First... Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you each have a wonderful day tomorrow (for those that celebrate Christmas). I'm just posing a question that has come into my mind this week... what happens if a doe kids without ever being dried off? Lots of times people don't know their doe is pregnant until she goes into labor or a few days before. So, how dangerous or bad is that for the doe?
It is not so bad. . . . but not exactly what you want to do. A doe needs some sort of break from lactating before she starts up a new one. In her best interests, it's best to dry off.
There is always a possibility that milking could induce premature labor, so I always try to get my does' milk production down as low as I can so that I can quit milking that 8 weeks before their due date. I've only had one doe that absolutely would not dry off completely. If that happens the best thing to do is dose them with Tomorrow so they don't get mastitis and then just quit milking them.
