feeding and milking

[Ariel301]

Nothing says milking time HAS to be 5 am...Whatever time(s) you choose, it is important to be consistent, try to be around the same time every day.

I've never been an early riser, even as an adult I usually am not out of bed before noon without a good reason. I am a painter, and I prefer to work at night, so I stay up really late. When I milk my goats once a day, I do it in the evening at dinner time, 6-ish. When I do twice a day, I usually do noon and midnight. We put some lights out in the pens and by my milk stand so I can flip them on and see everything. My goats have adapted to my schedule, if I have an odd day where I have to get up early, and I go out to feed them in the early morning, they are all still snoring away and won't get up for hay. I think they like lazy sleepy mornings. Now if only I could train the roosters to do the same...

 

[julieq]

We feed and milk in the morning around 8:00 AM, sometimes a bit earlier. In the winter when it's so cold in the evenings we milk and feed around 6:00 or 7:00 and close up the barn for the night. In stormy situations we've been known to milk at 5:00 PM. During the summer months we milk on more of a 12 hour schedule though.