# Nigerian dwarf udder/teat question



## imtc (Sep 8, 2011)

Does anyone have a photo of their Nigerian dwarf's udder NOT in their first freshening?  Mine kidded in May and was giving me nearly a quart every morning but now it's down to less than 2 cups (maybe even less than 1 &1/2).  I haven't been able to sell her buckling yet so he is with her during the day where I can only milk her in the morning after separating them overnight. I now have a lamancha with awesome teats who is a dream to milk and have gotten rather frustrated with the amount of milk and the size of my Nigerian. (definitely not as easy to milk little teats). I know she should produce more on her next kidding but will she also get larger teats too?  Would like to see photos of what a good nigerians milking udder should look like on the average. 
Thanks


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## jmsim93 (Sep 24, 2011)

I am bumping this because I would like to see some replies as well.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 24, 2011)

The teats can get bigger with time and milking but will not be as large as a full size dairy goat. Also orifice size plays a HUGE role in ease of milking. I have a Nigerian with pretty small teats but her orifices are so large that she is a dream to milk.  Orifice size won't change with milking. What you have is what you have. Amounts of milk should get larger with each freshening too.

I'm milking a doe now that has freshened a second time. Her teats are a good amount bigger than last year and she is much easier to milk but she has normal size orifices and she still isn't as easy to milk as my large orifice, small teat female.


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## nmred (Sep 24, 2011)

Mine kidded in May and was giving me nearly a quart every morning but now it's down to less than 2 cups (maybe even less than 1 &1/2).  

Is this a normal amount?  I have been considering getting a few ND so that I can have milk year round.  Right now I have 2 nubians and, since breeding season is soon here, know that I will only have milk for a couple more months.  I was planning on breeding the ND's opposite season so that they would be in full milk when the nubians are drying off and dry.  The lady I'm thinking of getting them from said she gets a quart a milking.  Is that just at the top of the lactation curve and then this amount is what it drops down to?  

After reading this thread I'm beginning to rethink this.  Any advice would be helpful to me as well as the OP.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 24, 2011)

It really depends on the doe. Probably in general, the ND's don't produce for as long since they haven't been asked to. But more and more people are working on longer lactations and more milk. But if you want one of those does, then you will probably pay more for them. I would ask the woman that you are thinking of getting the doe from if the quart of milk is at peak or during the whole time. I have 2 girls that were still giving me a quart a day when I dried them off but I also had a couple of FF's that dropped off from a quart per day.


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## imtc (Sep 24, 2011)

I was assuming my milking amount dropped because of stress to my doe.  She was giving me close to a quart every morning as I stated in my original post.  She kidded May 3rd and I waited about a week before starting to milk her.  I was getting nearly a quart every morning from that date until I brought her to my friend's ranch around the 21's of June while our family went on vacation for 2 weeks.  My friend has dairy goats herself and was the one who taught me how to milk so definately knows what she's doing and milked her daily while we were gone, yet she immediately dropped production by half.  I got her back home July 3rd and have continued milking every morning as usual assuming (or hoping) her production would pick back up since she was back in her own environment.  As of today (9/24) it has not increased AT ALL.  I am not even getting 2 cups per milking and her teats seem so much smaller than they were before so are also getting more difficult to milk.  I am planning to breed her again but would like to know if I should give up milking for this freshning since the amount doesn't seem worth the hassle.  Would I mess up her production memory for next time around if I quit too early?  Do they even have a production memory, so to speak, where she will follow a pattern from previous freshnings (if that made any sense)?  
So my dilema now is if I should I continue milking or just give it up this round?


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## Livinwright Farm (Sep 25, 2011)

Okay, you want to see some good udders/teats..?
http://www.dragonfly.jmkarohl.com/pages/GoatPages/SummerBlonde.html

http://www.dragonfly.jmkarohl.com/pages/GoatPages/Kestrel.html

Edited To Add: Yes, quitting milking early can cause production issues for further freshenings.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 25, 2011)

I have a 5 year old Nigerian that was never milked until this year. Her previous owner didn't milk and let her dry up naturally after weaning her kids at 8-12 weeks. She ended up being one of my better producers continuing to give me around a quart a day when I started drying her up. In fact she was my hardest one to dry up. So I think stopping now and drying her up would be fine. Yes, maybe it is better to do that full 305 days but I found with my 5 year old that that simply wasn't true for her. 

I also had an FF that got sick this summer and production dropped. She picked up a little but never got back to full capacity. I think between the heat and everything, it just wasn't going to happen. I went ahead and dried her up. Her mom milks 1/2 gallon a day with kids on her so I'm not worried about future milking because I didn't milk her for 305 days.

Sometimes you have to look at more than just milking her for 305 days and take your chances. If she comes from good milking lines, then I wouldn't expect problems later on.


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## imtc (Sep 25, 2011)

Livinwright,
I guess she wouldn't totally be dried up since her buckling is still on her if that makes a difference. I just haven't been able to sell him yet probably due to the drought around here. I might try milking again once he's gone just to keep something going. Thanks for all the replies. I'm new at this. :0)


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