Goats

[equine_luver]

We just had two goats given to us, a mother and her daughter. The mother still has milk, and I milked her for the first time today. They are nubian goats, weve had them before but one was a wether and one was a buck and they were evil, I had bruises all over my legs, so we took them to the local amish auction. So far the two girls are really nice and friendly. Just wondering about your experience with milking them. thanks,

Nichole

 

[Baptism]

Years ago we had goats and milked them. They were Toggenburgs. If you haven't milked before you should wash their teats and udder. If they haven't been milked before they might fidget and put their foot into a pail so you have to watch that. Maybe only milk with one hand and hold the pan or pail with the other. Make sure you get all the milk out or you could encourage bacterial infection.

Bring your milk into the house and strain it and cool it quickly and immediately. We bought a home pasteruizer but you can drink raw milk. If you haven't had raw milk before you could have an intestinal upset for a few days until the new bacteria get established in your intestines.

If your milk has lumps in it or if a teat or udder has a lump your goat may have a case of mastitis, an infection.

We liked our goats milk but gained weight trying to use it all up! Hot cocoa, chowders, cheeses, etc. It is fun to try to make cheese also. Start with a simple kind of cheese. Even though goats milk tastes very good if properly handled, it is hard to get people to swallow the word "goat" !

Hope this helps.

 

[Jacquee']

I agree with what Baptism says.

In addition, you should milk twice a day, as close to 12 hours apart as possible, and stick with whatever schedule you pick! Don't let a doe go past her milking time - not only will it cause her to dry up, it is very painful for her.

In my opinion Nubians have the best and sweetest milk of all the breeds. Also, they don't usually give quite as much, so it won't overwhelm you with gallons and gallons of milk and you do have a chance of using it all. Their milk is high in butterfat, so if you get a cream seperator you could even make butter.

In addition to mastitis, goats also get "goat pox" sometimes. There will be little sores on the udder, and you may get little sores on your hands. A long time ago, when there were not so many life-saving vaccines as there are now, many many people died of smallpox. Usually though, only the men of the household would get it! That's because milking was considered "women's work" and the men would not do it. The women would get those little sores on their hands from the goats (goat pox) or cows (cow pox) and that would make them immune to smallpox!!! If your goat does get goat pox, it usually goes away in a week or so. You might still talk to the vet, but it is not as serious as mastitis.