Glimmercroft - Udder Development and Dam-Raising Kids

"My doe just kidded and her teats are too small for milking easily.  She doesn't seem to have very much milk anyway.  Can I just let her kids handle the milking for a while until her teats get bigger?"

Unfortunately, from what I've seen, it doesn't work that way.  Here's how it really works.  When a goat kids (freshens) for the first time, her udder and teat tissues become very stretchy in order to accomodate her milk production.  This stretchiness lasts for two or three months.  After that, the tissues firm up, and there will be little or no more expansion until her second freshening.  She'll have another stretchy period early in her second freshening and, to a much lesser extent, early in her third freshening.  After that, her udder and teats are pretty much where they're going to be.

If you leave the kids with the doe all the time, they spend their days taking sips of milk, and her udder is never required to store any significant quantity.  Also, because the udder is never full, there's never any pressure on the teats, so they don't expand in size.  A doe's body will make a larger amount of milk for a larger number of kids, and her kids will be able to keep up with her increasing production as they grow, keeping that udder empty.  Given the opportunity, kids can drink an amazing amount of milk.  (I once had two Oberhasli doelings a month old putting away three quarts of milk a day, each!)  The result is a doe producing lots of milk, but never developing any udder capacity or teat size.  Then, when you suddenly wean the kids, the doe's udder gets extremely full, and the back pressure causes her production to drop off dramatically.  Even if she doesn't get mastitis from the lack of circulation in that extremely tight udder, she will still stop producing any quantity of milk very, very quickly.  You'll try to milk her, but she'll think you're stealing food from her babies and will be miserable to milk, trying not to let her milk down, kicking, sitting down, etc.  Plus, her teats have never gotten any bigger, so it will take a very long time to milk her out.  You'll get annoyed with all of this and decide she's not really a dairy goat after all. 

I recommend a different method. :o)

Once the kids are solidly on their feet, say, after about three days, separate them from the doe at night.  At night, they will spend most of the separation time sleeping rather than crying for their mother.  So that nobody is unduly stressed by the separation, put the kids in a place where they can see the doe, and she can see them, but they can't nurse.  I have a small stall with slats in one section of the wall adjoining the doe area, but a dog crate in the goat stall would also work.  Start with 8 to 10 hours of separation, and work up to 12 hours after a week or so.  At night when you put the kids away, be sure to milk out any excess milk the doe is carrying, to avoid uneven udder development.  This will also give you a good opportunity to train the doe to the milkstand while she's in more of a sharing mood, and while her milk isn't tasty yet anyway.  (It can take up to two weeks for the really good milk to come in.)  I also like to spend some time handling the kids every night when I separate them from the doe, so that they grow up to be comfortable around people.

In the morning, milk your doe out completely.  Don't be tempted to leave "breakfast" for the kids.  A sudden bellyful of milk can cause digestive upset.  Also, if they know there's milk in the udder, they will compete for it, bashing the udder around, holding onto the teat with their teeth, etc.  If they know the udder is empty, they'll go get the couple of sips that are inevitably there, then try again every few minutes, providing lots of stimulation for your doe to produce more milk.  Eventually, your doe will notice that milking brings relief from a full udder, as well as a grain treat, so she will come to look forward to milking time.  Hint:  try to be there when your doe kids, put some birth fluid on your hands, and let her lick it off.  She will then see you as one of her kids and more readily allow you to take her milk.

With my method, your doe's production will be stimluated by two things:  you completely emptying her udder once a day, and her kids constantly nursing during the day.  Her udder will get full once each day, gently stretching her udder and teats, building the milk-holding capacity of her udder, and making her teats more milkable.  The kids will still feed themselves and be looked after by their mother, which seems to make for healthier, faster growing kids, and your doe will develop an udder and teats that make her worthy of being called a "dairy goat."