New to milking. Need help.

[breezy2u]

So I have a dwarf Nigerian that had twins a couple of months ago. They were her first kids so she has never been milked and I wanted the babies to have the milk until they were weaned. But now that they are getting to that point I would like to try to milk her. But I'm totally lost on what I need to do. I tried to just touch her teats while petting her and she didn't like it at all.

How do I train her to let me milk without hog tying her?
What are the minimum supplies needed to milk?
Do I have to sterilize the bucket and the jars I put the milk in?

I'm on a very tight budget so I can't really afford to buy a lot of stuff. I do have a deck that I was thinking of bringing her up on to milk so I can tether her to the railing, but she can still kick and move her butt around.

How much milk should I expect to get from her? Or should I just let this one go and try to get her ready for the next time I breed her?

 

[Latestarter]

I don't own Nigies, I own full sized Lamanchas but the principles are the same... Typically you want to start doing some milking early in the lactation period to maximize the production. If you don't do this, the doe is going to only produce what's required to feed the kid(s) so not full/max production. The longer without milking, the lower production goes. You should ideally start separating the kid(s) from mom overnight and milk mom out in the morning, then let the kid(s) back on her during the day. It doesn't have to be expensive...

All you need is:
A bowl for wash water to clean the udder prior to milking, or you can use baby wipes (costs $). I use hot water, liquid dawn, and a splash of bleach with a wash rag.
A towel to dry off the udder and surrounding area after washing
A (I prefer stainless steel) bowl to milk into
A filtering process for the milk. I started out with a funnel and coffee filters. I now have a legit milk filtering set up.
Something to filter the milk into for storage. I use Ball (or any other brand) glass canning jars. (Glass is best IMHO)

To milk, since you don't have a stanchion (neither do I), just get a clip where you can clip her collar to the fence. You want to clip as high as you can to keep her head up high. This will help with the kicking. After that, it's just going to take time and patience for both of you to get accustomed and form a routine. There will be stepped in milk, debris stomped/kicked into the milk, kicked over/spilled milk, etc. I only milk one side at a time and my milking forearm helps "block" the back leg from coming forward into the milk bowl. I then turn her around and milk her other side.

Your hands are going to get washed and sterilized in the bleach/soap water when cleaning her udder. Once you start milking, be careful to NOT touch things that can contaminate the milk. After milking, you want to get it filtered and chilled as fast as you can. Some use ice baths, ice cream makers, placing the milk in the freezer for a bit, etc. I just filter and get it refrigerated. Milk filters faster and better when fresh/warm. Once chilled it takes much longer to filter. I do not pasteurize my milk, some do. Your choice... read up and make an informed decision.

To milk, you will use your thumb and forefinger to "pinch closed" the top of the teat and then "roll" your other fingers together sequentially from top to bottom of the teat to force the milk inside, out into the bowl. Nigie teats are typically very small. You may have to pinch lightly and "slide" the pinch down the teat to express the milk. The easiest way to learn is to just do it. You'll soon discover which approach works best for you. A Nigie at full production might make a 1/2 gallon to a gallon a day. Typically in your situation you might get anywhere from a cup to a quart... Way too many variables. Let us know how much you got!

@animalmom @Goat Whisperer @Green Acres Farm @Devonviolet or any of the dozens of other goat milkers?

 

[animalmom]

If your pretty doe is not accustomed to having her teats handled you can start desensitizing her by running your hand down and around her udder whenever you pet her. I start doing that with my doelings whenever they are getting some love; scratching the back, rubbing the legs (gets them use to being handled for hoof trimming) and running my hand over their wee teats. Yes you will get some negative reaction from the goat, but given time and YOUR patience the reaction will stop. Rome was not built in a day while your goatie may not have good milk stand manners right now given time she will. She wants to please you but she is a tad confused about sharing her milk with anyone but her babies.

Since you think you can tether her to your railing I'd like to suggest tethering her with 2 leads, one on each side of her neck. This will keep her head mostly in one direction so you only have to deal with the very mobile end. I do this with my bucks since their heads and necks are too big for my milking stand. I clip one lead to the collar and fence and on the opposite side clip another lead to the collar and fence. Works pretty well for me and the guys. You can still move the rear end to where you want but the head is mostly immobile.

