Milking Dairy Goats

Today is Thursday, November 8, 2007.

The photo above shows my dairy goat "girls" waiting to be milked. The dark brown doe in the forefront is 'Bella', a Nubian two-year-old doe who is a real sweetie.

You can see from the photo that we use a low deck. The does run in and jump on the deck. A manger in front provides them with their favorite food- grain!
We sit on a mechanic's roller chair and along behind the does to change the milkers.

Yesterday we changed our milking schedule from twice daily milking to once a day.





Goats are seasonal breeders, meaning they all breed in the fall and then have their babies (kid-in) in late January to mid March. The does need to be "dried off" or stopped being milked about two months before they kid.





They naturally fall off on milk production at this time of year and their SCC or Somatic Cell Count goes up. The Somatic Cell Count is an indication of how many white blood cells are present in the milk. A high count can be an indication of infection, but at this time of year, it raises naturally as the does give less milk.





I have to go out each morning and feed hay to everyone, including our horses and foals. Then about 2.30pm I will head outside and milk the does that are not already "dried off". This takes about an hour and a half.

This is the quiet time of year. When the "kids" begin to arrive, we will be outside upwards of 12 hours a day!