.

 

And Mercedes was even more subtle than that. She wasn't over by the buck but I happened to be by the feeder and was petting each goat in turn running my hand down their backs and across the top of their rumps to their tails. She flagged enthusiastically but that was all, no interest in the buck. This will be an interesting match as I bred her to her grandpa. It will either be really good or really bad match.

 

As for Madeline, she hasn't come into heat yet. I stroke her back on down to the tail each day but no response but a light, wag, wag. Since Meagan didn't cycle the same time as Daisy and Mercedes and usually all does penned together for an extended period of time  will cycle within a few days of each other, I'm not sure what is going on. Light, short cycles, and not in sync hm.... must be the goofy weather.

 

None the less, without Chicory I have only two does I can breed to Touch and alas, I must sell him this spring.

 

Have any of you had strange estrus cycles on your animals this year?

Founder In Goats

 Got Milk? Remember those commercials?

You would think this was one of those but it's only our Chicory stealing milk from the cats. Or is it? After all it is Chicory's own milk that they are lapping. Our Chicory has never quit loving the taste of warm, fresh milk.

When she kidded for the first time as a yearling, she went down badly in her pasterns and thinking she was lacking in calcium, the previous owners gave her, her own milk to drink. Not every goat will do this but I have known some who will nurse off another goat.

We do the same thing, give her all of the milk her little ones don't consume along with a little medical calcium booster after she kids. Sometimes we give a little calcium booster before and leave her dry for a longer period of time than we would otherwise do, four months.

 

Chicory also has difficulty in giving birth and the triplets she's had the past three years have all had to be pulled though the labor has gone better each year.

 

Why do we bother? Well, these problems aren't hereditary. Her mother did not have problems and none of her daughters either. They pop out their young on their own and narry a pastern problem.

 

But as she has grown older, a whole whopping four years old, it has become very apparent that she had founder when she was one. She use to have excessive growth of her hooves especially in her toes. I keep them trimmed from once to twice a month to keep her on her toes as much as possible. If this founder has anything to do with the pastern drop near kidding, I don't know. I can't find anything on it so it might be a separate problem.

 

How do I know it is founder? Well look closely at this front hoof. See how she is walking on the heels of her hoof. It is because of the growth of a bone in her hoof. There is an excellent article by Onion Creek Ranch just click on Founder  Below is an excerpt.

FOUNDER IN GOATS Laminitis and its subsequent result, Founder, are diseases found in intensively-managed herds of goats. The usual cause is simple -- improper feeding. One of the many bad effects of overfeeding processed/sacked grains or feed that is too high in grain-induced energy ("hot" feeds) is Founder. A goat that has foundered will walk on calloused front knees and will have very overgrown hooves; the animal will have difficulty walking flat on the soles of its hooves because the bones in the feet have rotated out of normal position, shifting weight bearing to its heels. The hooves may feel hot to the touch, especially near the coronary band where the hoof wall meets the leg. Acute Laminits/Founder produces hooves that are sore and hot; when the condition becomes chronic, the bones of the feet become malformed and the hooves are overgrown. Chronic Founder is the type most often seen in goats. Founder is is not curable but it can be managed -- with great effort -- for the duration of the life of the goat. The term "founder" derives from the sinking of the bones in the hoof. When a producer overfeeds grain concentrates, one of the bad things that can happen is that the laminae of the hoof is affected. "Laminitis" is the term used to describe the initial outbreak of the disease when the laminae become inflamed and break down, releasing its hold on the bones in the hoof. "Founder" describes the resulting downward rotation of the third phalanx bone in the hoof. The laminae is a web of tissue and blood vessels that holds the bones of the hoof in place. When the laminae breaks down, the blood vessels will either collapse or flood the hooves with blood, releasing the bones from their proper positions. When the third phalanx bone rotates downward, it may actually penetrate the sole of the hoof -- making walking very difficult for the goat because weight bearing has been shifted to its heels. Usually the front feet are first affected, but a severely foundered goat will walk on its front knees with its back legs uncharacteristically forward under its body. Abnormal hoof growth also occurs. The toes turn up -- growing into a "pixie-shoe" shape. A foundered hoof has thick walls, extra material on the sole, and grows abnormally fast and irregularly in shape -- for the rest of the life of the goat.

 

Chicory has begun to moan when she puts weight on her front hooves when she walks. Not quite as bad right after trimming and so the amount of noise is more of a cue than how long her hooves look to whether I need to trim them.

 

I also notice only this year a difference when she is being milked and hence grained. She's never done this before. So I dried her up and ended the grain rations. Though she has never had a hot grain feed. I'm very careful to keep my goats intake of corn to a minimum. Their ration is mainly wheat, beet pulp, sunflower seeds, and oats. They gets lots and lots of hay.

 

Chicory was the only goat in the show herd I bought her from that was effected with founder and this can be the case with only one goat effected. I have to assume the founder was brought on by complications when she kidded along with her diet for she did have a difficult first kidding.

 

These problems are what brought Chicory down into our price range.

 

This fall Chicory has developed a congested udder that has baffled me to no end. She has a hard, but not hot, udder for five days and then it would be soft for one and then hard again for five more before softening. And I mean HARD. I knew it wasn't an infection but finally desperate I dose her with two rounds of mastitis medication in the both teats twice, three days apart. It was such a heavy dose she became a bit nauseated. Just like I thought, it did nothing. Will she be able to feed her kids this spring if I breed her? I'm not sure.

