# A set milking schedule?



## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 22, 2020)

So, I’m trying to plan my days around around my milking schedule..but it seems, lots of things, gets in the way.,   Not to bad here or there.  Maybe just a half hour off.  But what do you all do when Sunday dinner rolls around at 4pm...go, then leave, then go back?  After 21 years of being disabled, I’m finally able to go to Pgh for holidays.  Now will milking I won’t...what to you all don’t that? I can’t be the inky farmer withered issues..


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## Mini Horses (May 22, 2020)

Don't know the travel time for you....  

Milk out 2 hrs early...she'll be real full the next AM.   
OR  milk late the morning of and then when you get home, also late.    Just relief for the doe with build-u.   If you have only a couple to milk, it's doable.

You try to stay within a reasonable difference but, the does will survive, they can hold more for that evening.   I feel badly for mine as they are already carrying a heavy load with the quantity.  Carry a gal of milk around for a while!  It becomes real....


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 23, 2020)

Ok, so every Sunday we go to dinner at friends..usually lasts till 8ish...I milk around 5.  Do I need to leave early,.,I don’t want to screw up my does.....chris gets on my case if I’m late..but we go on road trips a ton..and he’s part of th3 problem??!!


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## Mini Horses (May 23, 2020)

I would milk  Sun morn.   Then again when home from dinner.   No they don't like it but will be ok.  Feed in their dish & forgiveness.

This is what is an issue with EVERYONE who milks.....schedules and personal time.   Work it out.   Milk late on Sunday, by flashlight. 

If you milk 4-5 evenings, what time do you milk in AM??  If 12 hrs apart, that would be 4-5 AM  Doubt that is happening.   I  realize they like schedules, also that farms have problems with some schedules.   Stop stressing and think clearly about this....I don't see a problem here with milking on one day at 9-10PM.   For MOST, the evening milk is less volume simply because of the time between YOUR AM & PM.   Think that over and you will settle down.


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 23, 2020)

THANK YOU!  Chris gets sooo uptight about the schedule, because he was raised around dairy farming.  I milk around 8 am..then 5-6 pm.  Sometimes later...all depends on the day...I’ll play with the timing when I kno2 w3 are going somewhere..like tomorrow we are gong to a picnic.  I’ll milk early...so I can milk early too.  yes, I have actually milked with a flashligh5 at 4am last winter in th3 freezing weather..for a very short time.  We took the milkstand out of the barn..don’t even remember why...next day it went back..Chris loved that one!🤣🤣🤣. Those stupid things are heavy!  Luckily we have electricity in the barn. Last week w3 got hung up out of town buying chickens, Didn’t get  hone till 11!. Chris was sooo mad at me, of course 🤣.  Anyways, the girls were ok..I got tons of milk that night, not much in the morning.   Honey has been nursing through the fence with Sugar.  So, sometimes I stall her.  It’s finally nice here, I don’t wan5 to lock up a goat! Sugar will be 6 months in two weeks...what the heck!  She’s shorter but about weighs as much as her mom...and I know it’s from the heavy cream in the milk!!  I’m going to have stick Sufar in th3 house!🤣


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 23, 2020)

Oh, one more thing...Busty is no longer ‘mad at me’ because she’s back at number one..I had put her last in line afte4 she had Penacillin..wanted her milk, last in the bowl. All of you told me she was antsi because she got switched.  So I used a pail for her.  She’s no longer mad!❤️👍. But..I knocked a Honey back to last....she’s being mean to Brandy and Cookie, plus she was giving me such a trouble on the stand.  When Stormy was a bully, you all recommendEd that I put her in her place and separat her so she couldn5 bully?  That seemed to...sorta work..a bit?  Anyways, I decided to tr6 this with Honey.  Brandy is a great milking goat!  She’s still skittish, but considering she came from a huge farm where they called them by #...I think she’s doing great!  After I milk, I hold her in my arms.  Cookie is doing great too.  Anyways, Brandy, stands great, gives a lot, for a small bag...tastes awesome!  On,y time she even moves her hooves is when her feed is gone!  Mini oberhasli is a great milk goat!  I can’t wait to see that bag after F2!


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 25, 2020)

Now the goats are making too much milk.  I’m going to stop mixing grain and give them straight Dumor.  Can I slowly not milk them totally dry...and then when the sales go back up...ramp the milking back up to normal?  I hate to waste the milk.  I’m running out of freezer space.  We’re not keen on the idea of soap yet, plus we have zero time.....so, do I just dump it..  or can I milk less for awhile?


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## Mini Horses (May 25, 2020)

Pigs love milk.  Chickens love milk.  I actually let some clabber for my chickens...it's great for them, also.

Yes, you can bring down quantity but not always get it back up.  So consider using it to replace some feed for other animals.  I know it is hard to even THINK this but, hey, you buy feed for the others and you can replace "some" with the milk.   

I normally have toooooo much milk.    Have a cream separator, so have cream, make butter, etc.   Now, there are things to "learn" to make good butter, like cheeses -- so, consider pig & chicken feed.


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## rachels.haven (May 25, 2020)

Milking at 8 and 8 works for me, although 8 am becomes 7am a lot when I can't sleep so I get up and dressed early.


