Why isn't her bag growing??

I have a goat who is now three years old... Second freshener. Has terrible teats. Did last year too. This year we broke down and got a milker just for her. Works great. Her teats are a little better but not much. But this is all beside the point. We have been separating babies at night for about a month now, and every morning she is tighter than tight, and some morning is even leaking milk out of her teats because she's that tight. If she was that tight wouldn't her bag size grow to accommodate the amount of milk? Because it's not! She's giving a little more than a quart every morning. Her twin sister gives much more milk, has much better teats and is a much better milker in general. What's the deal??

A doe's udder capacity increases with age and freshenings. Letting her fill to capacity helps. But, only to the point of what her genetic potential is.
Sounds to me like her sister is just a better milker.
Some are just better than others, and while you would think twins would be the same, not always.
How much more does her sister give?

That's what I was thinking... It's all in her genetic composition... I would say her sister gives probably a quart or so more, maybe a little more than that...

She's not got the best personality either, she's always been a brat, but I hate to separate her from her twin, as well as her older sister. They were our first and only three goats for about a year before they kidded and we added a few to the herd. The three of them kind of rule the pasture.

The mention of selling her has pretty much always been on the table due to several factors, first and foremost her terrible personality, her teat size, the amount of milk she gives, and because of all the previous factors, we really don't want to keep any of her offspring. That may have to be the case though

newbiekat said:

That's what I was thinking... It's all in her genetic composition... I would say her sister gives probably a quart or so more, maybe a little more than that...

She's not got the best personality either, she's always been a brat, but I hate to separate her from her twin, as well as her older sister. They were our first and only three goats for about a year before they kidded and we added a few to the herd. The three of them kind of rule the pasture.

The mention of selling her has pretty much always been on the table due to several factors, first and foremost her terrible personality, her teat size, the amount of milk she gives, and because of all the previous factors, we really don't want to keep any of her offspring. That may have to be the case though

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Sounds like there are lots of reasons to cull her, but I know it's difficult, even with one who has a bad personality and it's hard not to get attached because you handle her several times each day milking her. My herd queen has a good personality, but is awful to milk. I think she had a bad experience during milking by the previous owners and really hates to have her udder or teats touched. She's ready to kid here any time, and I don't look forward to milking her this season. She doesn't give as much milk as either of her daughters, but I don't think that's enough for us to cull her. I'm hoping with this being her 3rd freshening her capacity will increase and maybe I can get her over her teat shyness this time round. You just gotta do what's best for you, your circumstances, and your herd.

newbiekat said:

That's what I was thinking... It's all in her genetic composition... I would say her sister gives probably a quart or so more, maybe a little more than that...

She's not got the best personality either, she's always been a brat, but I hate to separate her from her twin, as well as her older sister. They were our first and only three goats for about a year before they kidded and we added a few to the herd. The three of them kind of rule the pasture.

The mention of selling her has pretty much always been on the table due to several factors, first and foremost her terrible personality, her teat size, the amount of milk she gives, and because of all the previous factors, we really don't want to keep any of her offspring. That may have to be the case though

Click to expand...

Yes, sometimes that's what you do. It can be difficult. We re-homed one of our original girls last year, who I dearly loved. In fact, she was my goat. In my case, I just couldn't sell her so I gave her to someone who had bought other goats from me and I knew was a good home.

On the other hand, we have one original who is our only un-registered goat who should probably also go. But, she's my daughters goat so she will never leave here.

Now might be a good time. Sell her in milk with her kids. If she has her babies she'll be fine.

Madcow- I know what you mean... I dread milking her every time... It's been better with the machine but everything else just seems to overcome the better milking experience. I may have to cull her.

OFA- it's just so hard to make that final decision to put her up for sale. I understand the difficulty in making the decision. I have one who is useless to us. She's a meat goat, has no purpose for our production, terrible parasite resistance, but she's my baby. So she won't go either.

She actually had twins this year, we sold her boy and we have the girl sold already, we are just keeping her till weaning. Which is in a month. Should I sell baby and then sell her? Or should I try to do both at the same time? Kinda like ripping a bandaid off in one shot, or have two different heart wrenching situations for her to go through? Either option not really the best?