[janeen128]

My kinder doe Peppermint gave birth to a single little girl yesterday. Although the kid is sucking on her, and I know she is getting what she needs Peppermint still seems pretty tight. Should I milk her out some, or do I just leave her? I'm planning to separate baby from mom at night in 2 weeks and milk her in the morning, but that's 2 weeks.... What would you guys do?

 

[Scottyhorse]

How much does she produce, do you know? Usually people wait the two weeks like you are planning, but taking 1/2 cup or so might not be bad. I personally would just wait, as the kid gets older, she will drink more. Plus, you don't want to take too much, so I would just leave her be

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

I milk out halfway when they are too full. Babies that age also don't nurse as much or at all when the udders are too tight.
I would milk halfway out, and save the milk, or feed it to the kids.

 

[Scottyhorse]

What's your opinion on milking out a bit before they go into labor? They bag up soo much, and it looks so uncomfortable...

 

[TDG-Farms]

1/3 to 1/2 milk out the first 2 or 3 days. I dont know about smaller goaties but you can send a dairy goat into milk fever by milking em out right after they kid.

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

I always milk some out as soon as they kid. I wait until all the kids are out before I milk her though. Just on the off chance that she has a billion babies and I took too much milk, and have to grab a bottle

But say with my doe peeps, my cow disguised as a goat, I milk her out at least halfway right when she kids. Even if she had 20 kids, she could feed them all the first week.
With my heavy milkers I can take away a gallon, and leave a gallon for the kids.

Why I do that is so I always have a few gallons of colostrum and milk in the freezer in case I need it for other kids, puppies, calves, foals, kittens, piglets, etc. You never know what's gonna happen at my Murphy farm.

 

[janeen128]

I milked her out a tiny bit yesterday about an hour after she kidded, it was only about 6 oz. when I milked her when I first got her she gave about 18-24oz. I think I will just milk her some tomorrow morning... as she looks so uncomfortable.... I might do that for couple days... Just a tiny bit for relief... Thanks for the info everyone....

 

[janeen128]

What's your opinion on milking out a bit before they go into labor? They bag up soo much, and it looks so uncomfortable...

I was tempted to with Peppermint, but I think that is bad for the goat. I waited until after she kidded to milk her some...

 

[ptgoats45]

I know several breeders that milk their does out when they go into labor. They do it so the doe doesn't have to labor on a huge udder, the only "problem" I can see is milking releases oxytocin which will cause contractions, so if the kids are stuck you wouldn't want to cause your doe to contract any more than normal. Also, I always like to milk them after they have the kids to help induce contractions which helps them pass the afterbirth and completely clean out.

With your doe, I would milk her out until she is fairly soft, she will have enough milk for the single but it will keep her from being uncomfortable. Does the kid nurse both sides? Sometimes with does that are full, the kid will only nurse one side because they get what they need from the one side. If you keep her milked out so that she isn't too full on both sides the kid will have to switch sides to get enough milk.

 

[ksalvagno]

Do you plan on milking this girl? If you are going to milk her, then you need to milk her out. She is going to lose production if you don't. Plus, you could have saved the colostrum if you milked her out the first day in case of emergencies.

 

[janeen128]

Do you plan on milking this girl? If you are going to milk her, then you need to milk her out. She is going to lose production if you don't. Plus, you could have saved the colostrum if you milked her out the first day in case of emergencies.

Yes, I am going to milk her. I did save the colostrum from the first day.

 

[ksalvagno]

I would be milking her out daily. If it doesn't taste good right now, then feed it to the chickens or something. But some girls lose production fast and it doesn't come back. You don't want to lose production on the side the little one isn't nursing on.

 

[janeen128]

Okay, that makes sense... I did milk her out this morning... I should say until she was soft.. but I'll milk her out tonight...