You can find plans for building a milking stand on the net. Someone recently posted on BYH a head restraint his friend built from recycled lumber. Milking stands don't have to be store bought...
I think I've attached a pdf from Fias Co Farms that gives good instructions for building one.

Time, patience, some spilt and ruined milk and your doe will become a champ for your family.

Good luck with your pretty girl. Be patient with her. When she kicks or puts her foot in the milk she is not trying to upset you. She just needs time to realize you are not hurting her and her babies are not being deprived.

Did I mention patience? Yep you need patience, lots of patience but the payoff for you is so very worth it.

Please keep us posted on her and your progress!

 

[Devonviolet]

I’m on my way out to “milk” my Falina. Although, i use the term loosely, as i let the twins have all her milk, right now. They are a month and a half and due to circumstances, they only nurse on the stand twice a day.

I have some thoughts and will try to find time to share them later.

I agree with @animalmom and @Latestarter, that you should definitely try to get started milking now and not wait until next go around. I find that if i am seated (on a chair) next to Falina, she is fine with me touching her udder and teats. If i try to touch her when standing and leaning over her, she isn’t as comfortable with me touching her.

Anyway, i need to get outside. Hang in there. We were all novices at one time. I can’t speak for the others, but now it has become second nature, for me, and I actually LOVE to milk my goats.

 

[Devonviolet]

First, a belated welcome to BYH. I see that you joined a little over a year ago, but haven’t been very active. Congratulations on your new kids and your pretty little doe.

@Latestarter was right, that it doesn’t take a lot of expensive equipment to milk goats.

I like to keep chemicals to a minimum, so I use a 1 quart, plastic bowl, with a lid, (from sour cream), to mix a teaspoon of Povodone Iodine, 5 drops of Tea Tree Oil, and a few drops of us unscented dishsoap and about 1-1/2 cups of water. I have 2 dozen cheap wash cloths that I buy at Walmart. So I wash the teats with one. I then use a clean, dry wash cloth to dry the teat, and to wipe excess washing solution off. I also use a small stainless steel bucket/bowl, to catch the milk. When i’m finished milking I pour the milk into quart or half gallon canning jars, I put all that in a plastic, storage box for easy carrying to and from the barn, where i do the milking.

I use a filter, that I got on Jefferspet.com. It is like a canning funnel, with a rim on the bottom opening, and uses a cloth filter held in by a stainless steel ring. The milk does need to be warm (fresh from milking) to go through the filter. If it cools down, the fat clogs the filter.

We built a milk stand, which makes it a lot easier to milk a goat, than having her stand on the ground. Niggies are small goats, so their tummies are fairly close to the ground, making it a bit more difficult to milk them without a milk stand.

Here is a pic of our milk stand:

We used 2x4s, but I’m sure it could be built using wood from pallets, to save a lot of money. You can adjust the height, since Niggies are shorter than our LaMancha’s, which are full size goats. You could also build a small platform, for your does to get on, before getting on the milk stand, to make it easier to get up. Actually, when Falina was pregnant, she tripped getting up on the stand, and doesn’t seem to like jumping up on it since then. So, I had DH build a platform, which she uses to get on and off the milk stand. I have given her the option to just jump off the stand, but she always turns around and uses the platform.

Here is a cute pic of Falina and Hope:

Right now, our kids are pretty much emptying Falina out. Each one takes a side and sucks it dry. When I wash her off, after they are finished, I milk out the little bit that is left - maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup. For me, it’s important to empty her out, for two reasons:

1. Since the kids only nurse twice a day, if milk is left for 12 hours, if there is any bacteria in the udder, it might multiply and over time lead to mastitis.
2. The more milk that is removed, with each milking, the more milk that the doe will make. So, when the kids are weaned, the doe will make plenty of milk, for you to milk out.

As Latestarter said, after 2 months (some people do it sooner), you can start separating the kids at night and milk mama out in the morning. When you put the kids back with mama, in the morning, they will be able to start nursing, and throughout the day they will get plenty of milk. At that stage, in their lives, they are mimicking mama, and are eating grass, weeds and browse. So they will get plenty of nutrition. When you first separate the kids, from their mama, there will likely be a lot of baaing and bellering, from both the kids and mama. They aren’t going to like it, but it does get better. A pair of ear plugs might be in order.

