Have you noticed that girls who give alot of colstrum give alot of milk and those who do not give alot of colstrum give lesser amounts of milk ? Is there any way to perdict milk amounts with amount of colustrum given ? Patty *edited by BlissBerry - title spelling
Re: Perdicting milk amounts I just spoke with a dairy goat breeder today that said that one of her saanen grades was bought for her future udder as that line was strong that way. She freshened with a handful of an udder and not much else. A few week past and she exploded. I saw the goat myself today and her udder looks big and beautiful. So I'm assuming that you can't tell but I really have no idea. I'm only going by this story. It would be interesting to find out what others say.
Re: Perdicting milk amounts For me no..I've been having a lot of does freshen with edema..so not getting much colostrum, but when it clears they milk really well, but it takes a few days. So far my little FF has given me the most colostrum..2 quarts-but her production won't touch the older girls. I wish I could pin down why some start w/ edema and some don't!
Re: Perdicting milk amounts My first one this year was heck to get colustrum from but is now milking 1.5 gallons #2 freshened today and without emptying her all the way I got 5 lbs. Patty
Re: Perdicting milk amounts From what I've seen in my herd, the best predictor of production is genetics. I have some lines that produce more than others. While some of my heavier producers have given me more colostrum, I've also had goats who didn't have alot and went on to milk real well for me. Kathie
Re: Perdicting milk amounts I wouldn't say that's been true for my does. I got very little colostrum out of my best milker, and the doe I got quite a bit from now isn't milking that great. With first fresheners it's quite typical for them to freshen with a tiny udder that really stretches out in a couple weeks though.
