Update on Babies and Milking

SUCCESS!! Elissa let me milk her! Life is good! I was afraid she won't let me. This may sound stupid, but we "practiced" milking last year. Many dairy goat farmers will do that with young goats - practice milking so that the goat will get used to the farmer putting their hands near the "private" parts and also get the goat used to being up on the milk stand. It worked because Elissa didn't even budge when I put my hands on her udder. She was too busy eating the grain.

The babies are doing really good. I tried bottle feeding them last night without too much success. I wasn't too concerned. You need to get the colostrum in them in the first 24 hours, which I did. I milked "Mom" at 8:00 this morning, came back to the house, filtered the milk, put it in bottles and feed it to the babies at 8:30. They both drank it up. So we are good to go.

I bottle feed my babies. It is a lot of extra work, but it is worth the effort. First of all, you are making sure the babies are getting enough milk. They need to have at least 32 ounces of milk a day. Sometimes you can have smaller kids that aren't as aggressive as the larger ones and they lose out. Secondly, the babies bond to you making them easier to handle as they get older. Thirdly, it is easier on the Mother's udder - baby goats are rough on Mother's udders!

If you are ever in the market for a goat, always buy one that was a "bottle baby." That means it was bottle feed and it will be people friendly. If you are just buying a meat goat that you will be taking to the butcher's, buy one that has been "dam-raised" - that means feed by the Mom - this one won't be very friendly, but it doesn't matter since it isn't going to be a pet anyway!

I was a little apprehensive about milking Elissa this morning. My mind went back to last August when I was milking a goat who didn't want to get off the milking stand . . . But, this time I will be more careful.

Anyway, today was very successful - I was able to milk a first-time milker and the babies are doing really good!