I'm new to owning Nigerian Dwarf Goat's, and the last goat I milked was a Nubian Goat when I was 13 years old. I'm much older now and didn't think about teat size when I decided I wanted Nigerians. Thank you so much for your video showing how do milk when their ready. Ours should be having their first kids in June or July, hopefully.
Your video is informative and focused. I enjoyed seeing the different hand positions for milking. The date labeling system also is nice. Thank you for making this video.
Thank you so much for this video. I keep seeing videos about milking Nigerian dwarfs and it seems that everyone uses machines. I just purchased three does who are supposed to kid in a few months and, even though the breeder assured me they are from good milking lines, I'm still a bit apprehensive about figuring out how to milk them... especially after some people have assured me that Nigerians are just too hard to milk by hand. Your video has given me a lot of confidence!
Awesome! It's all about technique. If you try to milk them like they're a cow with 4-inch teats, then you will fail. I actually find my NDs easier to milk than the LaManchas we used to have because I can keep switching the technique as my different fingers get tired. Congratulations on the upcoming babies!
Thank you! Milking our Nigerians has become very painful for me as the technique I have developed is efficient but not sustainable for my hands. I've been having serious pain in the joint of my thumb. This video is exactly what I needed. Going outside now to give it a try!
Thank you! Just brought my first little nanny home & will be milking in the morning! It's been many years since I milked a cow...glad to see your tips!
I tried your technique, my goat moves a lot, it’s also my first time trying to milk her. I’ll try to take her somewhere else without other goats, hope I can do better
Hi, I enjoyed your video. I have a few questions: 1. How often do Nigerian Dwarfs require milking? 2. Is your milk for personal use or do you market it in some way? 3. do you make butter or cheese from you goat milk?
If kids are not nursing, we usually milk twice a day. We use the milk to make 100% of our family’s cheese and yogurt. It would be too expensive to start a commercial dairy. The cost of infrastructure would be at least $200k, so we’d have to be milking at least 50 goats to be profitable.
@@embramorgan6720 that depends on what you want to use it for. For most cheeses the quality is not going to be as good if it’s more than about three days old. Once you get accustomed to drinking super fresh milk, you will taste the difference after a few days, and I personally got spoiled and didn’t even like to drink it after it was a few days old. I would say it tastes like store-bought milk. By 5 to 7 days, the cream has separated, and that creates a visual and texture issue because then it’s hard to get it mixed back in. It doesn’t “sour” unless it’s pasteurized. so there’s really not a hard cut off date but if you’re not using it within a few days, you can make it into cheese, which can last for years, or freeze it and make goat milk soap with it.
It doesn’t last more than a few days at our house because it gets used or consumed. If you are going to use it to make cheese, you will get the best results with most cheeses if you use it within 2-3 days.
Love your video! Can you tell me what those filters are called and where you buy them? Also I have a barb wire fence around my 6 acres and some parts have cattle panels but some parts are just barb wire. I’ve never had my chickens or horses escape but I’m cautious about goats. I would love goat milk but how can you keep them on your property if you have an open pasture? Rotating pen around the property? But the goats with a donkey or dog as a play mate so they don’t run off? And tips and advice before I take the plunge to buy my first goat would be greatly appreciated!!!
PLEASE, PLEASE do not get goats with barbed wire! It doesn't stop them and rips up their skin, which is much thinner than horses or cows. I know two people who have had does rip open their udders on barbed wire. One had to be put down and the other took months to heal. Goats are herd animals, so you MUST have at least two although three is even better. A donkey or dog as a playmate is an absolute NO! Here is my Beginner's Guide to Goats, which includes links to a lot of articles about goat care. thriftyhomesteader.com/a-beginners-guide-to-goats/
Great tip! I have been trying the cow method on one teat that has 2 nipples and is quite large. So hard to do on her normal size nipple. This helps. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing! Our does just had their babies and have been doing really well with nursing. I just attempted to milk one and did great! I’m not sure how to tell when I’ve emptied enough from their teets, though. How often should we be milking, after the babies are gone? Also, is it ok to drink the milk, after straining it and placing in the refrigerator? This is my first time with all of this!
Congratulations! There are a lot more details in this article -- thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/ -- which I think answer all of your questions. If you have additional questions, just ask!
Didn't work on my just freshened goat who has a hard udder with no milk coming out. I thought it was my inexperience, so showed her to the goat person, and she too couldn't get any milk out. Lost my kids because of this problem - left them with the doe thinking that they are nursing fine (they did try to nurse from the beginning), but next morning all passed away, because I figured out they couldn't get ANY milk from the teats. Didn't expect that, so was not prepared for a such scenario.
How sad! This is why I recommend weighing kids daily for the first 2 weeks. You know right away if they aren’t getting enough milk. Here's a video about weighing kids -- th-cam.com/video/d052QLtgC0U/w-d-xo.html
@@DeborahNiemann Did you ever have a doe which didn't have any milk after giving birth - the teats were soft and empty, but the udder was quite swollen and hard? Could the milk start to flow later after several days? Thank you.
@@naturewatcher7596 No, this is abnormal. It would be really odd for a first freshener to have mastitis, but a congested udder is definitely a possibility. I've seen that a couple of times, but it usually happened a day or two after she gave birth. As you said, your doe's udder was swollen, so she did have milk. It can be VERY hard to get out the milk if they have a congested udder even if you have lots of experience with milking. In addition to massaging and squeezing much harder than normal, you also need to use hot compresses and/or peppermint essential oil. The last time this happened, we put peppermint oil on the udder, waited 30 minutes, then held hot compresses on the udder while milking (or initially just "trying"). That took care of the problem right away -- or at least in that first attempt to milk. We only knew it was a problem because the kids had lost weight, and then my husband squeezed her teats and nothing came out. This has only happened twice in 20 years, so hopefully you won't see it again for a long time. And it never repeated in the same doe. Not saying it can't, but I wouldn't expect it. However, weighing kids can alert you to a LOT of different potential problems.
