Dairy Goat Bag.

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As per Ferrier1987: You are supposed to post pictures when you post about your baby goats. Its a rule here. I just made it up as a rule, but its now part of the forum rules I have decided.
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Farrier1987
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Dairy Goat Bag.

Post by Farrier1987 » Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:03 pm

I am so amazed at my Priya girl's milk output. She is three years old, this is her third lactation, and its unbelievable.

The twins are now 3 weeks old, and with her 24 hrs a day, growing and healthy, getting all they want to eat. I milk her out 730 or 8 in the evening, probably get a litre or so. Then get up in the morning, milk about 7, and usually about 2 Litres. The twins are with her all the time.

You never know for sure what you are getting when you buy off Kijiji. I paid $300 for her about a month after she first freshened, no kids came with her. But did I ever get lucky. She is a milk producer for sure. Pure Alpine. Skinny as anything though well fed. She puts it in the pail instead of on her body.

So to the point of this post. If you want a milk producer, what do you look for? Any new mother will produce milk. But quantities and for how long can vary drastically. If going to look to possibly buy, try to get there just before milking time. This is going to tell you what the nature is like, how easy to handle, and what a full bag on her looks like. How are the teats if you are going to hand milk. (You want decent handles, not buttons.) She should probably not be fat.

Look and feel for the milk vein. It rund from sort of mid rib along the side of the belly towards the udder. It should be well defined, and the bigger the better. About like half a pencil protruding from under the hide is great.

And then the udder itself. It should come out well behind her haunches when viewed in profile. And when viewed from behind, should make her legs spread. And it should be well attached to the body, not an hourglass type attachment. Nature gives different animals different attributes, and a bigger mass in the udder means bigger volumes to be produced. A skinny body says she is converting the food to milk for the babies, not into muscle and fat mass.

Please look at the two pictures I took. Side and rear just before morning milking, and the twins had been with her over night. I milked 2.7 L. I have to think that without the twins on her, I would get about 6 L/day. Dairy goat farmers use a minimum of about 4L per day as a cutoff to keep a doe. So yes I am bragging a little and very proud of my girl. And I got lucky when I bought her, I knew she was not a bad goat, but I had no idea I was this good.

Last comment here, mostly avoid cross breds. And by that I don't mean dairy to dairy, like Alpine Saanen, I mean meat dairy crosses. My thought is that you lose from both sides when you do that, that they are not good meat producers, and not great milk producers.
Priya Bag.JPG
Priyabag Side.JPG
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Farrier1987. South of Chatham on Lake Erie. Chickens, goats, horse, garden, dog, cat. Worked all over the world. Know a little bit about a lot of things. No incubator, broody hens.

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kenya
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Dairy Goat Bag.

Post by kenya » Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:48 pm

Wow She does have a huge utter! Congratulations you did good buying her.
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thegawd
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Dairy Goat Bag.

Post by thegawd » Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:46 pm

WOW! Thats Awesome Man! :-)
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hayladee
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Dairy Goat Bag.

Post by hayladee » Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:59 am

beautiful udder....and good teat size, once had to milk out a first timer with tiny inch long teats...and full udder....udderly impossible to grab with other than index finger and thumb....LONG process, glad babies could take back over....my dreams of goat cheese disappeared
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