What Do I Need To Start Milking My Goats??

[Smith360]

Hello everyone! So right now I'm getting my finances all figured out so I can afford a few Nigerian Dwarfs to get milk, butter, soap etc. So far so good! Right now I'm figuring out what equipment I will need. I've figured filters, a mini pail, and what else? And what do I need to just process the milk right after milking? Basically I'm a complete newbie to all this and its a bit overwhelming.

 

[babsbag]

You really don't need much to milk just a few. I started off with a mini filter and a stainless steel milking pail that was covered, it had a half moon opening for milking into. I washed my goats udders with water and a squirt of Dawn dish soap and bleach, I used white rags as I don't like paper towels for washing and drying. I used the same solution for a teat dip after milking and used a little plastic cup to pour the teat dip into and then just stuck it up under the goat. I didn't even have a strip cup at first, I used a plastic bowl and just squirted the first few squirts of milk into the bowl and swirled it around to look for clumps.

I would take water with the soap and bleach in it to the barn in a 1/2 gallon container along with my rags in a five gallon bucket to haul it all in, those were the days. Now I milk about 12 goats by machine. Ahh for the simple life.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Babs gave good advice, that is the simplest way of starting out

She is my go-to person when it comes to anything dairy!

 

[Smith360]

Thank you guys! One of our friends has some left over milking supplies that I will be trading for some of my hens, and that's what she told me she had. So then, with a niggie, how many times a day should I milk her?

 

[Goat Whisperer]

If the kids are on her I would do once a day. If not it is up to you. Some of our does absolutely have to milked 2x daily while others would be ok to do a 24hr fill.

 

[Smith360]

Ok I have a dumb/weird question .. Say that the doe has twins, could I pull one off to bottle raise if I wanted to keep one? And leave the other on her to be sold? Hope that makes sense to ya.

 

[babsbag]

You could certainly do that, but personally I would pull all of them and bottle raise them. You can sell them earlier that way, and typically they will be friendlier. I usually don't bottle raise mine simply because I was working full time and didn't have the time. Next year I will be bottle raising all of them, but they will be put up for sale the moment they are trained to the bottle.

If you don't bottle raise the kids you can let the doe do the job and then starting at about 2 weeks after kidding you can separate the kids from mom at night and milk her in the morning. They will get plenty of milk and she will produce what she needs for them and for you. Now of course if she pulls one of these "I'm going to have 6 kids" stunts then you are going to have to supplement them and you might not get any milk from her until they are weaned. Nigis seem to like to have "litters".

 

[Smith360]

I've noticed that! Oh and another question, I know with sheep, when we breed a year-long it's almost certain that she will have a single her first year, then after her first, she will start having more. Is it the same with goats? Or could a yearling have twins?

 

[OneFineAcre]

Yearlings can have more than one. In fact they often have more than one.

 

[Smith360]

Oh wow, ok thanks everyone!