When I began buying fresh milk directly from the farmer I became frustrated with their seeming undependability. Over the years before I could get my own dairy animals I bought from three different sources, and with each of them, there would be times when they would say they didn't have milk, despite the fact that I was extremely careful to be a dependable and consistent customer, always buying on the same day of the week, and buying the same amount of milk each time.
Then I got my own goats. The first year was bliss. I felt that I could FINALLY have my own dependable milk supply. I knew I had to dry my doe off for two months prior to kidding to allow her body to put that energy into supporting the new life growing inside her. I also knew about colostrum, and had been told that you had to wait about a week for the colostrum to clear out before you would have sweet, beautiful milk. I could handle that. I froze milk ahead to get through the nine weeks I expected to be out of milk. Our freezer went out and all that milk was ruined. We were without milk throughout that time.
It was time for me to get a rude awakening. When Perle freshened I didn't take her to the milk stand for the first week, allowing her (three!) kids to have all her colostrum. When I milked her for the first time after she freshened I was shocked and disappointed to discover that her milk was still not in. I gave her a few more days and tried again. It was starting to transition into milk, but still funny looking. Another few days and it looked like her milk was in. Woohoo! I brought it inside, strained it, and poured myself a glass. It had been two and a half months since I'd tasted sweet milk. I took a big drink, and ACK!!! It was nasty! Even though it looked like she was in full milk, it still had a large component of colostrum to it. I continued to milk and try it daily, but it took another week before he milk was fit to drink. This took us to THREE MONTHS without milk! There was also another issue. With three kids on her, she didn't have much milk left to share with us. We were only getting a couple cups a day. Certainly not nearly enough to justify the cost and effort of keeping your own goats! I kept her daughter, Sassy, and also acquired another goat, Twilight. With Perle and Twilight we had plenty of milk to get us through. I thought I finally had it all figured out.
The same year I bought Perle I was given Miracle, a LaMancha doeling. She didn't settle her first year, and so I had her for two full years before she finally freshened last year. I knew what to expect regarding the time it took for colostrum to clear this time. I thought I was finally going to have enough milk to meet all of our dairy needs. (It was our intention to make ALL our own dairy products when we started producing our own milk.) Her due date came and went. Two weeks went by and I gave up any hope of her being pregnant. I was pretty sad because I could not continue feeding an animal who was of no benefit to our homestead. She would have to go. I was coming to grips with this when one day Wayne came flying into the house telling me to get to the barn. She'd given birth to two BEAUTIFUL kids! A buckling and a doeling. We were ecstatic!
I began milking her on the stanchion right away since it was her first freshening. I wanted to lose no time in her training. I froze her colostrum to have on hand in case there was ever an emergency situation that it was needed. When her milk came in it was far more obvious than with the Nigies. Her udder practically exploded! It was very large and full. I began trying the milk, but it didn't taste good. I thought it was just in that transition period, but it didn't improve. After nearly a month of research and trying different things, I learned that she was deficient in cobalt, thanks to my friend, Mrs. Liz. Within just a few days of supplementing with Diamond V Yeast Culture her milk became sweet and lovely. We now supplement all our goats with the Diamond V Yeast Culture.
Miracle didn't kid until June. I am a teacher. I need my goats to have weaned their kids by the time I am out of school in May, so that I can have the summer to make our year's supply of cheese. This obviously did not happen. Baby is just now weaning at six months of age. ( I retained her and sold the buckling at three months of age.) Miracle is (I believe) bred again. This time she is due to kid between March 2-9, 2012. I plan to sell ALL her kids as bottle babies once they've received her colostrum so that we have plenty of milk for all our needs this time!
Who knew homesteading required so much advance planning?! I have to think ahead at least a year in advance in order to accomplish the goal of making our own cheese during the summer while school is out.
17 comments:
YEP! and then you can do all the PLANNING you want, and the GOATS decide how it's all going to turn out in the end! Also one reason I DON'T dam raise my kids anymore! Though I do feed the raw milk right back to them via a nipple bucket, with free choice milk, until they reach their minimum milk amounts of 4pts for does & 5pts for bucks (standard breeds) unless I have extra. Dam's produce a much more consistent milk supply, don't hold milk back for their kids, and you can sell the kids on bottles, if you don't plan on keeping them, which translates into more milk for you!
