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If you own a dairy goat, you will need to milk her daily in order to keep her udder from getting too full. If your goat is a cross between a meat breed and a dairy breed, you can milk her daily, but she will most likely not produce the same amount of milk that a purebred dairy doe is capable of producing.
Total milk per day is 1 1/2 quarts, or 11 gallons a month. At about 8-9 months after freshening, she’ll be at 2 cups at MORNING and again at NIGHT. Total milk per day is one quart or 7 gallons a month. If your doe is pregnant, then her milk will continue to dry up and at 10 months you should stop milking.
The practice known as “milking through” usually lasts two years, but some have reported going as long as seven. My two does are on their second year, and I plan to continue milking. To get milk, you must have kids.
If I have a doe who only has buck kids, she’ll need to be milked twice daily for awhile after her boys are weaned. A doe who had a pair of buck/doe twins can continue to be milked in the morning after her boy is weaned; the doe kid is happy to have that extra milk.
A good dairy goat provides between 6 to 12 pounds of milk a day for about a 305-day lactation. A good dairy cow provides almost five times that amount. It takes more work to maintain a herd of goats than it does a herd of cows, and the same number of cows will yield more milk.
The average daily milk yield in 2.25 to 2.7 kg. The milk yield in a lactation period of, 250 days varies from 250 – 300 kg with 3.5 percent fat content.
If you don’t want to wait until the kids are fully weaned to start milking, after 4–6 weeks you can remove the kids at night, milk the doe once a day in the morning and return the kids to her to nurse during the day. Make sure the kids are getting enough milk to keep them healthy and growing.
Two goats will produce enough quality fresh milk — with each doe averaging 3 quarts a day for 10 months — to feed your family all year. Add a few more goats and you’ll have enough milk for making cheese, yogurt and even ice cream.
Kids need milk for a minimum of two months. In the early years, we used to bottle feed for three to four months. But since we’ve learned that mama’s milk makes them healthier, and they grow faster, we now bottle feed for five or six months.
If you don’t milk a dairy goat, it will cause discomfort, pain, and even health complications. The goat’s udders will painfully swell with milk. She could even get an udder infection called mastitis. You should stop milking your dairy goat only if you are attempting to place her in a drying-up period.
Kids and bucks need a balanced grain ration and milkers should be fed a standard dairy grain ration. Kids are milk fed until two to three months of age, but should be consuming forages such as pasture grass or hay by two weeks of age and grain within four. All dairy goats must have salt and fresh clean water.
| Goat Breed | Gallons Per Day | Liters Per Day |
|---|---|---|
| Saanan | 1 ½ – 3 | 5.7 – 11 |
| Alpine | 1 – 2 | 3.8 – 7.5 |
| Toggenburg | 1 ½ – 2 | 5.7 – 7.6 |
| Oberhasli | 1 – 1 ½ | 3.8 – 5.7 |
Generally you will want to milk your goats twice each day. Milking more often creates more milk production. You will get more milk overall by milking twice each day than you would by only milking once each day. For us, the process of milking takes about 20 minutes per session per goat, or 40 minutes per day per goat.
Milking 3 times a day will usually increase the amount. If a goat is not strutting between milkings then every 12 hours is sufficient.
During the far off dry period (4 to 5 weeks), goats can be fed a good quality hay (9 to 11% protein). During the last 3 to 4 weeks, both energy and protein need to be supplemented. Feed ½ to 1 kg of grain ration to adapt the rumen to the higher grain feeding during lactation and help avoid complications with ketosis.
A gallon of goat’s milk is $4.50 wholesale, while a gallon of cow’s milk runs from $1 to $1.50. Producers cannot charge four times as much for goat cheese and other products.
There are many breeds, but only a handful commonly considered the best goats for milk — such as Alpine, Saanen, Oberhasli, and Toggenburg goats that originated in the Swiss mountains. These breeds do well in cooler climates. Nubian goats do well in hot summers.