 

What choices do I have now? Carrying kids would make her feet hurt worse but I'd really like a nice daughter out of her.

I have a grand daughter and a great grand daughter.

 The grand daughter has become our milk producer. Meagan has a beautiful udder for a yearling. I'm not so thrilled with her split hooves. There is always something though. I'm down to milking once a day and still getting a half a gallon from her.

Yes, I have a daughter. She is growing so.... fast I'm worried about her foundering except she doesn't get but a tiny bit of grain just because I'm giving a little to two much smaller does to increase their size before breeding. I think Daisy here has her father's size gene. He is the largest buck the long experienced linear appraiser judge had ever seen. I only have Daisy, a daughter, because I became to busy to get her sold. Now I kick myself for selling the two I did. I should of kept one of them and sold Daisy here for I've seen one of the other daughters and I think she is better. I'm tempted to buy a doeling this spring from her if the owner will sell and of course she has a doeling. 

 

So now I'm thinking I will breed Chicory once more, hope she does well in the pregnancy and then decide whether to put her down this next summer. I will have five does, though very young, milking and hopefully that is enough milk. Too bad it has come to this since Chicory is only four years old and in her prime.   

I guess that is what I get for buying damaged goods. It was worth it though because she has given us nine kids and a wonderful personality that has given us a great deal of laughs and joy. Not to mention all the milk and education.

Avoiding Kicked Milk Buckets

 Flies this time of year cause havick with milking.  Kicking at flies is a norm and no matter how much you use flie sprays you can't eliminate them all. That means buckets go flying, excuse the pun. 

My solution, can't believe it took this long to come up with it, is a modification of how I usually milk. This morning I didn't save milk but fed it to Chicory and the cats since I was going to spend hours working getting ready to use the tractor us clean pens.

I'm not fond of miling from the back stradling the milk stand and so I do this modification. The goats like it too. I set the bucket to the backside of the goat since goats kick forward. That puts the bucket out of the way. I reach forward in the normal method with my right hand to latch on to the goat's left teat.

 With  my left hand, I reach around the outside and to the back of the goat to latch on to her right teat. In this way the goat is being milked pretty normally except her teats are being tipped backwards instead of forward.

This method works great on goats that squat badly too. Also with yearlings as they have a tendency to kick. Of course that can be prevented by working early as a doeling and before the goat kids.

One thing I can't share with you is Penney. She comes in each time I milk and has a very long conversation with me. One sided of course. Her doing all the talking.

With Penney is this yearling male cat that sits in the interest and just watches.

Trying to get this thing to publish on another day isn't working so know that I have two posts out, one for today and one for tomorrow.

Need a Laugh?

 Yesterday, was a sad ending to a difficult day where my thyrroid had crashed leaving me battling to keep up with our youngest grand daughter who was spending the day while her mom was at the doctors and a delivery of a dead kid.

After our extremely busy grand daughter left, I layed down a while and then a neighbor dropped by and said he'd just delivered a dead kid and had to leave for work and the doe wasn't done kidding. I agreed to go and take over. I grabbed my birthing bag full of towels, iodine, and a nursing bottle, and headed out thinking the doe would have had time to put the next kid in position by the time I arrived. The poor doe was licking her first born, despite the lack of life in the still form. There was no signs of labor and no feet peeking out from the doe's back end.

 I decided I'd best check inside. Confusion met my hand. Was it the hind end made pointed and sharp because of hind legs extended toward it's front legs or was this the head with the front legs bent and tucked under it? As small as the kid was, it wouldn't matter which way I pulled it, breach or correct as it should slipped out without much trouble so I went for the legs to straighten them.

 It ended up being the kid had it's head in position and front legs tucked and bent back. My heart sank as I pulled  the brown form and saw its tongue hanging out. There was that feeling that speaks to you and whispers that death has captured this soul. It felt as if like had been gone for a while but not wanting to give up hope just yet, I did a few chest compressions and blew into it's lungs. Oh how I wished I could of given my neighbor good news but raising livestock isn't always full of smiles.

 I woke up this morning with a heavy feeling and needed a lift. After my visit with my doctor, I anxiously headed to therapy. Animals have such a wonderful ability to create peace and healing. 

I needed to spend time to gentle down the yaks and the younger goats. After sitting on the ground next to the feeder, just outside the fence so as to give the yaks an added security measure, I reached through the fence as they stretched down toward the grain. Gracie ate out of my hand and Jasmine allowed me to stroke her nose, yeah, progress.

Next, it was off to the mare's pen, she got a good grooming, which she loved. Then it was off to give a little relief to Chicory. She is milking up a storm and I milk her out a little morning and night when needed. I think I'll start taking a small amount home. The kids are nursing well and don't need it so Chicory has been drinking the extra to help with her calcium issue. I milk into a bucket and then feed it back to her. She can't wait to get to it. Nothing but manners can stop her as I'm milking her squatted on the ground in the middle of the pen, no restraints. She's anxiously to get to the yummy part and curls around as I milk, trying to reach the bucket. She can't quite reach unless she tips the bucket. So with a sly shine in my eyes, I tried squirting a stream into her mouth. She drank it just like a cat crouched near a milking stand.

Meanwhile, Bella kept trying to climb up my back, vying for attention. Who couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't.

 Then I sat and watched our dear Rosie, queen of the feed pan.

Who can not smile when watching this Energizer Bunny.

 She is so... full of it.

 How can you not smile looking at this little cutie.

Need a smile?  Come visit.

Check back tomorrow, I've got two sourdough breads brewing.