@@DeborahNiemann Thank you. And she already had kids before I bought her without known problems. Hope she'll be fine next kidding (in the warmer weather).
The breed average over a 305-day lactation for Nigerian dwarf goats is often cited as a quart a day, but they produce milk on a curve. A doe needs to be producing 1/2 gallon a day at 8 weeks to be successfully feeding twins or 3 quarts a day to feed triplets. This is why I don't let does nurse quads or more -- because almost none can produce a gallon a day. Does peak at about 2-3 months after kidding, then their production gradually goes down. How long they last depends on the genetics of the individual goat. In the early days we bought some that could not milk for more than 6 months, and they were down to a cup a day before we stopped milking them. We sold them and only kept the ones that could meet our goals. This is why you don't buy goats from someone who does not keep milking records. There is a lot of variation between does, especially now that NDs are such a popular breed for pets. Raw milk doesn't really sour like pasteurized milk because it has live microbes in it, so it looks like it turns into cheese if you forget about it in the back of the fridge for weeks. However, I would not eat it because you don't know exactly which microbes have been growing. The flavor just is not that great after a few days, and it actually is not good for making cheese (other than queso blanco) after about 3-4 days. After about 5 days, I just give it to the barn cats, dogs, chickens, or pigs.
I've seen some people put their milk in an ice bath right away (even before straining). Is there an advantage to this? Or do you strain immediately, and put it in the fridge?
We simply strain the milk and put it into the fridge right away. Back when I got started, everyone said you had to do that to have milk that didn't taste goaty. That's not exactly true, but it is based on a morsel of fact. Goaty milk is caused by a harmless skin bacteria that gets into the milk, so it can usually be avoided entirely if you clean the udder and put a few squirts of milk into a strip cup before starting to milk into the bucket that will be for human consumption. (I give the strip cup milk to the barn cats.) The highest bacteria level is in the first few squirts of milk. Bacteria grows best at warm temperatures, so if you don't do these things, there will be more bacteria in your milk, so the quicker you chill the milk, the slower that bacteria will replicate, which means the less goaty the milk will taste. Pasteurizing your milk has no effect on the goaty flavor because dead bacteria doesn't taste taste good either. 🤣 Straining immediately also helps prevent the goaty flavor because you're straining out all the dead skin and hair that fell into the milk while you were milking, so again reducing the bacteria count.
You do not need to boil it. To pasteurize it only needs to be heated to 170 degrees. Whether or not to drink raw milk is a highly controversial topic because if your milking routine is not clean enough you can easily wind up with food borne illnesses such as e coli or campylobacter or listeriosis. If you have a compromised immune system, then you really should pasteurize it.
I am wanting to get into the nigerian dwarf milk goats. Why, family illness. I was raised on a dairy. Going to retire in 6 months. Haven't even found my goats yet or built pens. Got to do this though. Any advice about picking out does? I know I want polled.
Since you’re interested in polled goats, you might find this article helpful also. thriftyhomesteader.com/genetics-polled-goats/ If you have any other questions, let us know.
I have a Hamby Miller, is it better to milk Dwarf Nigerians by hand for milk testing purposes? Does it produce more milk to do by hand? Awesome video, thanks!
Even if you are using a machine, you need to get a doe started and strip out her teats by hand at the end. Some need more hand milking at the end than others. You just put all of the milk together when you weigh it (both the milk from the machine and what you did by hand) for the test. If you don't strip them out at the end, you will be leaving behind a lot of milk -- especially with some does.
There are so many possibilities! I would need lots of details to be able to truly help. However, If you are new to milking, it's probably just that you need more practice. This is why I recommend that when you are new to milking that you let the does raise their own kids while you learn to milk so that the kids can keep up the milk supply while you are learning. I've seen too many people buy a goat, take it home, and two weeks later it's dried up because if you don't get the udder empty, the doe makes less and less every day. For years now, I have refused to sell a doe in milk without a nursing kid to anyone who is new to milking. I've heard of new people struggling for half an hour to milk a doe, which is not a happy time for the goat or you.
What are the filters for? Thank you for this video. I can’t wait to start milking. I have a doe due next week, and I was wondering at what age can we separate kid and mom at night, to milk in the mornings?
There will be hair and bits of dirt in the milk, so you want to filter that out. The answer about "when to start separating" depends on how many kids a doe has. I answer that question, as well as a lot more in this article: thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
Thanks for the video. My ND doe just had triplets last week so I need to learn how to milk her and I am new to owning ND goats. Where on the teat do you "pinch" to let the milk down? Is it right where the teat attaches to the udder? or is it on the udder? Also, do you just press the thumb and release to get the milk out or do you have to roll the thumb down the teat? Thanks in advanced.
Congratulations! If your doe had triplets, the kids need 100% of her milk, so don't separate her from the kids until the kids weigh 20 pounds each, which they should by 8 to 10 weeks if they are getting enough milk. I also recommend weighing kids daily the first two weeks to be sure the kids are getting enough. They should be gaining 4 ounces a day. I have a video on here about that topic. As I mentioned, there are different ways you can milk a ND (unlike the big goats, which you milk like a cow). You press the teat between your thumb and forefinger where it attaches to the udder. If you have properly closed off the teat, it doesn't really matter whether you roll or press, the milk has nowhere to go but the exit. however, if you roll your thumb, you might be able to more milk out. The biggest problem with most people when they are getting started is that they don't press hard enough to close the teat, so when they squeeze, the milk goes right back up into the udder rather than out the orifice. You can put the doe on the stand once a day for her goat feed (should be 16% protein) and practice milking her so she gets used to it. You probably won't get more than what will cover the bottom of the bucket, but this is for practice, not production. If you do get more, that's awesome!
