Another question about milking...

[freemotion]

Go ahead and sleep in. It is best if you plan for it, and milk a bit later the night before. My work schedule varies from day to day, and I just try to stay within a 13-14 hour time frame. I try to keep it as close to 12 hours when the doe is at peak production, but it is just not always possible.

I also find that if the animals don't know exactly when I am going to show up, there is less stress and yelling and fighting and such. If you do everything at exactly the same time every day, well, they learn to tell time and will let you know (and the entire neighborhood) if you are five minutes late. It also causes them great stress when the schedule if off, and the spring and fall time changes become a challenge. Not so here. I keep 'em guessing!

 

[iamcuriositycat]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I'm so glad to hear that I'm not doing any harm by being inconsistent in my schedule. I worry that I'm a bad animal mommy because they don't get fed at exactly the same time each day, etc. I have a basic routine, but specific events can occur anywhere from 8:30 to 11:30 on a normal day, up to 5:30 or noon thirty on an extraordinary day. The critters don't get loud unless they see me come outside & I *don't* take care of them. So I try not to do that! lol