Dani, I'm going to make you laugh and laugh and laugh and everyone else who reads this, too, probably.... I've been milking this goat for a month now. You saw in that first post how short these goats are compared to me, right? I never did get that milking stand built. I'm going to have to get a really good picture of how these goats are put together. Their teats are probably not even 2 inches long.
So, at 10am every morning, I go out to my shed and get 2 cups of sweet feed. I keep the goats shut into the side yard at night, so I go in there and spread one cup of feed on the ground so they have to work to find it. Then I put the other cup in front of Diana's face to remind her what we do every morning. She gladly follows me to the shed in hopes of getting to put her nose in that cup again.
There's a bowl of feed waiting for her there and she gets right to business eating it. I over-bought chick starter and if I spread a little of that in her sweet feed it slows her down enough that I can milk her dry now.
Okay, so, because of the way she's built, I have found it much easier to stand over her facing backwards, reach down between her back legs and milk her while holding my milking cup in one hand and squeezing with the other. There's no way I could ever get those things aimed in the right direction to set a bowl between her legs. I'd have to have two of them, one behind and outside of each rear foot to get that right... lol. Diana doesn't seem to mind that my behind is over her shoulders and I rest some of my weight on her back while milking her.
Obviously, because I have to hold the cup with one hand, I can only milk one side at a time, but I alternate back and forth as my hands get tired. Because her teats are so small, I have to take her whole udder in my hand and I use a similar motion with my hand as the woman in the video Roninsensai posted, just over the whole udder instead of just on the teat. My son has accused me of molesting the goat.
I am milking her only once a day now and she is giving me a full pint a day. It only takes about 10 minutes. Diana never kicks and she only moves as the feed bowl slides. I keep saying I'm going to secure that in place but I never get around to it. So as she slowly backs up because she pulls the bowl towards her while she eats, I move forward. We start at one side of the shed and end up at the other.
So, from what I've read, I need to wait 2 weeks before milking the mother of the new babies. Then I'm supposed to separate them from her at night (which I think really sucks and may mean I just don't milk her if they cry too much) and milk her first thing in the morning. I am more tempted to just leave them together and take whatever milk I can get from her in the evening, even if it's only a little bit, because I honestly don't think I have the strength to milk 2 goats in a row in the morning.
Can you explain to me how you do this, Dani? How long do you wait before milking the mother? What age should the babies be before they are weaned and how do I do that if they all live together? I have a really tiny property. Can I just leave them to wean on their own? Will they nurse forever if I don't wean them? I haven't read up on that part of goat husbandry yet but I will. I still prefer hearing from people who have actually done it.
The babies are up and running around this morning. They are so freakin cute wobbling all over the place and so friendly. I've decided to name the black one Dora and the white one Daisy, continuing with all of the "D" names. I'll get pictures of them out in the yard later today.