# Freshen or Run-through? Pros & Cons of each



## Yashar (Nov 26, 2010)

I have been talking with a friend who thinks that breeding does every year puts less of a demand on them than milking through a season without breeding or drying them off. She says the several months of not milking outweighs the cost of making, delivering, and the large output at time of freshening.
I would think that running them trough would put less of a demand on them (less milk but for a longer time). 
I experimented this last year and it seems as though it were the case in my situation. 
I have Alpines, they have a long lactation gene, so I've read, and will produce milk for many years as long as you continue to milk them.

But, I was wondering what others had knowledge about in regards to this topic.

Experiential wisdom would be the most appreciated.


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## warthog (Nov 26, 2010)

I have no experience on this topic but


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## ksalvagno (Nov 26, 2010)

I'm no expert by my Alpine milked for 22 months straight and I'm still trying to dry her off. She is bred but a year was skipped. I don't see why it would matter if they are bred every year or you skip some years and keep milking. I would think the biggest thing would be nutrition and husbandry. You may have to be careful how many years are in between breedings since I have heard it can be very difficult to get a female pregnant who hasn't been bred in a long time. But I would think skipping a year or two and just milking through would be fine.


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## Mea (Nov 26, 2010)

Personal opinion only.....

  I would think that breeding yearly would be physically more taxing on a doe's body than milking thru.  She has to supply the unborn kids with nutrients first, her own body needs second.  Then the stress of early lactation, when the doe is really cranking out the milk, takes a toll on the doe.  Quite a few run themselves down in condition by putting it all into the milk pail.

  Our does, when milked thru... aren't milking at top capicity that entire time... they pass peak,... production naturally drops off,... and they level out.   Then one has to watch out or they start packing the weight on .   They can get quite rotund even on hay ! lol.

   This has been my experience. YMMV.


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## chandasue (Nov 27, 2010)

I was told by someone with a lot of experience that it's easier on them to milk through rather than kid annually. I plan to do this in the future once I get a standard dairy goat. I have ND's right now that I have to not only breed yearly but I alternate times of the year that the two are bred just to get milk year round. Trouble is, the second doe was not a good milker so I'm out of milk until next spring.   The other problem with breeding that much is finding homes for so many kids. I ended up selling way under price to get rid of them because the market here is getting flooded with the lil' buggers. If your have a solid market for kids they would certainly help pay for feed and such. I'm not so lucky here in central MN and for me it makes sense to take my herd plan in another direction and that will include milking through. JMO though.


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## freemotion (Nov 27, 2010)

I'm milking my Alpine through this year as she was very unwilling to dry off last winter, like Karen's doe.  It was agony for both of us.  I don't feed her much grain (just a bit of sprouted oats right now) but she still gives me 2.5-3 quarts a day, occasionally a bit more.

My other doe, a first-freshener, dried up within minutes it seemed when I simply mentioned the idea. 

It will be wonderful to have access to fresh milk every day without a break and without using frozen milk this year.


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## Dreaming Of Goats (Nov 28, 2010)

I think breeding them each year is better because in addition to the milk, you get cute little baby goats which bring in more money. Plus, baby goats are great little things. JMO....


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## Yashar (Nov 28, 2010)

Thanks for the responses.

One thing I was also wondering about, in this vein of topic, was rate of growth.

Would running thru cause slowed or stunted growth for any reason?

In other words, would the few months of dry time be a necessary factor in growth?

Just trying to get the pros and cons.


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## ksalvagno (Nov 28, 2010)

Do you mean growth of the female or growth of the kids?


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## Yashar (Nov 28, 2010)

Growth of the female.

Although I also heard kids are stronger when the female is given a chance to build up here reserves (by not kidding every year).


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## ksalvagno (Nov 28, 2010)

Honestly, a lot of that depends on how you care for them. Are you giving them quality feed. When did you start breeding the female. I have a 9 year old alpaca who gives birth every year. I keep meaning to give her a year off but it just doesn't seem to happen. She does very well anyway. I like to keep her slightly over conditioned and I have no problems keeping weight on her. I buy high quality hay and feed. I keep my pastures well kept. I make sure she is properly wormed. Next year without question she is getting time off. 

I also have another alpaca who I have to give breaks to between birthing. She is a heavy milker like her mom (above alpaca) but I just can't keep weight on her. So I pretty much breed her every other year. I do the same things with her, quality hay and feed, proper worming but she just loses condition much easier.

My Alpine who went 22 months of milking was very underweight when I first got her. She was fed poor quality hay and wasn't given enough feed to compensate for all the milk she was giving. Not to mention that her housing was poor and she couldn't fully get out of the elements. She was 95 pounds when I first got her and she is now 133 pounds. This is with milking twice a day and now she is pregnant.

I really think all of that depends on each individual goat as well as the quality of care they are being given. You have to decide what will work best for you. My Nigerians will be bred every year but I'm planning to breed my Alpine every other year at minimum. But everything will depend on each individual goat and how they are doing physically as to what I will do with them.


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## freemotion (Nov 28, 2010)

Yup, if she isn't too young when bred the first time, is a reasonable size to start with, she should be growing during the pregnancy and that first lactation...if she is fed well.  Then she really should be pretty much full grown by the second pregnancy.  

But things happen and sometimes a doe gets behind.  My general policy with all my animals is to evaluate each individual and make each decision the best I can based on that.

It also depends on your goals and what you are doing with your goats...do they need to support themselves with kids to sell?  Are they mostly pets and you don't want the heartache of selling off kids every year?  Do you want milk 12 months of the year?

Either breeding each year or milking through and breeding every other year has its pros and cons.  You can make it work to the does' advantage either way...you just have to pay closer attention to nutrition and possible depletion if you breed every year and make sure you stay right on top of all health factors like mineral deficiencies and worm loads and such. 

The doe I am milking through this year was a starving, pregnant rescue when I got her and she caught up so well that I bred her again the following season and have a nice doeling from her that I can't wait to get started milking in the spring.


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