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Lactation or the production of milk by special glands in goats, as in all other mammals, occurs for the sole purpose of providing nutrition to their offspring at the earliest stage of their life. The transformation of the internal structures of the udder in order to prepare it for milk production, under the influence of certain hormones, begins before fertilization. In goats belonging to highly productive dairy breeds, during this period the udder is partially filled with milk, but milking them is prohibited. The only permissible manipulation of the udder is washing the nipples in warm water for hygienic purposes.

Timing of lactation

As soon as the goat has offspring, lactation begins immediately. Its duration is approximately seven months. If goat breeding occurs in the spring, then lactation continues until autumn. At the end of it, the animal should be released so that it has time to prepare for the reproduction of the next offspring.

Goat breeding is considered a pretty good business, because with low costs of feed and simple conditions content, you can make a good profit from the sale of dairy products. The monetary equivalent of the labor expended will depend on how much milk the goat produces per day. In the article we will look at how much milk a goat gives per day and some other nuances associated with keeping animals.

According to experienced farmers, there is no clear answer to the question of the amount of milk, because its yield will depend on the conditions of detention and the available food supply, as well as on the breed of the goat. If the animal is kept for the purpose of obtaining high milk yields, you should choose dairy goat breeds, for example Toggenburg or Alpine. They are capable of producing 6-8 liters of milk per day. If we are talking about record holders, then the first place here is occupied by the Zaanei breed of goats with a milk yield of about 3 tons per year (9-10 liters per day). The disadvantage of such goats is considered to be their very high cost, about 20 thousand rubles per head, but the costs quickly pay off.

If you don’t have money for such a purchase, you don’t need to travel far because there are good animals of domestic breeds. For example, