Another Milking a Nigerian question

So, our Nigerian kidded yesterday (yay!). It's her first and our first kidding here. We've been milking a first-freshener LaMancha for a few months, but she never had kids nursing.

I was VERY pleasantly surprised how calm and easy (other than the tiny FF teats, but they weren't TOO bad) she was to milk this morning. I was mostly milking just to get her used to it- not looking for any volume. She stood almost perfectly- even after her feed was gone! (The LaMancha um, revolts when the food is gone. We are working on that.) I got 1 cup without really trying and she's with her two buck kids 24/7. I'm sure I could have milked at least twice that much. She has an awesome udder.

So, is there a reason not to milk her more once or twice a day? We won't be separating the kids at night for at least 2 weeks, though I might for 1-3 hours slightly before that. Planning on milking every morning at that time- then twice a day once babies are weaned.

I can feed any extra milk to our almost weaned bottle baby LaMancha or to our dogs until the colostrum is gone. I saved this first milking for future emergency use.

I know from another thead that you do show your animals. So, I will share something that we have learned.

Those little babies right now cannot drink all that she is producing. For, the first couple of days, we will milk just a little to keep her udder from getting tight. But on about day 3 we leave the babies with her 24/7 and milk twice per day because they cannot drink all that she is producing and by milking her you are stimulating her to produce more. She will only supply what is being demanded. You are increasing demand. You will get a respectful amount of milk from a good one. With Zamia and Ginger we were getting 8oz each per milking. Oh, but the milk is not really drinkable until about the 7th day. We froze that first to use to make soap with.

But, over the next 3 weeks the amount you get will be less and less. Because the babies are drinking more and more. But we continue to milk twice per day even if we are basically just stripping her out.

We have found that doing this makes a noticeable difference in a doe's capacity later in lactation.

We actually learned this from vet who raises goats. He has two ADGA National champions on his farm right now, one Toggenburg, one Recorded Grade. We were very surprised to learn he dam raised his kids. That's when he told us that he still milked them twice per day and why.

Thanks! Thats very helpful.

She was a bit lopsided tonight so I milked her again and got another cup out of one side. I've seen the babies nursing together, but perhaps there is still a favorite.

Everything you said makes total sense. While Im new to goat lactation I'm a LaLeche League leader and have nursed 4 kids. There's not a whole lot of difference it seems, other than I never could sell my milk.

We have one show left until fall and its the 26th. We are hoping to do very well with two really nice does in milk.

There is so much to learn. We are just learning more abut hoof trimming and how you can effect how a goat stands and walks by how you trim their hooves.

But, the main thing is to enjoy yourself and spend time with your family.

Be careful with a lopsided doe. The tendency is to milk the larger side. Often, you need to milk the smaller side more because the kid is nursing the larger side, and it is larger because it producing more. We couldn't show a doe last year because one side pretty much dried up because the kid was nursing the other side.

If you have a lopsided doe, milk the smaller side more, 3 or 4 times per day if you have time.

Ah, yes, that makes sense. Okay. It wasn't visibly lopsided, but I could feel it. Im going to watch them tomorrow and see where babies are nursing and adjust accordingly.

So, how's the milking going?

Great! Getting around 12oz every am with babies separated for 8 hours. No lopsidedness. Really nice udder!

That's excellent.
Her udder does look nice.