Too Much Milk

I was not expecting to have to be milking right now. But here I am having to milk two to three times a day. I am putting Collette's doelings in a separate pen at night then milking her in the morning before turning them back in with her during the day. Calico is producing way too much milk for her twin bucklings and I am having to relieve some of the pressure, they are also only nursing on one side.

Collette did really well with her first milking. I put the hobbles on her with no problem. When I put the syringe barrel on the first teat and she tried to kick, it lifted her whole back side up off of the milking stand and dropped her off of the table.

This was something that has always scared me because I was afraid that it might break a goat's neck if they were latched into the neck stantion or stanchion (however you spell it).

She fell off the milk stand on the opposite side of the table from where I was sitting. I jumped up and ran around the milking stand to find that she had already recovered herself and was eating her grain. She had her hobbled hind feet on the ground, her front feet up on the stand, her neck fastened in the stantion with her nose buried in the grain, typical goat.

I had to unhobble her, release her from the stantion, tug and pull until I got her nose out of the grain and then reload her onto the stand. From there the milking went very smoothly, she decided that kicking with a set of hobbles on was not a good idea. She learns very quickly.

Right now while I am typing this I am tasting Collette's milk for the first time. Her milk does not have nearly as much cream in it, as Calico's does. It is more homogenized and it tastes totally different. It is very good just tastes different. All goat's milk tastes different from goat to goat. You should always taste the milk of a freshened milk goat that you are thinking about buying.

I have been letting Calico run loose in the yard with her babies. She comes to the door and cries until I come out. She then runs and loads herself onto the milking stand and makes me milk her when her udder gets tight and heavy. She is producing enough milk for us, the dogs, the cat and her babies. I have been having to milk her twice a day but as the bucklings are getting bigger they are taking more and I am only having to milk her once per day, whether she likes it on not.