Increase in Milk Production

The morning quart of milk.

Either I'm getting better at milking Matilda-Cow or she's just making more milk. She was averaging a quart a day at first but has gone up to a quart and a half (sometimes a little more) each day. I did get some handy goat hobbles, Velcro straps that tie her back ankles together, to keep her from kicking my bucket when she gets low on grain.

I still haven't mastered milking with both hands. Grr. My left hand doesn't cooperate. She seems to know it's not working right and makes a fuss about it. My right index finger is becoming rough. Hubbie says I'm getting farmer hands. Apparently I'm only getting a farmer finger. Weird.

"Farmer G, I need more grain, a bite of banana, and
a handful of alfalfa leaves, pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

Matilda-Cow is a sneaky girl, kicking or snorting when she wants some more attention during the whole process. She acts up most often when Farmer G is in there to help. He's a sucker for her cute, begging goat eyes and gives her whatever she wants. He tried to milk her this morning but was so gentle he only got out a drop--not even a dribble. I pointed out to him later on how rough her babies are with her to assure him that his gentle nudges weren't hurting her at all.

I also changed my milking stratgey so that I'm seated by her as soon as she begins to eat. That way she's very busy when I get my hands on the milk makers. I milk her as much as I can and then give her the grain ration which seems to make her relax and drop a second round of milk.



Full udder and extra side teats.

This morning her udder was quite large and full. You can see her additional teats on the outer edges. They're not functional and considered a defect in dairy goats. As she's not a purebred, it doesn't matter much to us. It even makes her name 'Cow' more appropriate.