The Saanen (Figure 1) is widely recognized as the world’s best developed and highest milk-producing breed. It has been called and compared among goat breeds to the Holstein Friesian dairy cattle breed, because of their high level of daily milk yield and relatively low level of milk fat content.
Dairy goats need a clean, dry place that’s free of drafts. If you will be kidding over winter, you’ll need a barn that’s warm and enclosed. 5 Providing plenty of forage for your goats is key to a happy, healthy herd.
- Goat milk is real dairy. …
- Goat milk is easy to digest. …
- Sensitive to lactose? …
- Goat milk has hypoallergenic value. …
- Goat milk has high levels of short and medium-chain fatty acids. …
- Goat milk is easy on the environment. …
- Goat milk is naturally homogenized. …
- Our goat milk has a clean and mild flavor.
Boer goats Alpine goats also supply a lot of milk per day, averaging at 1 gallon or 3.8 liters per day.
A dairy farmer essentially takes the role of a nursing baby, by milking the female at least twice a day thereby prolonging the natural nursing for up to 300 days after the goat gives birth.
- Give them what they want, food! …
- Talk sweetly and keep a calm atmosphere. …
- Hobbles. …
- Keep one hand on the rear leg. …
- Don’t rush. …
- If she’s a squatter, try a lower bucket! …
- Milk trainees in a separate bucket. …
- Be more stubborn than a goat.
Expect to wait between 3-7 days for this, though it can vary on either side of that range. There are a lot of personal opinions on this. Some folks begin separating within a few days while others wait weeks before the first time kids are away from mom overnight.
It is never a good idea to just have one goat, you need at a minimum two goats. Two does or a doe and a wether (a neutered male goat) or a buck and a doe, if you are ready to start a little herd. They huddle and cuddle, they eat and they sleep together.
It’s best to raise at least two goats at a time. Preferably, we recommend purchasing both goats from the same herd so they’re comfortable with one another. This will keep your goats healthy, happy, and in good company. However, while your goats may be happy together, you may not.
Plan to have at least two goats. If you only want one goat for milk, keeping a neutered male goat (wether) is a good option. All goats will produce milk after giving birth. Certain breeds of goats are better milk producers.
Feed your baby goat new foods. Until a month or two your baby goat will drink mostly milk and water. During and after the weaning process, your goat will want to eat some other foods. Offer the following food items to your baby goat as it grows: Grain.
Try pouring the milk into a bowl and let them drink it as if they are drinking water. This has been know to work as an alternative strategy. Let them suck your finger and use a syringe to squirt the milk down the side of your finger as they suck it.
AgeOunces per FeedingFrequency0-2 Days2-4 ouncesEvery 3-4 hours3 Days to 3 Weeks6-8 ouncesFour times a day3 to 8 Weeks12 ouncesTwice a day8-12 weeks12 ouncesOnce a day
Does in mid-lactation that are in good flesh should have all the hay they will eat plus 1 pound of grain for each 3 pounds milk produced. Late lactation does may not need more than 1 pound of grain for each 5 pounds of milk. Feed a grain ration formulated for a milk-producing ruminant (dairy cows).
The six major dairy goat breeds are the Saanen, Nubian, Toggenburg, LaMancha, Oberhasli, and Alpine.
Put milk in a double boiler or in jars in a pasteurizer or canner and heat to 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds. Cool the milk as quickly as possible, but make sure not to put the hot jars in cold water or they will break. Store the milk in the refrigerator.
Toggenburg goats are friendly and curious often kept as both pet and dairy supplier. The life expectancy of a Togg is eight to 12 years.
It’s important to note that Nigerian Dwarf goats do need to be milked daily, but with just a bit of work, you can quickly produce rich milk that can be consumed either on its own or in the form of other milk products. There is certainly a lot to love about Nigerian goats.
The Breed. A healthy Nigerian Dwarf doe can produce a surprising amount of sweet milk for her small size – up to two quarts per day or more. In addition, Nigerian Dwarf milk is higher in butterfat (6-10%) and higher in protein than milk from most dairy goat breeds.