@@DeborahNiemann , Thanks so much for your response. Yes, I just want to start practicing milking her right now. As you said, the babies are going to need the milk for at least another month or so, so we are not milking her for consumption yet, but I do want to start training her so when the time comes, it is not such a struggle. This is also her first freshener, so there is a lot of learning to do. Another question I have is how do you get her to let her milk down? I have heard does can hold their milk back. I tried milking her yesterday and didn't get anything out. She didnt like it either. I don't know if I wasn't doing it right or if she was not letting her milk down. Any advice you can give would be appreciated. I will check out your other video too. Thanks a lot
@@007MJFan They are not purposely holding back their milk, although I know that's what everyone says. We used to say that too until I saw the research that shows that when kids nurse, they cause an oxytocin release, which does not happen when we milk them. So it's just a matter of getting them used to you milking them. If you are new to milking, it's entirely possible that you weren't doing it effectively. We've taught lots of people to milk goats, and many of them don't get out any milk even when the doe's udder has lots of milk in it. If your doe had triplets and is a yearling first freshener, I would be worried about her producing enough for them to grow adequately. They should be gaining 4 ounces a day on average, which means 1.75 pounds per week, which means they generally double their weight by 2 weeks of age. When their weight doubles, that means their consumption also doubles because they need to consume about 20% of their weight in milk daily. So even if she is keeping up in the first week, their weight gain can start to slow down in the second week if she's not able to keep up with increasing her production. Here is my article on learning to milk: thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
@@DeborahNiemann , thank you soooo much for all the tips. I will read your article and start weighing the kids and keeping an eye on them. If in fact, she is not producing enough, what are my options to feed the kids? Do I need to supplement with bottle feeding? Is there anything I can do to make her keep up with the kiddos?
You can’t push a goat beyond her genetic capabilities, and yearlings are still growing themselves, so they are dividing up their energy between producing milk and growing their own bodies. If the kids are not gaining adequately, then you can try supplementing, although most dam-raised kids will act like you are trying to poison them when you try to give them a bottle, so I usually wind up separating them entirely. It sounds counter-intuitive, but years ago, I had kids that starved themselves rather than take a bottle. I’d like to say that happened only once, but because of what people were telling me on the old Yahoo groups back then, it happened a second time. It is so UNTRUE that a kid will take a bottle if it’s hungry enough. It still breaks my heart to think of those two kids starving to death because I didn’t know better.
Yes. Initially the milk will be coming out in streams. Then the streams get shorter, and then they turn into little squirts. When you are new to milking, however, you'll probably think you're done before you are really are. That's why I recommend that if you're new to milking, you should have a doe that is nursing at least one kid so that the kid can keep up the milk supply while you're learning. I won't sell a doe in milk to someone who has no experience milking because I've seen too many people think that a doe didn't have a good milk production when in reality they weren't getting her close enough to empty that her supply started going down to meet the decreased demand. When I got started in 2002, a lot of people thought they had to take all the kids, milk the doe, and bottle-feed, but since they didn't know how to milk, they wound up having to use milk replacer to feed the kids because they couldn't get enough milk out of the does. Here is my blog post on how to learn to milk a goat -- thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
Ive tried to find it in your comments but have been unsuccessful and you have probably answered this already but i am researching different breeds and types we are looking for more milk than meat but wouldn't be against meat also are Nigerian good for that also when do you know when to stop milking her during each session does she stop giving milk or are tou just taking what you feel is a good amount? Thanks
Here are the articles that might help you.. ~Abby thriftyhomesteader.com/mini-dairy-goats/ thriftyhomesteader.com/nigerian-dwarf-goats/ thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/ thriftyhomesteader.com/nigerian-dwarf-meat-and-goat-goulash-recipe/
Abby gave you some great articles from the website, so I hope you'll check them out. Here is my video on ND goats for meat -- th-cam.com/video/0oUIYi2woXM/w-d-xo.html&lc=UgzGAmncQloOWClCT-54AaABAg When you are milking a goat, you keep milking until you are getting only drops. It's all about supply and demand. If you don't "empty" the udder, she'll produce less. There is so much more to it than this though, so I hope you'll check out the article on the website about milking. ~~Deborah
I have been having some problems with the filter for the milk, I have been filtering it out but some of the debris gets through it and it ends up in the milk. I have been doing the filtering the way you do it but it gets through still.
You didn't mention which type of funnel and filter you have. If you have the type of filter that has a ring that screws on the outside of the funnel, it's very easy to not get it on perfectly, and debris can clip past the edge of the filter. We used to always hold them up to the light to see if there was even a hint of a crack. I talk about that at 5:45. Like I said, it drove me crazy! If you are using the one that I talk about at 6:30, I have never had any trouble with that one. You just have to be sure the ring is pressed down completely into the funnel so there is no gap anywhere around the filter.
It’s one quart. Buy the shortest one you can find. We have four, and we have one that’s about an inch shorter than the rest, which we use more than any of the others because a couple of does are easier to milk with that one.
I'm pretty sure it's 6 cups -- or 1.5 quarts. We've had three different ones that size, though, and the dimensions can be slightly different. Even an inch extra in height can be a pain with sone of the shorter-legged NDs. So, there is one bucket that's the shortest that gets used a lot more than the others!
If a doe has two kids nursing, then you don't have to milk her, but if she has only one kid nursing, it's a good idea to milk once a day so that she'll have a better milk supply. If she has no kids nursing, then yes, you have to milk her once or twice a day. If you don't milk her, she will dry up. If you milk her sporadically, she would be more likely to get mastitis, so you need to have a fairly regular schedule, always milking once or twice a day.
Is it normal to get no milk if you are trying to milk a goat with a grown kid (6+ months old) at side, who sometimes still getting some milk from his dam?
If you want milk, you need to separate the kid overnight. Kids nurse more than you think, and if they nursed recently, it’s possible that you will get very little milk.
