A set milking schedule?

Duckfarmerpa1

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So, I’m trying to plan my days around around my milking schedule..but it seems, lots of things, gets in the way., Not to bad here or there. Maybe just a half hour off. But what do you all do when Sunday dinner rolls around at 4pm...go, then leave, then go back? After 21 years of being disabled, I’m finally able to go to Pgh for holidays. Now will milking I won’t...what to you all don’t that? I can’t be the inky farmer withered issues..
 

Mini Horses

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Don't know the travel time for you....

Milk out 2 hrs early...she'll be real full the next AM.
OR milk late the morning of and then when you get home, also late. Just relief for the doe with build-u. If you have only a couple to milk, it's doable.

You try to stay within a reasonable difference but, the does will survive, they can hold more for that evening. I feel badly for mine as they are already carrying a heavy load with the quantity. Carry a gal of milk around for a while! It becomes real....
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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Ok, so every Sunday we go to dinner at friends..usually lasts till 8ish...I milk around 5. Do I need to leave early,.,I don’t want to screw up my does.....chris gets on my case if I’m late..but we go on road trips a ton..and he’s part of th3 problem??!!
 

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I would milk Sun morn. Then again when home from dinner. No they don't like it but will be ok. Feed in their dish & forgiveness.

This is what is an issue with EVERYONE who milks.....schedules and personal time. Work it out. Milk late on Sunday, by flashlight. :idunno

If you milk 4-5 evenings, what time do you milk in AM?? If 12 hrs apart, that would be 4-5 AM Doubt that is happening. I realize they like schedules, also that farms have problems with some schedules. Stop stressing and think clearly about this....I don't see a problem here with milking on one day at 9-10PM. For MOST, the evening milk is less volume simply because of the time between YOUR AM & PM. Think that over and you will settle down.

:love
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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THANK YOU! Chris gets sooo uptight about the schedule, because he was raised around dairy farming. I milk around 8 am..then 5-6 pm. Sometimes later...all depends on the day...I’ll play with the timing when I kno2 w3 are going somewhere..like tomorrow we are gong to a picnic. I’ll milk early...so I can milk early too. yes, I have actually milked with a flashligh5 at 4am last winter in th3 freezing weather..for a very short time. We took the milkstand out of the barn..don’t even remember why...next day it went back..Chris loved that one!🤣🤣🤣. Those stupid things are heavy! Luckily we have electricity in the barn. Last week w3 got hung up out of town buying chickens, Didn’t get hone till 11!. Chris was sooo mad at me, of course 🤣. Anyways, the girls were ok..I got tons of milk that night, not much in the morning. Honey has been nursing through the fence with Sugar. So, sometimes I stall her. It’s finally nice here, I don’t wan5 to lock up a goat! Sugar will be 6 months in two weeks...what the heck! She’s shorter but about weighs as much as her mom...and I know it’s from the heavy cream in the milk!! I’m going to have stick Sufar in th3 house!🤣
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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Oh, one more thing...Busty is no longer ‘mad at me’ because she’s back at number one..I had put her last in line afte4 she had Penacillin..wanted her milk, last in the bowl. All of you told me she was antsi because she got switched. So I used a pail for her. She’s no longer mad!❤️👍. But..I knocked a Honey back to last....she’s being mean to Brandy and Cookie, plus she was giving me such a trouble on the stand. When Stormy was a bully, you all recommendEd that I put her in her place and separat her so she couldn5 bully? That seemed to...sorta work..a bit? Anyways, I decided to tr6 this with Honey. Brandy is a great milking goat! She’s still skittish, but considering she came from a huge farm where they called them by #...I think she’s doing great! After I milk, I hold her in my arms. Cookie is doing great too. Anyways, Brandy, stands great, gives a lot, for a small bag...tastes awesome! On,y time she even moves her hooves is when her feed is gone! Mini oberhasli is a great milk goat! I can’t wait to see that bag after F2!
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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Now the goats are making too much milk. I’m going to stop mixing grain and give them straight Dumor. Can I slowly not milk them totally dry...and then when the sales go back up...ramp the milking back up to normal? I hate to waste the milk. I’m running out of freezer space. We’re not keen on the idea of soap yet, plus we have zero time.....so, do I just dump it.. or can I milk less for awhile?
 

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Pigs love milk. Chickens love milk. I actually let some clabber for my chickens...it's great for them, also.

Yes, you can bring down quantity but not always get it back up. So consider using it to replace some feed for other animals. I know it is hard to even THINK this but, hey, you buy feed for the others and you can replace "some" with the milk.

I normally have toooooo much milk. Have a cream separator, so have cream, make butter, etc. Now, there are things to "learn" to make good butter, like cheeses -- so, consider pig & chicken feed.
 

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Ok, so every Sunday we go to dinner at friends..usually lasts till 8ish...I milk around 5. Do I need to leave early,.,I don’t want to screw up my does.....chris gets on my case if I’m late..but we go on road trips a ton..and he’s part of th3 problem??!!

This is so us!! I try to stick as closer to a 12hr routine as I can - but we also have puppies that we're housebreaking, and LIFE happens, so I'm pretty much never out there before 8am, and sometimes not till 10am! Then, I'm out there at 9 or 10pm. This week, we've had 3 of our kids here, from out of state - one brought her fiance, another brought her boyfriend, for us to meet. It's been stinking insane, here (though it has been kinda nice, having a couple guys around, to help set up a better fencing situation, even if they are both total beginners, lol). I think the hard part, for me, has been that Marley's Mother'sDay buckling died, and it was only her 2nd freshening, and she'd never been milked, before. It's also my first time milking a goat - it's not the same as milking a cow! So, she and I are both still working on finding our groove. Hopefully, once the offspring all go (the one daughter and her boyfriend left, yesterday), we can get back to some semblance of normalcy, but hubs is planning 2 possible trips, for this fall. AARGH!! I just wanna stay home, and take care of my critters!
 
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