And just a reminder, that it is a good idea to give CDT immunization at one month, with a repeat at two months and then once a year after that. Also, don’t forget to do regular fecal checks for parasites. Many does have parasite blooms after kidding and if they test positive, it is good to give them some kind of dewormer. Some people give scheduled/regular wormings. I prefer to not do that, as it is possible for the parasites to become resistant to a wormer (much as bacteria become resistant to antibiotics). So, I prefer to do fecal exams before giving a dewormer. Then I can give the right dewormer for the parasite that is

As far as how much milk to expect once you start milking full time, after the kids are weaned at about 3 months, I am not a good source for that kind of info. I know @animalmom has Niggies, which she milks, so she would be a good resource for all things Niggie. How much you get will depend on if you milk once or twice a day.

Okay, it’s my bedtime. Morning comes way too early, and we have been very busy lately, so we need to get an early start, to get things accomplished.

 

[breezy2u]

If your pretty doe is not accustomed to having her teats handled you can start desensitizing her by running your hand down and around her udder whenever you pet her. I start doing that with my doelings whenever they are getting some love; scratching the back, rubbing the legs (gets them use to being handled for hoof trimming) and running my hand over their wee teats. Yes you will get some negative reaction from the goat, but given time and YOUR patience the reaction will stop. Rome was not built in a day while your goatie may not have good milk stand manners right now given time she will. She wants to please you but she is a tad confused about sharing her milk with anyone but her babies.

Since you think you can tether her to your railing I'd like to suggest tethering her with 2 leads, one on each side of her neck. This will keep her head mostly in one direction so you only have to deal with the very mobile end. I do this with my bucks since their heads and necks are too big for my milking stand. I clip one lead to the collar and fence and on the opposite side clip another lead to the collar and fence. Works pretty well for me and the guys. You can still move the rear end to where you want but the head is mostly immobile.

You can find plans for building a milking stand on the net. Someone recently posted on BYH a head restraint his friend built from recycled lumber. Milking stands don't have to be store bought...
I think I've attached a pdf from Fias Co Farms that gives good instructions for building one.

Time, patience, some spilt and ruined milk and your doe will become a champ for your family.

Good luck with your pretty girl. Be patient with her. When she kicks or puts her foot in the milk she is not trying to upset you. She just needs time to realize you are not hurting her and her babies are not being deprived.

Did I mention patience? Yep you need patience, lots of patience but the payoff for you is so very worth it.

Please keep us posted on her and your progress!

Thank you so much for the plans! I have some extra pallets lying around so I think I will try to make one!

 

[breezy2u]

Update

So I finally got the nerve up and brought her up on the deck last night. I rigged a feed bin at head level and tied the leash to the rail. I washed her udders and trimmed her feet while she snacked on sunflower seeds. When it came time to milk she did not like it one bit and fought me the whole time. I ended up only getting about a tablespoon of milk. But she is a huge fan of the sunflower seeds and came back to the bin after I let her off the leash, so I think I may be able to bribe her into eventually sitting still.

Unfortunately I can't really separate her from the kids. They all live together in their little house in their little yard. But I figure eventually the kids will stop nursing so as long as I am getting a little bit of milk now and getting her used to it I'm ok with waiting.

I got some hair in the milk. Is that what the filtering is for?

 

[Latestarter]

Yup... hair primarily, sometimes bits of yard dirt that might drop off her belly or sides into the bowl... If she kicks, she may knock bits off her hooves that fly into the milk.

Just remember that while you are "training" your goat, she will be attempting to train YOU! She will try to get away from what she doesn't understand/like/want to accept, for as long as you allow it. If you quit or give up, she wins. Remember also that when she starts weaning the kids, she will also start decreasing her production, so if you aren't milking her (more than a tablespoons worth), she will end up drying herself off and neither you nor the kids will be having her milk. I recommend that when you DO set out to milk her, that you milk her out completely. That way she has to produce more to feed her kid and it will "force" her to maintain production. Don't worry... the kid(s) will not starve and will get the milk they need.