You need to get it chilled below 40 degrees Fahrenheit ASAP after milking. The colder it is, the slower bacteria grows -- including bacteria that could make you sick or bacteria that is harmless but causes a "goaty" flavor. Raw milk doesn't sour like pasteurized milk that you buy in the store, but the flavor deteriorates fairly quickly. I can taste the difference after about 3-4 days. You can't make a good quality aged cheese with raw milk that's more than a few days old either because your natural bacteria is going to "fight" with the culture that you add, and you don't really know who's going to win at that point. After about 4 days, I personally would only use it in cooking (which automatically pasteurizes it) or to make queso blanco, which requires heating to 190 degrees (automatically pasteurizing).
what if you freeze the milk immediatly after milking? im amazed that you got 26oz out of one goat for one milking. My first freshner i have is 41 lbs and i only get around 18 oz per milking currently. Any idea why mine is behind? I know shes first freshner so that factors into it but my Nigerians seem to be way below what the internet says. 41 lbs and the internet says nigerians should be 60-75lbs@@DeborahNiemann
@@throlyhd9448 Yes, you can freeze milk, but it will separate when you thaw it. That does not mean it's bad. You just have to shake it up or put it in a blender to mix it back together. Based on your doe's weight, I'm assuming she is a yearling, and I don't even breed a doe until she is 40 pounds. Your doe can't produce much milk because she is still trying to grow herself. If you are getting 18 ounces twice a day, that's a quart a day, which is great for her size. I do hope you are not separating young kids and milking her once a day. Kids should not be separated until they are 20 pounds because they need all the milk they can consume. If your doe was separated from her mom too early, that would be why she is still so small at a year of age. Or she could have had a bad case of parasites as a kid that slowed down her growth. There are a LOT of possibilities.
thanks for the reply, We purchased her and her sister with their kids. her sister is still nursing a child but both of her kids were sold before i got them so in order to keep her in milk i stayed milking her. I do not know any of the details as they are unregistered does other than what the seller told me but ive been around some other nigerian drawf goats and they seemed way bigger. thanks for the reply again@@DeborahNiemann
We don't usually butcher Nigerian does, but milk production is important to a lot of decisions we make. If you are raising dairy goats seriously, that means you want to improve the breed, so if a doe is not a great producer, all of her sons should be wethered and sold as pets. It is so important that bucks come from the very best does because a buck can sire hundreds of kids in his lifetime, so he can have a HUGE impact on your herd for better or for worse. Most does will have only 20-30 kids in their lifetime. If a doe is a really poor producer, she might get sold as a pet without papers.
@@DeborahNiemann Thanks for the reply and info. I purchased a property in Portugal and inherited 4 female dwarf goats. IDK if Nigerian or what breed. I just don't want them butchered so rather than sell or give them to someone, I'm going to try to let them live out their lives in peace. Guess I'm not getting any milk since I only have girl goats.
They are not producing milk WHEN pregnant -- they produce milk after the kids are born so that they can feed them. At the end of pregnancy, they produce colostrum, which is the first milk that the babies get when they are born, and it is highly concentrated. Then they will produce milk for months and sometimes even years after the kids are born, as long as they have kids nursing or as long as you are milking them.
This was great it's day three at attempting milking. I have only milked cows. The one goat the farmer trained us on was easy going with large teats. My question comes from having a non willing goat. She is getting more tolerant, however she bucks and lays down. I can't hold her up and milk at the same time. Any recommendations?
You could put something under her chest so that she can't lay down. If she is dancing around on the stand, you may need to just milk with one hand and milk into a small container that you can hold up near her teats so that she can't get her foot in it. This would be temporary, of course, until she starts to understand that you're not hurting her.
Simply heat the milk to 145 degrees and hold it there for half an hour. This is the best option if you are going to make cheese. However if you are going to make yogurt or just drink the milk, you can heat it to 170 degrees, and it is instantly pasteurized. Keep in mind that if you are planning to use the milk to make pudding or gravy, which are boiled, the milk will be automatically pasteurized at that time so there's no need to do it separately ahead of time. For more info on milking, check out this article: thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
As a professional chef, I desired very strongly for you to make use of a rubber spatula when measuring the milk. I want to scrape out every last drop.
I'm new to owning Nigerian Dwarf Goat's, and the last goat I milked was a Nubian Goat when I was 13 years old. I'm much older now and didn't think about teat size when I decided I wanted Nigerians. Thank you so much for your video showing how do milk when their ready. Ours should be having their first kids in June or July, hopefully.
You're welcome! Glad you found it helpful!
Your video is informative and focused. I enjoyed seeing the different hand positions for milking. The date labeling system also is nice. Thank you for making this video.
You're welcome! I'm glad to hear you found it helpful!
Thank you so much for this video. I keep seeing videos about milking Nigerian dwarfs and it seems that everyone uses machines. I just purchased three does who are supposed to kid in a few months and, even though the breeder assured me they are from good milking lines, I'm still a bit apprehensive about figuring out how to milk them... especially after some people have assured me that Nigerians are just too hard to milk by hand. Your video has given me a lot of confidence!
Awesome! It's all about technique. If you try to milk them like they're a cow with 4-inch teats, then you will fail. I actually find my NDs easier to milk than the LaManchas we used to have because I can keep switching the technique as my different fingers get tired. Congratulations on the upcoming babies!
Do you milk them while their still feeding babies or after babies are weaned?
Thank you! Milking our Nigerians has become very painful for me as the technique I have developed is efficient but not sustainable for my hands. I've been having serious pain in the joint of my thumb. This video is exactly what I needed. Going outside now to give it a try!
You’re welcome! Glad you found it helpful!
Thank you! Just brought my first little nanny home & will be milking in the morning! It's been many years since I milked a cow...glad to see your tips!
You're welcome! Glad you found it helpful!