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## Nommie Bringeruvda Noms (May 27, 2020)

Duckfarmerpa1 said:


> Ok, so every Sunday we go to dinner at friends..usually lasts till 8ish...I milk around 5.  Do I need to leave early,.,I don’t want to screw up my does.....chris gets on my case if I’m late..but we go on road trips a ton..and he’s part of th3 problem??!!



This is so us!! I try to stick as closer to a 12hr routine as I can - but we also have puppies that we're housebreaking, and LIFE happens, so I'm pretty much never out there before 8am, and sometimes not till 10am! Then, I'm out there at 9 or 10pm. This week, we've had 3 of our kids here, from out of state - one brought her fiance, another brought her boyfriend, for us to meet. It's been stinking insane, here (though it has been kinda nice, having a couple guys around, to help set up a better fencing situation, even if they are both total beginners, lol). I think the hard part, for me, has been that Marley's Mother'sDay buckling died, and it was only her 2nd freshening, and she'd never been milked, before. It's also my first time milking a goat - it's not the same as milking a cow! So, she and I are both still working on finding our groove. Hopefully, once the offspring all go (the one daughter and her boyfriend left, yesterday), we can get back to some semblance of normalcy, but hubs is planning 2 possible trips, for this fall. AARGH!! I just wanna stay home, and take care of my critters!


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 27, 2020)

Oh my gosh...I can’t even imagine a trip!!  I’m already stressing about going to Pgh for thanksgiving, because we’ll be gone all day.....I can’t ask anyone to do it....it’d take a week to teach someone how to care for the animals, and then I’d not be able to enjoy myself!  Last year, we didn’t have the kids, or so many pigs, I wasn’t milking.it was easie4 to leave for the day.


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## Nommie Bringeruvda Noms (May 27, 2020)

I've found someone who is fully excited to take care of them, and she's already had loads of experience with her own chickens and ducks, and has helped care for goats, quite a bit, so the only thing I have to teach her is the milking and our routine. Otherwise, I'd either have to either stay home, or dry Marley up - and that is just crazy. Right now, I'm sitting on the ground, to milk her, because she's tiny (Nigora), and I still haven't built my stanchion - so all the grooming & shearing is also done with me sitting on the ground.


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 27, 2020)

Yikes...my hubby built my milk stand..well..not right away, I had to nag him, but he built it, within a few weeks of getting goats.  It makes all of the chores, the shots, the hooves, etc, so much easier.  I do wish I had a tiny head holder for the kids..I can’t do their hooves without holding them, I’m all bruised up..ugh...plus, the shots...ugh..sometimes they flinch and we get, slightly off...ugh....


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## Nommie Bringeruvda Noms (May 28, 2020)

Hubby - a retired chef - was born and raised in the suburbs, never knew farm life. His parents were professionals, so paid others to deal with handyman & mechanical stuff. My upbringing was VERY different - entirely blue collar. I was both 'daddy's little girl' and 'my dad's only son', until he married my step mom, lol. Plus, my step dad was in construction. I used to do all my own auto mechanic work(computerized cars really tick me off, lol), and I've always kept my own power tools, so we do our chores a little differently. Seeing me in work boots, with a tool belt & him in an apron, calling me in to dinner is very common.


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (May 28, 2020)

Oh, that’s soooo funny..I was the ‘rich kid’ in the fancy dance suberbs, with the dad..CEO..etc...Chris was raised...rough and tumble....he was a contractor until 40..,then retired..bought apartments....he loves to make and rebuild old trucks...but, not since we built the farm...oops!  But, he’s the grower...so, we were growing farmers wayyy before I was allowed to get the animals...it all started with a couple of rabbits..poor guy!  When we first met, I could NOT IMAGINE coming up to live on a farm...it was dusty...there was misc. Stuff...around...you know...guy stuff...I was sooo fancy...I would get a little dirty, and run to wash up...🤣🤣🤣🤣. We have a dirt race track...oh geez..anyways...yes...the milking schedule is going much better.  My niece is coming for the afternoon...I politely asked if we should have a lunch picnic, or dinner picnic...so I could find out when to milk🤣🤣❤️❤️🐐🐐🐐


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## Nommie Bringeruvda Noms (May 28, 2020)

Duckfarmerpa1 said:


> Oh, that’s soooo funny..I was the ‘rich kid’ in the fancy dance suberbs, with the dad..CEO..etc...Chris was raised...rough and tumble....he was a contractor until 40..,then retired..bought apartments....he loves to make and rebuild old trucks...but, not since we built the farm...oops!  But, he’s the grower...so, we were growing farmers wayyy before I was allowed to get the animals...it all started with a couple of rabbits..poor guy!  When we first met, I could NOT IMAGINE coming up to live on a farm...it was dusty...there was misc. Stuff...around...you know...guy stuff...I was sooo fancy...I would get a little dirty, and run to wash up...🤣🤣🤣🤣. We have a dirt race track...oh geez..anyways...yes...the milking schedule is going much better.  My niece is coming for the afternoon...I politely asked if we should have a lunch picnic, or dinner picnic...so I could find out when to milk🤣🤣❤❤🐐🐐🐐


Glad it's working out better, now!


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