Milking a goat with very small teats?

mama24

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
474
Reaction score
0
Points
64
Location
North Carolina Piedmont
I have a very young first freshener who is not very tame. She kidded yesterday and I milked her this morning and this evening. I got barely anything this morning, but this evening, we found that if my friend held her baby in her lap and sat in a chair directly in front of the milking stand, and we filled up the feeder with oats instead of mixed grains, she was ok with being milked. She still kicked a bit, but I got it done. I milked a cow as a child maybe twice and I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I remembered how to do it. Anyway, the issue is that her teats are VERY small. I mean like the size of my pinky finger, but shorter! They are itty bitty! I figured out a technique, but I'm wondering if there's a better way. Right now, I am just using my pointer and middle finger and rolling my thumb down. Her teats are way way too small to do the regular circle with thumb and pointer, then roll the other fingers down. So I just wasn't able to get much. I got about a cup total, but by the time I got that, she was freaking out again b/c all of my kids and my friends kids had gotten fed up with waiting and came in and were milling around making too much noise, etc. Even if that hadn't happened, I think with how little I get at a time, it would take me an hour to milk her out. Her udders still felt full and hard after I was done, and I want her to keep making lots of milk and not get mastitis, so I need to be able to milk her out!

I appreciate any advice! She's a great little goat, even if she isn't completely tame. I think she's going to settle in and be a decent milker though. Today was the first day and she was already calmer the 2nd go round.

555615_3705740681707_1221217193_3684026_978450440_n.jpg
 

jmead2003

Just born
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
6
We have a first time mom that kidded a couple weeks ago. We ran into the same problem with her. Her teats were incredibly small and it was very hard to milk her. 2 things- her teats have got bigger and longer from her buckling nursing, and also we made a homemade milker for about $40 dollars that works wonders on her! She still has small teats but not as tiny as they were.
 

mama24

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
474
Reaction score
0
Points
64
Location
North Carolina Piedmont
Can you please tell me how you made the homemade milker? I have been thinking about how I could rig something. My friend told me I could borrow her hand breast pump since I have long ago gotten rid of mine (my youngest and last baby is almost 4) But she thinks the goat's nipples are way too long. I think they might not be, but I'm not sure. They are really very small. I am a little surprised b/c her Nubian grandma came from excellent milking lines and my friend I got her from said there were multiples on all sides of her families with extra milk to go around. But I guess making lots of milk is not the same as having great teats for humans to milk from! How did you make your homemade milker?
 

Melissa'sDreamFarm

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
266
Reaction score
2
Points
74
I have a thread on here about my FF. Once they were 4 weeks out, it got MUCH better. I would milk them some, but had gotten frustrated. At 8 weeks fresh I currently have no problems milking them. Hang in there! One of mine was untouchable until she kidded.
 

manybirds

Loving the herd life
Joined
Jul 17, 2011
Messages
1,279
Reaction score
18
Points
138
Location
Northern wisconsin
if the kid is only a day old i would wait a little longer to milk her. there may still be colostrum in the milk plus he should be getting most of it. as for small teats maybe just wait till the second freshening, generally 1st timers have small teats. my first milking doe had small teats to it was ver frustrating. what made it the most frustrating i think was that by the time you where done milking her out the milk had been out to long without being chilled and taisted funny turning the whole family off goats milk!
 

manybirds

Loving the herd life
Joined
Jul 17, 2011
Messages
1,279
Reaction score
18
Points
138
Location
Northern wisconsin
manybirds said:
if the kid is only a day old i would wait a little longer to milk her. there may still be colostrum in the milk plus he should be getting most of it. as for small teats maybe just wait till the second freshening, generally 1st timers have small teats. my first milking doe had small teats to it was ver frustrating, i kept at it though and it wasn't so bad. what made it the most frustrating i think was that by the time you where done milking her out the milk had been out to long without being chilled and taisted funny turning the whole family off goats milk!
 

mama24

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
474
Reaction score
0
Points
64
Location
North Carolina Piedmont
I'm trying to get colostrum for my friend who does wildlife rescue for fawns. She gets a LOT of fawns every year from idiots who find them and think they're abandoned. Then they don't call anyone till they're half dead. She is usually forced to use colostrum replacer from the feed store, but they are always sick for the first week or so unless she has fresh goat milk for them, which doesn't happen most years.

I think my girl has plenty to share. Her bag is huge and full and hard even after the baby nurses, and still was after I miked yesterday. Mama is from a line of does that typically produces triplets with milk to spare, so she should make plenty. I think she's making too much for just one and is uncomfortable.
 

jmead2003

Just born
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
6
For the homemade milker we got a hand vacuum pump used for bleeding brakes in cars. It has a gauge on top so you know how much pressure you are building. The pump is the most expensive part of the milker being around $35 dollars. Then you will also need a jar with a tight fitting lid. Some small tubing and a syringe. For the syringe we had a 60cc and that was WAY to big for her small teats so we went down to a 35cc and that was perfect. You will drill 2 holes in the lid of the milking jar and put 2 lengths of tubing in to the lid of the jar. Then on 1 of the tubes you hook up the hand pump and on the other tube the syringe. And then to milk put the syringe on the teat and pump until you start to get a flow of milk. The directions we read said not to go past 15 lbs of pressure but we found for our Macy that 8 lbs is just perfect to get the milk coming in a nice stream. If we go any higher she tries to kick it off. A google search for homemade goat milkers should provide with more information if I didn't do very good job explaining!! I know it has worked wonders for us and I love it! And it's nice because the milk is sealed inside the jar you don't have to worry about getting foreign objects in the milk. Oh and just as a side note, you take the plunger out of the syringe so the syringe fits on her teat! :D
 

quiltnchik

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
214
Reaction score
2
Points
71
Location
Harvest Moon Farm - Virginia
jmead2003 said:
For the homemade milker we got a hand vacuum pump used for bleeding brakes in cars. It has a gauge on top so you know how much pressure you are building. The pump is the most expensive part of the milker being around $35 dollars. Then you will also need a jar with a tight fitting lid. Some small tubing and a syringe. For the syringe we had a 60cc and that was WAY to big for her small teats so we went down to a 35cc and that was perfect. You will drill 2 holes in the lid of the milking jar and put 2 lengths of tubing in to the lid of the jar. Then on 1 of the tubes you hook up the hand pump and on the other tube the syringe. And then to milk put the syringe on the teat and pump until you start to get a flow of milk. The directions we read said not to go past 15 lbs of pressure but we found for our Macy that 8 lbs is just perfect to get the milk coming in a nice stream. If we go any higher she tries to kick it off. A google search for homemade goat milkers should provide with more information if I didn't do very good job explaining!! I know it has worked wonders for us and I love it! And it's nice because the milk is sealed inside the jar you don't have to worry about getting foreign objects in the milk. Oh and just as a side note, you take the plunger out of the syringe so the syringe fits on her teat! :D
These types of milkers can destroy udder tissue and ruin the doe over time because they create a steady vacuum, rather than a "sucking action" as a kid would do, so just keep that in mind.

As for milking a doe with small teats, just keep at it. I bought a LaMancha FF a few weeks ago and, at the beginning, it was like milking a mouse! However, since I stuck with it and milk her every day, her teats have elongated and she is MUCH easier to milk.
 

mama24

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
474
Reaction score
0
Points
64
Location
North Carolina Piedmont
Her teats already seemed a little longer today. Still really skinny though! Only took me about 10-15 min to get the same amount I got yesterday in about 45. :) I'm going to keep at it and hopefully start getting more, and getting it more easily.
 

Latest posts

Top