I tried your technique, my goat moves a lot, it’s also my first time trying to milk her. I’ll try to take her somewhere else without other goats, hope I can do better
Hi, I enjoyed your video. I have a few questions: 1. How often do Nigerian Dwarfs require milking? 2. Is your milk for personal use or do you market it in some way? 3. do you make butter or cheese from you goat milk?
If kids are not nursing, we usually milk twice a day. We use the milk to make 100% of our family’s cheese and yogurt. It would be too expensive to start a commercial dairy. The cost of infrastructure would be at least $200k, so we’d have to be milking at least 50 goats to be profitable.
Good video, Deborah.
Thank you so much for this video!
You're welcome! ~Abby
Love this video thank you! About how long does goats milk last in refrigerator?
@@embramorgan6720 that depends on what you want to use it for. For most cheeses the quality is not going to be as good if it’s more than about three days old. Once you get accustomed to drinking super fresh milk, you will taste the difference after a few days, and I personally got spoiled and didn’t even like to drink it after it was a few days old. I would say it tastes like store-bought milk. By 5 to 7 days, the cream has separated, and that creates a visual and texture issue because then it’s hard to get it mixed back in. It doesn’t “sour” unless it’s pasteurized. so there’s really not a hard cut off date but if you’re not using it within a few days, you can make it into cheese, which can last for years, or freeze it and make goat milk soap with it.
great video!
Thank you, I'm waiting the time to have a couple little Nigerian goat💗 🐐💗
How exciting! I bet you'll love them!
Thanks😍 we will love them very much💗🐐💗🐐💗
Great video! Thank you!!
How long does it last in the fridge?
It doesn’t last more than a few days at our house because it gets used or consumed. If you are going to use it to make cheese, you will get the best results with most cheeses if you use it within 2-3 days.
Love your video! Can you tell me what those filters are called and where you buy them? Also I have a barb wire fence around my 6 acres and some parts have cattle panels but some parts are just barb wire. I’ve never had my chickens or horses escape but I’m cautious about goats. I would love goat milk but how can you keep them on your property if you have an open pasture? Rotating pen around the property? But the goats with a donkey or dog as a play mate so they don’t run off? And tips and advice before I take the plunge to buy my first goat would be greatly appreciated!!!
PLEASE, PLEASE do not get goats with barbed wire! It doesn't stop them and rips up their skin, which is much thinner than horses or cows. I know two people who have had does rip open their udders on barbed wire. One had to be put down and the other took months to heal. Goats are herd animals, so you MUST have at least two although three is even better. A donkey or dog as a playmate is an absolute NO! Here is my Beginner's Guide to Goats, which includes links to a lot of articles about goat care. thriftyhomesteader.com/a-beginners-guide-to-goats/
Great tip! I have been trying the cow method on one teat that has 2 nipples and is quite large. So hard to do on her normal size nipple. This helps. Thank you.
nice one from Nigeria live in italy
Great video! Can you please share what brand of milk strainer you used and love?
This is my favorite strainer -- www.caprinesupply.com/products/milking/milk-handling/stainless-steel-mini-strainer.html
I'm with you! The tiny orifices are the WORST!
What happens if you completely stop milking them after a while?
This video gives me so much hope lol
Thank you so much for sharing! Our does just had their babies and have been doing really well with nursing. I just attempted to milk one and did great! I’m not sure how to tell when I’ve emptied enough from their teets, though. How often should we be milking, after the babies are gone? Also, is it ok to drink the milk, after straining it and placing in the refrigerator? This is my first time with all of this!
Congratulations! There are a lot more details in this article -- thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/ -- which I think answer all of your questions. If you have additional questions, just ask!
These are my questions
Didn't work on my just freshened goat who has a hard udder with no milk coming out. I thought it was my inexperience, so showed her to the goat person, and she too couldn't get any milk out. Lost my kids because of this problem - left them with the doe thinking that they are nursing fine (they did try to nurse from the beginning), but next morning all passed away, because I figured out they couldn't get ANY milk from the teats. Didn't expect that, so was not prepared for a such scenario.
How sad! This is why I recommend weighing kids daily for the first 2 weeks. You know right away if they aren’t getting enough milk. Here's a video about weighing kids -- th-cam.com/video/d052QLtgC0U/w-d-xo.html
@@DeborahNiemann Did you ever have a doe which didn't have any milk after giving birth - the teats were soft and empty, but the udder was quite swollen and hard? Could the milk start to flow later after several days? Thank you.
@@naturewatcher7596 No, this is abnormal. It would be really odd for a first freshener to have mastitis, but a congested udder is definitely a possibility. I've seen that a couple of times, but it usually happened a day or two after she gave birth. As you said, your doe's udder was swollen, so she did have milk. It can be VERY hard to get out the milk if they have a congested udder even if you have lots of experience with milking. In addition to massaging and squeezing much harder than normal, you also need to use hot compresses and/or peppermint essential oil. The last time this happened, we put peppermint oil on the udder, waited 30 minutes, then held hot compresses on the udder while milking (or initially just "trying"). That took care of the problem right away -- or at least in that first attempt to milk. We only knew it was a problem because the kids had lost weight, and then my husband squeezed her teats and nothing came out. This has only happened twice in 20 years, so hopefully you won't see it again for a long time. And it never repeated in the same doe. Not saying it can't, but I wouldn't expect it. However, weighing kids can alert you to a LOT of different potential problems.
@@DeborahNiemann Thank you. And she already had kids before I bought her without known problems. Hope she'll be fine next kidding (in the warmer weather).
You're welcome!
They're quite hard to milk. Here un Guatemala there are goat men herding their dairy for selling their milk and I do avoid the small teated ones.
Hello! A couple questions for you:
does she give you that much milk daily? And year round? How long will this milk last in the fridge?
