Polly

Our Soap Goat on her milk stand!

Before I milk her...                                                                                                       After I milk her...  

I thought the before and after pictures would be interesting.  :-)

I get between 3/4 of a gallon and a gallon of milk from Polly every day.  This is her first freshening (the dairy goat term for getting new milk, or having kids, which, of course is how they get the new milk).  Until a goat is about 4 years old, the amount of milk they produce should increase a little with each freshening, then it will level off and eventually start dropping off.  A doe that produces a gallon a day her first year is a pretty good producer.  Goats will continue to give milk for at least 10 months of the year if you milk them twice a day, consistently.  Some have been known to produce for two years continuously without having to freshen, but they are exceptional.  I can't stand to milk that long.  I keep mine in milk for about 4 to 5 months, tops.  In fact, I start working toward drying them off after about 3 months by beginning to milk them only once a day.  Their milk production will slowly start to taper off, then when I really am tired of milking, I start skipping a day between milkings, then I only milk if they look uncomfortable.  Pretty soon, they stop making milk.  It works well for me, but then, I don't do milk test or any of those production record-type things.  I just want enough milk to stock up for soapmaking over the winter (and to make enough cheese to satisfy my goat milk cheese craving for a while!)  Believe me, a gallon or so of milk per day for 4 months gives me enough milk for just about anything I want to do with it for the whole year.