Hard udder question - need some help

[catholder]

Thank you again - I understand congestion of the udder now and I'm very glad that it is common in heavy milkers - which she is...

Do you milk your Boer?
I know they are meat goats and we were tricked as first timers and were told that we were getting Nubian/Boer cross and that they would be GREAT milkers... well one had 4 teats and the other barely has teats at all - we butchered the one with 4 teats and got lots and lots of yummy meat but now we are on the fence with the other - very good temperament I could probably milker her without a stand - but I really want milk...we purchased a pure bred Nubian billy to help improve our herd but i don't want that Boer to get too expensive.

My picture - by my name is our very first birth on our New Mexican farm -
our farm consists of 2 human boyz, 1 South African Boerboel (puppy), 1 barn kitty, 9 chickens, 9 guinea fowl and 5 goats (Nubian billy, Alpine mix milker, Boer mix doe (?) and our La Mancha/Nubian and baby)

Thank you again for taking the time to chat and explain this stuff for me...

~Peace~

 

[Ariel301]

You can milk a Boer, but they won't produce like a dairy breed. I've never had one, but have been told they average about six pounds of milk a day...so that's a bit over half a gallon. Not bad, but nothing like the gallon a day that something like a LaMancha would give. Nubians are good milkers, depending on the bloodline.

Four teats is acceptable for a Boer, many of them are that way. It would make milking more difficult though, I would think.

If she's a really heavy producer and only has one kid, it is probable that she makes more milk than the baby needs to drink. I know with ours, I can't imagine a single kid drinking a gallon a day! I have to milk our girls even when they are nursing. I'd milk yours once a day and keep the milk for yourself, she should still make enough to feed the kid. If she's not liking the milking stand, she will just have to get over it. Perhaps put her in it and let the baby stay near her head so she doesn't have to worry so much about it.

It's normal for the kids to only nurse a few seconds at a time at very frequent intervals. That's what ours do.

 

[Roll farms]

We milk our boer x dairy...I don't usually bother w/ the pure boer, they don't milk as much as the boer x do.
Also, they generally don't milk as long...it's like they *know* they don't have to pull a 10 month lactation (or longer) like dairy usually will. They tend to start drying off sooner.
4 teats is usually only a problem if all 4 are functional...makes it a might hard to aim...but we do have some 4 teaters that I milk...