The breed average over a 305-day lactation for Nigerian dwarf goats is often cited as a quart a day, but they produce milk on a curve. A doe needs to be producing 1/2 gallon a day at 8 weeks to be successfully feeding twins or 3 quarts a day to feed triplets. This is why I don't let does nurse quads or more -- because almost none can produce a gallon a day. Does peak at about 2-3 months after kidding, then their production gradually goes down. How long they last depends on the genetics of the individual goat. In the early days we bought some that could not milk for more than 6 months, and they were down to a cup a day before we stopped milking them. We sold them and only kept the ones that could meet our goals. This is why you don't buy goats from someone who does not keep milking records. There is a lot of variation between does, especially now that NDs are such a popular breed for pets.
Raw milk doesn't really sour like pasteurized milk because it has live microbes in it, so it looks like it turns into cheese if you forget about it in the back of the fridge for weeks. However, I would not eat it because you don't know exactly which microbes have been growing. The flavor just is not that great after a few days, and it actually is not good for making cheese (other than queso blanco) after about 3-4 days. After about 5 days, I just give it to the barn cats, dogs, chickens, or pigs.
What is the best technique, in your opinion,for person who gets as never milked before?
It depends on the individual and which method feels most comfortable to you. I'd suggest trying all of them.
@@DeborahNiemann the k you. I will. I have milked nothing more than a carton and look forward to my mistakes and triumphs.
I wish I had practiced on a rubber glove with a hole in the fingertip before I tried on the goat herself!
I was going to by a goat from you! You don't live that far from me!
I've seen some people put their milk in an ice bath right away (even before straining). Is there an advantage to this? Or do you strain immediately, and put it in the fridge?
We simply strain the milk and put it into the fridge right away. Back when I got started, everyone said you had to do that to have milk that didn't taste goaty. That's not exactly true, but it is based on a morsel of fact. Goaty milk is caused by a harmless skin bacteria that gets into the milk, so it can usually be avoided entirely if you clean the udder and put a few squirts of milk into a strip cup before starting to milk into the bucket that will be for human consumption. (I give the strip cup milk to the barn cats.) The highest bacteria level is in the first few squirts of milk. Bacteria grows best at warm temperatures, so if you don't do these things, there will be more bacteria in your milk, so the quicker you chill the milk, the slower that bacteria will replicate, which means the less goaty the milk will taste. Pasteurizing your milk has no effect on the goaty flavor because dead bacteria doesn't taste taste good either. 🤣 Straining immediately also helps prevent the goaty flavor because you're straining out all the dead skin and hair that fell into the milk while you were milking, so again reducing the bacteria count.
Great video! Is it necessary to boil the milk or can I drink it straight?
You do not need to boil it. To pasteurize it only needs to be heated to 170 degrees. Whether or not to drink raw milk is a highly controversial topic because if your milking routine is not clean enough you can easily wind up with food borne illnesses such as e coli or campylobacter or listeriosis. If you have a compromised immune system, then you really should pasteurize it.
@@DeborahNiemann you're the best!thanks
You're welcome!
What do you feed them with to produce milk, or do you only get the milk from breastfeeding goats?
Check out this video on Do milking does have to have goat feed.
th-cam.com/users/livekSG87t-Zw50
I am wanting to get into the nigerian dwarf milk goats. Why, family illness. I was raised on a dairy. Going to retire in 6 months. Haven't even found my goats yet or built pens. Got to do this though. Any advice about picking out does? I know I want polled.
Here's a podcast about buying goats - thriftyhomesteader.com/buying-goats-mistakes/ ~Abby
Since you’re interested in polled goats, you might find this article helpful also. thriftyhomesteader.com/genetics-polled-goats/
If you have any other questions, let us know.
I have a Hamby Miller, is it better to milk Dwarf Nigerians by hand for milk testing purposes? Does it produce more milk to do by hand? Awesome video, thanks!
Even if you are using a machine, you need to get a doe started and strip out her teats by hand at the end. Some need more hand milking at the end than others. You just put all of the milk together when you weigh it (both the milk from the machine and what you did by hand) for the test. If you don't strip them out at the end, you will be leaving behind a lot of milk -- especially with some does.
@@DeborahNiemann thank you SO much!! :)
I’m getting very little milk, any tips about that?
There are so many possibilities! I would need lots of details to be able to truly help. However, If you are new to milking, it's probably just that you need more practice. This is why I recommend that when you are new to milking that you let the does raise their own kids while you learn to milk so that the kids can keep up the milk supply while you are learning. I've seen too many people buy a goat, take it home, and two weeks later it's dried up because if you don't get the udder empty, the doe makes less and less every day. For years now, I have refused to sell a doe in milk without a nursing kid to anyone who is new to milking. I've heard of new people struggling for half an hour to milk a doe, which is not a happy time for the goat or you.
Where did you get the strainer and filters?
Online at caprinesupply.com
What are the filters for?
Thank you for this video. I can’t wait to start milking.
I have a doe due next week, and I was wondering at what age can we separate kid and mom at night, to milk in the mornings?
There will be hair and bits of dirt in the milk, so you want to filter that out. The answer about "when to start separating" depends on how many kids a doe has. I answer that question, as well as a lot more in this article: thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
Thanks for the video. My ND doe just had triplets last week so I need to learn how to milk her and I am new to owning ND goats. Where on the teat do you "pinch" to let the milk down? Is it right where the teat attaches to the udder? or is it on the udder? Also, do you just press the thumb and release to get the milk out or do you have to roll the thumb down the teat? Thanks in advanced.
Congratulations! If your doe had triplets, the kids need 100% of her milk, so don't separate her from the kids until the kids weigh 20 pounds each, which they should by 8 to 10 weeks if they are getting enough milk. I also recommend weighing kids daily the first two weeks to be sure the kids are getting enough. They should be gaining 4 ounces a day. I have a video on here about that topic.
