# How much milk does a Purebred Lamancha give per day?



## MrsCountryChick (Oct 26, 2009)

I have yet to have my Registered Lamancha kid but was wondering what experience anyone has had with their Purebred Lamancha's producing?. I know it differs from goat to goat, but I was wondering how much less milk than I can expect Vs my Registered Saanen.? 

I'm wondering if it would take 2 of my Lamancha girls in milk to equal the milk of my Saanen?


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## Roll farms (Oct 26, 2009)

Unless you have a LaMancha from the worst milking line in history, you should get comparable amounts, maybe only pints less.
If you have the best milking lines, she may outdo your Saanen.

DAIRY goats *should* all produce around the same amount, Nubs being on the slightly less side, Saanen on the slightly more side.

BUT...that depends on the lines they're from.  Some folks care about pretty udders and ribbons, some folks care about putting it in the bucket, and few does can do both.


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## kimmyh (Oct 26, 2009)

I agree, their production is determined by genetics and feed. Over all knowing how much milk the LaMancha will produce is like asking what the mileage is for a 1999 Ford Escort. The answer will be all over the map.


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## no nonsense (Oct 26, 2009)

kimmyh said:
			
		

> I agree, their production is determined by genetics and feed. Over all knowing how much milk the LaMancha will produce is like asking what the mileage is for a 1999 Ford Escort. The answer will be all over the map.


Exactly. It's like asking how much an adult man will weigh. Impossible to answer accurately, given all the possible variables.


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## MrsCountryChick (Oct 27, 2009)

I was just curious being as our Lamancha Does are are a little shorter in height & length. & our Saanen just seems like a Moose compared to their more streamlined slightly smaller Lamancha bodies. But my Saanen is older & kidded twice before, where my Lamancha Does all but 1 will be 1st fresheners.


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## Roll farms (Oct 27, 2009)

'Nother thing...The fact that they're registered won't put milk in the bucket.
I've got an unregistered Saanen x Nubian who outdoes everyone here, Nubs, Obs, Toggs, etc.
You can literally register any kid out of any registered sire.  That does not mean it SHOULD be registered, is worth breeding, or will make it a good milker.
I've seen registered animals of every species that should have been culled.  A lot of folks hear "registered" and ASSume it means "good".

Judge the GOAT and how it performs, not the papers, b/c the goats can't read them.


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## lilhill (Oct 27, 2009)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> 'Nother thing...The fact that they're registered won't put milk in the bucket.
> I've got an unregistered Saanen x Nubian who outdoes everyone here, Nubs, Obs, Toggs, etc.
> You can literally register any kid out of any registered sire.  That does not mean it SHOULD be registered, is worth breeding, or will make it a good milker.
> I've seen registered animals of every species that should have been culled.  A lot of folks hear "registered" and ASSume it means "good".
> ...


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## MrsCountryChick (Oct 27, 2009)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> 'Nother thing...The fact that they're registered won't put milk in the bucket.
> A lot of folks hear "registered" and ASSume it means "good".
> Judge the GOAT and how it performs, not the papers,


I was '_mentioning_' they were registered just so in my posting as to say I was comparing an average milk from two different sized Dairy animals.... 
(that I don't have a NonMilking breed milking mixed in like a Pygmy or Boar goat.)

& Yes mixes are Wonderful too,...... MissPrissy has Saanen/Nubian Crosses that are GREAT milking Goats who are Dreams in the milk pail.

I was asking cuz Tonz of people here have Dairy Goats, & many have specifically the breeds I was questioning milk production on.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Oct 28, 2009)

my lamancha outmilked my sanaan every stinkin' day! so i dont think you'll need two to equal the sanaan


the thing i liked better about my la mancha was that she is much much much more efficient with her feed to milk conversion (is there such a thing!?!). i felt like i had to stand there and pour feed and hay into the sanaan and the la mancha would just eat and then milk like the dickens

and while my sanaan would recline like cleopatra being fanned with palm fronds waiting for me to bring her hay... my la mancha actually got off her duff and would graze in the pasture. 

and yes the la manchas seem to be smaller - but i know a guy who has one that is a bit bigger than his sanaans! she looks like a giraffe!

as far as personality goes, we like the la manchas better. they are quiet and well behaved and not drama queens. but thats just us

good luck!


