how many of you have milkers & are on test? also how many of the dairy folks show? right now i am still milking 5 but getting ready to dry them off. i just love the taste of there milk & hate when i have to buy store bought (yuk)
We currently have 9-10 does we're milking by hand, I hope to be on test next year or the year after, we'll see. We will only be milking one through this winter, my hands are tired from milking through last, LOL We make cheese and sell the milk. I'd rather go without milk than drink any milk from the store, goat or cow.
what breeds do you both have? boy i have to use a machine on mine. my hands would not take milking them. i have carpal tunnel so have to use the machine. when i was milking 6 i was getting between 5 to 6 gals a day but three of them were first freashners.
Right now, we're milking mainly LaManchas with one Alpines, they all average 7.5 lbs, even the does that we are milking through. We have a machine, but the new barn doesn't have eletricity set up yet. My mom has CTS too and she found out about this thing called Trigger Point Therapy. Hers was so bad we almost sold all the goats. After she found out about this, she very little pain now. In your muscles, you have certain points that will contract and form a knot, blocking the normal flow of things. If you massage the knots you find on your muscles it helps to release them and relieve wherever the pain is.
thanks i also have fibromyalgia & that is what i have to do when they get real bad. it does help. that is a good amount of milk from your does this time of year. i have started milking mine once a day & will dry them off next month.
I'm so glad to have Erin her ein milk for that reason! Now, if I can just get that darn hen house done I can stop buying eggs too. :x I would love to be on test but I'm having a really hard time finding someone willing to be my tester in my area. I keep trying though. Kristen
Well, my goats are all dairy breeds (nigerians and an Alpine)... but they're boys... so I don't think I'll be milking them anytime soon.
I over heard a few of my friends trying to persuade a VERY gullible girl that milk was actually cow pee. She fell for it to and said " No wonder it tastes so weird!" lol.
GSFarm now that's just mean thing do!! :lol: :twisted: Fritzie, our girls aren't on a test. There is a possibility that one of the shows we are going to next year is going to have a one day milking test and we would like to do that. Oh, and we have Nubians!
Chelsey, Doesn't the AGS(is that where yours are registered?) have DHI herd averages? The ADGA does, and they will tell you how many herds with a certain breed are on test, the average production with the highest and lowest production of each breed. Sarah, I don't have a lot of patience but with dairy farming, it's more about work ethic to tell you the truth. It's A LOT of work, but I'm happy with it
We went to a seminar at the AGS nationals and the teacher (Gail Putcher - Gay-Mor) was the one who said there was 35 farms on test. I don't know ANYTHING about the DHI herd averages
http://adga.org/DHIR/06breed_lactation_averages.htm There's one for '06, from the ADGA. I don't know if AGS has those or not.
dover farms. you can always go on owner samler with adga also. if i can't get a tester down here that is what i am going to do next year. muddy creek i think that you will find each year more nigis being on test with adga. you can get some really high records with them.
Yeah, we thought about that. It wouldn't be a bad idea, but I seem to recall that you had to have a certain scale....and those certain scales were very expencive if I remember right! :shock: :roll: :lol:
I freshen between five and ten does a year. We milk by hand. More one on one time with the does i think. We are not on milk test as of now...maybe some day. But we do show. Usually three to five shows a year and a fair or two. beth