As I mentioned, there are different ways you can milk a ND (unlike the big goats, which you milk like a cow). You press the teat between your thumb and forefinger where it attaches to the udder. If you have properly closed off the teat, it doesn't really matter whether you roll or press, the milk has nowhere to go but the exit. however, if you roll your thumb, you might be able to more milk out. The biggest problem with most people when they are getting started is that they don't press hard enough to close the teat, so when they squeeze, the milk goes right back up into the udder rather than out the orifice.
You can put the doe on the stand once a day for her goat feed (should be 16% protein) and practice milking her so she gets used to it. You probably won't get more than what will cover the bottom of the bucket, but this is for practice, not production. If you do get more, that's awesome!
@@DeborahNiemann , Thanks so much for your response. Yes, I just want to start practicing milking her right now. As you said, the babies are going to need the milk for at least another month or so, so we are not milking her for consumption yet, but I do want to start training her so when the time comes, it is not such a struggle. This is also her first freshener, so there is a lot of learning to do.
Another question I have is how do you get her to let her milk down? I have heard does can hold their milk back. I tried milking her yesterday and didn't get anything out. She didnt like it either. I don't know if I wasn't doing it right or if she was not letting her milk down. Any advice you can give would be appreciated. I will check out your other video too. Thanks a lot
@@007MJFan They are not purposely holding back their milk, although I know that's what everyone says. We used to say that too until I saw the research that shows that when kids nurse, they cause an oxytocin release, which does not happen when we milk them. So it's just a matter of getting them used to you milking them. If you are new to milking, it's entirely possible that you weren't doing it effectively. We've taught lots of people to milk goats, and many of them don't get out any milk even when the doe's udder has lots of milk in it.
If your doe had triplets and is a yearling first freshener, I would be worried about her producing enough for them to grow adequately. They should be gaining 4 ounces a day on average, which means 1.75 pounds per week, which means they generally double their weight by 2 weeks of age. When their weight doubles, that means their consumption also doubles because they need to consume about 20% of their weight in milk daily. So even if she is keeping up in the first week, their weight gain can start to slow down in the second week if she's not able to keep up with increasing her production.
Here is my article on learning to milk: thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
@@DeborahNiemann , thank you soooo much for all the tips. I will read your article and start weighing the kids and keeping an eye on them. If in fact, she is not producing enough, what are my options to feed the kids? Do I need to supplement with bottle feeding? Is there anything I can do to make her keep up with the kiddos?
You can’t push a goat beyond her genetic capabilities, and yearlings are still growing themselves, so they are dividing up their energy between producing milk and growing their own bodies. If the kids are not gaining adequately, then you can try supplementing, although most dam-raised kids will act like you are trying to poison them when you try to give them a bottle, so I usually wind up separating them entirely. It sounds counter-intuitive, but years ago, I had kids that starved themselves rather than take a bottle. I’d like to say that happened only once, but because of what people were telling me on the old Yahoo groups back then, it happened a second time. It is so UNTRUE that a kid will take a bottle if it’s hungry enough. It still breaks my heart to think of those two kids starving to death because I didn’t know better.
Do you just keep milking until no more milk comes out? Is that how you when to stop?
Yes. Initially the milk will be coming out in streams. Then the streams get shorter, and then they turn into little squirts. When you are new to milking, however, you'll probably think you're done before you are really are. That's why I recommend that if you're new to milking, you should have a doe that is nursing at least one kid so that the kid can keep up the milk supply while you're learning. I won't sell a doe in milk to someone who has no experience milking because I've seen too many people think that a doe didn't have a good milk production when in reality they weren't getting her close enough to empty that her supply started going down to meet the decreased demand. When I got started in 2002, a lot of people thought they had to take all the kids, milk the doe, and bottle-feed, but since they didn't know how to milk, they wound up having to use milk replacer to feed the kids because they couldn't get enough milk out of the does. Here is my blog post on how to learn to milk a goat -- thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
Ive tried to find it in your comments but have been unsuccessful and you have probably answered this already but i am researching different breeds and types we are looking for more milk than meat but wouldn't be against meat also are Nigerian good for that also when do you know when to stop milking her during each session does she stop giving milk or are tou just taking what you feel is a good amount? Thanks
Here are the articles that might help you.. ~Abby
thriftyhomesteader.com/mini-dairy-goats/
thriftyhomesteader.com/nigerian-dwarf-goats/
thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
thriftyhomesteader.com/nigerian-dwarf-meat-and-goat-goulash-recipe/
Abby gave you some great articles from the website, so I hope you'll check them out. Here is my video on ND goats for meat -- th-cam.com/video/0oUIYi2woXM/w-d-xo.html&lc=UgzGAmncQloOWClCT-54AaABAg
When you are milking a goat, you keep milking until you are getting only drops. It's all about supply and demand. If you don't "empty" the udder, she'll produce less. There is so much more to it than this though, so I hope you'll check out the article on the website about milking. ~~Deborah
I have been having some problems with the filter for the milk, I have been filtering it out but some of the debris gets through it and it ends up in the milk. I have been doing the filtering the way you do it but it gets through still.
You didn't mention which type of funnel and filter you have. If you have the type of filter that has a ring that screws on the outside of the funnel, it's very easy to not get it on perfectly, and debris can clip past the edge of the filter. We used to always hold them up to the light to see if there was even a hint of a crack. I talk about that at 5:45. Like I said, it drove me crazy! If you are using the one that I talk about at 6:30, I have never had any trouble with that one. You just have to be sure the ring is pressed down completely into the funnel so there is no gap anywhere around the filter.
@@DeborahNiemann Yeah i use the one you were talking about at 6:30. i might not have been pressing the ring far enough down. Thank You!
Hello. What size pail do you use under her
It’s one quart. Buy the shortest one you can find. We have four, and we have one that’s about an inch shorter than the rest, which we use more than any of the others because a couple of does are easier to milk with that one.