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## MrsCountryChick (Oct 28, 2009)

ohiofarmgirl said:
			
		

> the thing i liked better about my la mancha was that she is much much much more efficient with her feed to milk conversion (is there such a thing!?!). i felt like i had to stand there and pour feed and hay into the sanaan and the la mancha would just eat and then milk like the dickens


Yes my Saanen is quite a MOOOOOse, lol.  But she was our 1st dairy goat & so she'll never go anywhere even if she's not fresh for milking. (she'll be dry this coming year). But since she was our 1st dairy goat & she largest in size & the only one with ears at all,  she's quite full of herself & very confident as Top Doe. But the way hubby likes Lamanchas I dunno how large our herd will get. --but hey he's participating in the farming, so I can't complain.  I was only wondering about the milk production due to the fact we have 3 Lamancha Does that 'can' be bred to our Lamancha Buck..... but I don't wanna have nothing 'But' milk in the frig in the spring.  I do have a Lamancha fresh now but we bought her recently & so she's towards the end of her milking & only milking 4 cups a day. & it seems no-one we've encountered measures the milk to know how much their does really produce at all. :/



			
				ohiofarmgirl said:
			
		

> as far as personality goes, we like the la manchas better. they are quiet and well behaved and not drama queens. but thats just us
> 
> good luck!


Yes we have far better personalities with our Lamanchas too, even our Buck & Buckling are the sweetest & friendliest. Too bad so many people say they can't get by the no ear thing. But I can't say much I like the No ear thing & dislike the longer bit of ears some have. Those just look like their ears were in a terrible accident. 

Thanks for your info ohiofarmgirl.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Oct 28, 2009)

no problem! i'm here to spread the la mancha love! honestly we got better results when we made cheese from the LM also...i think they are a great breed.



> too bad so many people say they can't get by the no ear thing


and i KNOW! whats the deal with the ear thing??? we think they look like funny little aliens. and yes we've been asked if we:

1. cut the ears off on purpose
2. they got frost bitten on their ears

no no no... they are supposed to be that way. 

our big ol' sanaan is at the breeders and i have to say we miss her being the Boss Goat, sassy as she is.

only 4 cups sounds like she is starting to wind down.. is she on lush hay?? i had the hardest time drying my gal out. after being worried all summer if i was even hourr late for milking... it took me almost 6 weeks for her to be dry! sheesh!

good luck!


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## MrsCountryChick (Oct 29, 2009)

Yea crazy how Lamanchas are the sweetest personality of goats, but get overlooked the most from what we've experienced. 

We were at a sale & heard people commenting "Awe look at that one's poor ears, that poor thing"...........they were probably assuming abuse for the resulting 'no ear' look. But I didn't have 5 min to explain their ears were perfectly fine & natural on a Lamancha. Poor breed is so misunderstood by non goat people.

When my husband's boss seen a photo of our baby buckling he immediately recognize how he was a "Cute Lamancha"....(he had a grandfather who raise some when he was a child). But sadly he remembers ---unlikable goaty milk--. I think some people just don't understand to milk away from smells, & it gives goats a bad wrap too. :/ That people think goat's milk has to 'taste bad.' So far tho he hasn't talked his wife into the idea of lil Lamancha kid to add to thier animal family........yet. 

Yes our Doe is on Good quality hay. But dispite that still milks 2 cups twice per day. But I'd like her to get fully used to the milk stand we have, & get better at her slight "tail tuck crouch" when I milk her before she's dried off. She doesn't do that real bad, but it's just a challenging quirk to work out. I told my husband either someone was milking into a dixie cup & was helping to 'get closer' or she had really, really short kids.


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## kimmyh (Oct 29, 2009)

If she is tucking her tail and crouching she is afraid. All milking does need goat grain along with a good quality hay/alfalfa/alfalfa pellets.


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## MrsCountryChick (Oct 29, 2009)

kimmyh said:
			
		

> If she is tucking her tail and crouching she is afraid. All milking does need goat grain along with a good quality hay/alfalfa/alfalfa pellets.


That's what's weird, she's not tucking her tail down or under at all, it's fully up. It's like she has someone leaning on her bum a little.... not to a huge extent, & she's getting better with every milking. 