Jessica, I admire you so much!!! I agree with you about dam raising vs. bottle babies. Do you pull your kids immediately? I work outside the home and can only do twice daily feedings, so the kids have to be big enough to wait that long before I can pull them. Thoughts?
If the kids are vigorous, I can usually get them trained to the bucket within a few days. But I would imagine they could figure it out sooner, as they do with their dams! I've just always pulled them from their dams ASAP (they NEVER nurse, as that can set them to nursing only!), and use a pritchard teat to start off with and then work them on to the lambar once they go for the nipple without me having to stick it in their mouth for them. ;-)
But I'd imagine, if you could find you a small bucket with lid (1/2 gallon or less), drill a hole near the top or in the middle (depending on size), insert nipple and then add tubing to reach to the bottom of the bucket. Then fill with warm milk to just before it runs out of the nipple. Stick the kids on it a few times, so they know where the milk is, and hang the bucket, so the nipples are about shoulder (or a below) high. Then before you leave them, make sure the bucket is full, so if they find it while you're gone, they don't have to suck much to get the milk flowing. ;-) They usually figure it out pretty quickly!
Hopefully your does kid at a time that you have a chance to get them started a bit, that it'll be ok, to leave them to work the bucket until you return home. But after a few days, they should be doing really well on the bucket, and you'll only have to fill it twice a day! Maybe you can have someone check in on them while you're out, if they haven't totally got the hang of it, and the weather is cold? Dog igloos make great kid boxes inside their pens, for them to sleep in, as it helps them hold their body temps closer to them, and as long as they're well fed and dry, the do GREAT in all types of cold temps!!
REALLY?! I've always been told you can't do that. What about them destroying the nipples? My first year I had trouble with kids chewing the nipples completely off! I learned how to avoid that, but it's with hand feeding, where you take it away as soon as they finish sucking vigorously. Do they not do that with the Lambar nipples?
It's very rare that you loose lambar nipples from them chewing. Though I do usually have to replace them at least once, before they're weaned, from all the use. :) I have a photo album of pictures of the lambars I make my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/jekuthielsdairy
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150977807151001&set=pb.80438781000.-2207520000.1357483922&type=3&theater Like that one? So you just buy the nipples and tubes, and attach them to your own bucket. Is that it?
I sent you a friend request. ;-)
Do you practice this regimen of leaving the kids with the buckets all day, or are you just thinking it could work for me? I can't ask someone to check on them during the day. We are WAY out in the country, so this would be a big leap. I've only hand fed them with bottles using Pritchard nipples in the four years I've raise them.
YES, this is what I use and how I raise my kids! It makes chores SO much easier, and kids can eat when they want to which is much more natural for them and they grow nicely on this system! I keep my kids on milk for 4-6mo and they have free choice milk til they are about a month old, when they reach the minimum amounts I feed, in their bucket when I fill it (their half day portion). Unless I have extra milk, but with the dairy I usually don't. ;-)
Yes, with the pritchard nipples, they would destroy those QUICKLY if you're using them on big kids! I only use the pritchard to get them started the first few feedings and then switch them to the lambar nipples. MUCH stronger and I get them through Wiggins Inc, Jeffers, or Caprine Supply.
Okey doke. I will give it a whirl, then!
When you say you keep them on milk for 4-6 months, what determines how long. Do you let them naturally drift away from the milk and onto solid foods, or do you take it away based on growth/other factors? Something else?
I feel my kids have better growth, if they have a minimum of 4mos on milk. How long after that they stay on milk, is determined on how much milk I can spare and occasionally they wean themselves!
They have access to I quality Alfalfa, starting at just a few days old (though they usually don't start eating it well, till almost a month), and I don't grain my kids.
I want to be sure I understand. Your kids only have access to alfalfa hay, pasture, and water?
What about your does. I know they get some grain on the stand and that's all, right? What about pregnant does. Still no grain? Now that I've whittled my herd down to just two does, I think I can muster the courage to try being nearly grain free. It's just so scary to me to think of making them "survive" without grains. I know that is how God designed them, but we're just so brainwashed. :-/ I haven't been able to work up the nerve so far.
