Where do you milk your goats?

[madcow]

Good gracious, I can't imagine keeping your hands warm enough to milk in temperatures like that! Geez! Might want to think about warming the cleaning solution for your poor goats teats and your hands before wiping them down prior to milking. I live in Texas and I do that for my goats on cooler mornings just to make the experience more comfortable for them and me. Good luck with your milking.

 

[LeviS]

It's going to be quite the experience, that's for sure. I bought one Nubian doe a month ago or so who will be bred end of October so that one wont be so bad. I am purchasing another Nubian doe who is currently visiting a buck, so she will have a Januaryish due date......coldest month for us. Going to have to watch her around the clock when she gets close to kidding, well, with more zeal than the usual moonlight walks.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Glad I'm in NC
We try to breed so that we don't have any born before March. So, we are mostly milking in the summer months. We just moved to our new place and this is what I did at least for now. This is outside the goat pen.

 

[LeviS]

I wanted to have one doe in milk for when the rest of my goat herd starts kidding, so that I can feed any extras.

This year I'm taking away anything more than two, I let a couple of them keep their triplets but realistically only one of them was able to comfortably raise three, ironically she was the one that had 4 kids. She killed #4, as I decided to let him stay with her overnight to get some colostrum. Two foolish mistakes that I can add to the list. This is only kidding year #3 for me, I have a lot to learn/work though I guess. Though it is interesting that her instincts told her that she couldn't keep 4 kids.

 

[OneFineAcre]

We never bottle raise. We don't seperate triplets. We've even had quads once. Ours did fine with the 4. Last year we supplemented a set of triplets, we don't completely seperate. We had a first freshner this year with twins and we gave them a bottle some too because they didn't seem to get enough. Plus, their Aunt Rosemary let them nurse her some too.

 

[LeviS]

That's great that it works for you, would be such a relief if I could just do that again this year but I lost every triplet I had this year (other than the ones that I bottle fed and eventually gave to other families). Due to mother rejecting them and I wasn't there to catch it or to the recent coccidiosis/worm infestation (explosion is probably the better word) due to a combination of poor weather conditions, my own inexperience, bad advice, and just plain naiveté on my part. I guess I don't know if this is related to being a triplet, but I lost all 7 of them to cocci now. Only the triplets, which is rather interesting.

This battle with cocci is probably the worst thing I have ever had to deal with, its a horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

 

[OneFineAcre]

That's great that it works for you, would be such a relief if I could just do that again this year but I lost every triplet I had this year (other than the ones that I bottle fed and eventually gave to other families). Due to mother rejecting them and I wasn't there to catch it or to the recent coccidiosis/worm infestation (explosion is probably the better word) due to a combination of poor weather conditions, my own inexperience, bad advice, and just plain naiveté on my part. I guess I don't know if this is related to being a triplet, but I lost all 7 of them to cocci now. Only the triplets, which is rather interesting.

This battle with cocci is probably the worst thing I have ever had to deal with, its a horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Oh, I wasn't questioning what you were doing. I think you have a real good plan in fact. A lot of people on here wish for triplets and quads. I'd take two every time.

Now with coccidia, I feel your pain. We lost a kid last year, and one this year. Terrible conditions here with wet weather. We had some terrible conditions of our own creation too with crowding and not keeping waste hay cleaned up.

Look into Toltrazuril. Good stuff. Made for horses I believe. It's not USDA approved, so you have to order from outside US. But, most other countries people are using for sheep and goats.
We order from a website in Panama, but it's shipped from Florida.

 

[LeviS]

Sorry if that sounded accusing, its wasn't supposed to lol not in a great state of mind right now, numb actually. I've lost 7 of my babies, probably 2-3 more by tomorrow, since Saturday. I have them all on corid, they have all been dewormed with a wormer the vet recommended vs the cheap stuff recommended by the store clerk. On nice grass hay, been drenching them with electrolytes morning and evening. Re-separating this evening. I have some that, thank the stars, are improving.

 

[OneFineAcre]

So sorry. I hope things get better soon.

If it's any consolation, we are very active in the North Carolina Dairy Goat Breeders Association where we know people who have been raising goats for 30 years. All of them have told us that they have had years so bad that they wanted to quit. Some have lost every kid they had in a year. And, one of the breeders we know is a vet. And, his wife is a vet. He told us he almost quit one year because of having so many problems and losing kids. So, if you know a couple of vets can have a bad year, and have bad luck and make mistakes, then any of us can.

And sometimes we may make mistakes, but I think sometimes we can do everything right and still have a bad year.

Hang in there.

 

[LeviS]

Thanks . It helps knowing that sometimes this will just happen, not a lot of people in my area keep goats so not much support here haha. I haven't had much of a chance to see them today yet, but last night the majority seemed to be doing fine, being their snoopy/curious selves. I had a lot of "assistants" when giving out electrolytes and TLC.