Yes she gets her ration of Dairy goat grain, that she's fed in the stanchion while she's milked. & they get good quality alfalfa hay. We researched goats for a little over a year before even getting them. & read the book Storey's Guide to Dairy Goats... I grew up in the country raising horses, but goats were a whole new thing, so we wanted to make sure we were covering all bases of care & ownership, you can never have too much information.  

And she's not afraid of anything or situation, & is fine with anything that needs done, even stands like a Pro for hoof trimming... wish my Huge Saanen was as easy for her hoof trims.  She's not even a 1st freshener either, just a quirk I guess.


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## freemotion (Oct 29, 2009)

Mine crouches when I start to milk.  Her tail is not tucked, though, and she is definitely not afraid.  But even if she is standing so that her teats are behind her leg, when I start to wash her udder, she goes into the crouch.  It really makes milking much easier.


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## MrsCountryChick (Oct 29, 2009)

freemotion said:
			
		

> Mine crouches when I start to milk.  Her tail is not tucked, though, and she is definitely not afraid.  But even if she is standing so that her teats are behind her leg, when I start to wash her udder, she goes into the crouch.  It really makes milking much easier.


Yea that sounds like what mine does. She stands fine, but as soon as I start to wash her she does that slight 'crouch' stance. I mean she'll even move the inside of her leg slightly outward (as she's used to getting each side washed) but just does the crouch thing. Funny thing is after I'm done & stand up she immediately stands normally.  Atleast it's not just mine that does this.  But since this was her 2nd freshening (we got her not too long ago already freshened) I assumed this was just her habit.


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## freemotion (Oct 29, 2009)

My brother milked when I was a kid, and this is my own first dairy goat.   I am thinking/hoping that this is normal behavior and that they all do this!  I am preparing my doeling by handling her udder and she crouches, too, now.  She is seven months.  She goes onto the milking stand like a dream.  I hope to get her bred later this winter, to my new LaMancha buckling.


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## MrsCountryChick (Oct 30, 2009)

I before this Doe have only had my Saanen as a milking dairy goat & she just stands as she would regularly to be milked. No different stance at all. So this was new to me to have this Doe do this. But she's used to being handled in all areas. & it's not so bad that she's sitting like a dog or anything, so I figure it's just her thing. But I know it must make her back hurt a bit slouching in the slight crouch like that. Thank goodness I'm an experienced hand milker or her back would Really be sore.  If I touch her back even for a light hand pat, she stands up straightening her back like normal.  

Good Luck with your breeding.  & I myself don't worry about her milking 'quirk', since it doesn't hurt her. Just thought it was a bit odd.  Maybe your Does and mine are related.


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## Roll farms (Oct 30, 2009)

Some of mine crouch on the stand, some don't.  
It seems to us that it's the more dairy-type does that do it.
We put every goat on the stand to trim hooves / medicate / get used to being touched in the udder area from a young age.
My husband swears if a dry doe does crouches when he touches her there, she'll make an easy milker and so far he's been right every time....?  
That's not science, that's his redneck luck.


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## freemotion (Oct 30, 2009)

Wow, so interesting.  I hope your redneck is right, because I love my little Ginger Peach and hope this means she will be a good milker!

Don't worry about her back being sore from crouching.  I am a massage therapist and instructor and I work with people and horses....people's backs are compressed from being upright.  The four-legged animals backs are in a state of suspension, like a bridge.  They have their "issues" in their hips, shoulders, and legs.  So her back will be just fine.

Your's might get sore from milking, however!


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## MrsCountryChick (Nov 1, 2009)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> My husband swears if a dry doe does crouches when he touches her there, she'll make an easy milker and so far he's been right every time....?
> That's not science, that's his redneck luck.


Wow I hope he is right I have 2 dry 18month does that when touched, do a slight crouch too... so that's be great if his "redneck luck" is right. 




			
				freemotion said:
			
		

> ...people's backs are compressed from being upright.  The four-legged animals backs are in a state of suspension, like a bridge.  They have their "issues" in their hips, shoulders, and legs.  So her back will be just fine.
> 
> Your's might get sore from milking, however!


What luck they have. :/ It's not the milking, it'll be from stall cleaning.  Why on some Non-rainy days does everyone wanna hang inside & poo over half the day.?!  Just my luck. :/


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