Jess Ryan

Ok. Hopefully she recovers her production. I need her milk for my son and I don't want to breed her again. I'm still looking for good help for when I'm gone, so hopefully we can just keep up our usual routine. Thanks!

Ok, that sounds like a plan. I'll do that a week before I leave so I can have an accurate feel of the situation. Thank you for your input!

Hiya folks,

I've got a dairy goat with a nursing kid (the kid is currently almost 4 months old and will be 5 months old when I need to leave for a week for work). Currently, if I don't tape a teat at night, mamma goat gives me less than 2 cups of milk per day (I milk her twice a day and the kid has 24/7 access). If I tape one teat at night, I get about 1 quart of milk per day.

Do you think she's matching her kid's consumption well enough that I could leave her without being milked by my house-sitter for the week? My two biggest concerns are 1) causing her discomfort and mastitis and 2) permanently lowering her production. Would not milking her that long be uncomfortable for mamma goat or permanently affect her production? Alternatively, what if I had someone milk her once or twice during the week until I get back? Do you think that would be ok for her and also not affect her production? Or do you think I need to get a sitter that can do it right and milk her twice a day as I do?

Thanks for your input! Leaving my critters is stressful.. as is finding a sitter I trust to do the job right...
-Jess