Also, I don't have access to alfalfa hay at this time. I give alfalfa pellets and wild prairie hay. If I do go grain free, would that be adequate, or should I wait until I can get pure alfalfa hay?
Yes, along with kelp and minerals.
Your non working goats (non-milkers) will do just fine without grain, as usually it just makes those guys fat. ;-) I do start to slowly put does back onto grain, their last month of pregnancy, as the kids are growing fast by that point and they don't have a BIG change in feed when they kid, as you will have already gradually worked them up to their milking ration of grain, by the time they kid.
Yes, you can do a grass & alfalfa pellets, if you don't have access to quality alfalfa. ;-)
I was about to type that I was going to start cutting back their grain until we were to the point that my milking doe is just getting a decent amount to get her through the pregnancy. I have the original information you gave me years ago in my notebook at home. I am not there now. I am currently giving about 8 cups a day by volume to one LaMancha doe and her doeling. My husband did chores for me over Christmas break. We had stopped milking in the evenings, and only in the mornings. We had a miscommunication. I gave them half that amount in the pen with the knowledge that my doe was eating her share on the milk stand. When he was doing chores she was getting nothing on the milk stand in the evenings, and they were sharing what was, essentially, Baby's ration. Miracle's production was already dropping, but it plummeted over the break. We were only getting about an ounce at a time. Not even worth dirtying up the pail. Even with returning to the correct ration, her production did not recover. With all that knowledge, how would you go about weaning them off the grain?
Yes, this time of year, reducing grain on the milker, would encourage her to dry up. ;-) You may not be able to get her back up in production now, if she dropped that low. I would only feed on grain on the milk stand, and start your new system with the new freshenings.
I start to decrease their grain intake about a month to two weeks before I want to have them dry. Once they're dry, but they still insist on coming out with the other milking girls, I will give them a small handful of grain on the milk stand through out their pregnancy, until their last month, where I start increasing.
Right now, the girls I'm not ready to start drying off yet, are getting a 16oz cottage cheese container of grain at each milking. When they are in peak production I will up or decrease that amount depending on the needs of each doe.
Yep. At first I thought she was drying off because she was pregnant, but then it hit me, and I questioned him, and sure enough, that's what he'd been doing. I knew immediately THAT was why she dried up. :-/ Oh well. It's only a couple weeks early if she is indeed settled. I preg-toned her and got the solid tone, but I just don't trust my skills with that machine yet. Thanks for all your advice. It really helps. Seeing the gorgeous condition of your animals helps me have the confidence to do this grain-free business. :-)
Very interesting post Michelle. I can so relate to the unpredictability of having dairy goats. I had read previously about the B vitamins and off flavored milk. I just recently started giving my goats Diamond V yeast. They love it! I order from Hoegger though and it was backordered for almost 3 weeks. Inconvenient. I've read some folks use a cobalt block. I did include cobalt when we remineralized that pasture last fall.
Oh you tried to plan, with dairy goats!!!!! :) They heard you and conspired against you intentionally :)
I pull all kids here before they hit the ground. I sell what I don't want quickly so no milk is going to kids I won't keep. This way I've been pretty lucky to always have the milk I want, plus some to share with the dogs, cats & chickens :) I blood test for pregnancy at the 30 day post breeding mark, this way I KNOW if they address bred, and if not, I don't lose precious breeding time getting them re-bred. Several years ago I went through your lil milk predicament...Was no fun at all.
Here's hoping your milk pails are over flowing this year :)
LOL! Crystal, I'm beginning to think you're right! I acquired two new does, both first fresheners in milk about a week, a few weeks ago. I did want to have *one* new doe, but I went with two because it was a better deal and also because I was really thinking Miracle hadn't settled. (She only had two weeks of exposure to the buck.) Of course I bring them home and start the new milking season WAY early. I only got a five week break this year! Now Miracle is showing and her udder is filling up/out. Of course! Hahaha! My pails and my fridge are definitely overflowing right now. :-D
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