I was wondering what size pail you use to milk in? Thank you
I'm pretty sure it's 6 cups -- or 1.5 quarts. We've had three different ones that size, though, and the dimensions can be slightly different. Even an inch extra in height can be a pain with sone of the shorter-legged NDs. So, there is one bucket that's the shortest that gets used a lot more than the others!
do you have to milk daily
If a doe has two kids nursing, then you don't have to milk her, but if she has only one kid nursing, it's a good idea to milk once a day so that she'll have a better milk supply. If she has no kids nursing, then yes, you have to milk her once or twice a day. If you don't milk her, she will dry up. If you milk her sporadically, she would be more likely to get mastitis, so you need to have a fairly regular schedule, always milking once or twice a day.
Want a strainer like that. Where can I get 1 thanks
I bought this one from Caprine Supply online.
Is it normal to get no milk if you are trying to milk a goat with a grown kid (6+ months old) at side, who sometimes still getting some milk from his dam?
If you want milk, you need to separate the kid overnight. Kids nurse more than you think, and if they nursed recently, it’s possible that you will get very little milk.
How long will the raw milk stay fresh and drinkable? Do you need to refrigerate it?
You need to get it chilled below 40 degrees Fahrenheit ASAP after milking. The colder it is, the slower bacteria grows -- including bacteria that could make you sick or bacteria that is harmless but causes a "goaty" flavor. Raw milk doesn't sour like pasteurized milk that you buy in the store, but the flavor deteriorates fairly quickly. I can taste the difference after about 3-4 days. You can't make a good quality aged cheese with raw milk that's more than a few days old either because your natural bacteria is going to "fight" with the culture that you add, and you don't really know who's going to win at that point. After about 4 days, I personally would only use it in cooking (which automatically pasteurizes it) or to make queso blanco, which requires heating to 190 degrees (automatically pasteurizing).
what if you freeze the milk immediatly after milking? im amazed that you got 26oz out of one goat for one milking. My first freshner i have is 41 lbs and i only get around 18 oz per milking currently. Any idea why mine is behind? I know shes first freshner so that factors into it but my Nigerians seem to be way below what the internet says. 41 lbs and the internet says nigerians should be 60-75lbs@@DeborahNiemann
@@throlyhd9448 Yes, you can freeze milk, but it will separate when you thaw it. That does not mean it's bad. You just have to shake it up or put it in a blender to mix it back together. Based on your doe's weight, I'm assuming she is a yearling, and I don't even breed a doe until she is 40 pounds. Your doe can't produce much milk because she is still trying to grow herself. If you are getting 18 ounces twice a day, that's a quart a day, which is great for her size. I do hope you are not separating young kids and milking her once a day. Kids should not be separated until they are 20 pounds because they need all the milk they can consume. If your doe was separated from her mom too early, that would be why she is still so small at a year of age. Or she could have had a bad case of parasites as a kid that slowed down her growth. There are a LOT of possibilities.
thanks for the reply, We purchased her and her sister with their kids. her sister is still nursing a child but both of her kids were sold before i got them so in order to keep her in milk i stayed milking her. I do not know any of the details as they are unregistered does other than what the seller told me but ive been around some other nigerian drawf goats and they seemed way bigger. thanks for the reply again@@DeborahNiemann
Why is it important to give the goats "credit" for how much milk they give? Is it to decide who gets butchered for dinner?
We don't usually butcher Nigerian does, but milk production is important to a lot of decisions we make. If you are raising dairy goats seriously, that means you want to improve the breed, so if a doe is not a great producer, all of her sons should be wethered and sold as pets. It is so important that bucks come from the very best does because a buck can sire hundreds of kids in his lifetime, so he can have a HUGE impact on your herd for better or for worse. Most does will have only 20-30 kids in their lifetime. If a doe is a really poor producer, she might get sold as a pet without papers.
@@DeborahNiemann Thanks for the reply and info. I purchased a property in Portugal and inherited 4 female dwarf goats. IDK if Nigerian or what breed. I just don't want them butchered so rather than sell or give them to someone, I'm going to try to let them live out their lives in peace. Guess I'm not getting any milk since I only have girl goats.
Do goats only produce milk when pregnant?
They are not producing milk WHEN pregnant -- they produce milk after the kids are born so that they can feed them. At the end of pregnancy, they produce colostrum, which is the first milk that the babies get when they are born, and it is highly concentrated. Then they will produce milk for months and sometimes even years after the kids are born, as long as they have kids nursing or as long as you are milking them.
Do you milk the cow
I have milked cows, but milking Nigerian dwarf goats is different, which is why I made this video. This is NOT how you milk a cow.
@@DeborahNiemann is it easy to milk
If you use the techniques I show in the video, yes, they are easy to milk.
Get some light on the process. It was filmed in a shadow
This was great it's day three at attempting milking. I have only milked cows. The one goat the farmer trained us on was easy going with large teats.
My question comes from having a non willing goat. She is getting more tolerant, however she bucks and lays down. I can't hold her up and milk at the same time. Any recommendations?
You could put something under her chest so that she can't lay down. If she is dancing around on the stand, you may need to just milk with one hand and milk into a small container that you can hold up near her teats so that she can't get her foot in it. This would be temporary, of course, until she starts to understand that you're not hurting her.
@@DeborahNiemann thanks, we will give it a try.
How do I pasteurize the milk?
Simply heat the milk to 145 degrees and hold it there for half an hour. This is the best option if you are going to make cheese. However if you are going to make yogurt or just drink the milk, you can heat it to 170 degrees, and it is instantly pasteurized. Keep in mind that if you are planning to use the milk to make pudding or gravy, which are boiled, the milk will be automatically pasteurized at that time so there's no need to do it separately ahead of time. For more info on milking, check out this article:
thriftyhomesteader.com/learning-to-milk-goa/
Does their milk taste good ?
Can you make butter from it?
Hi Goat Milk
To time consuming get somebody else to do it😂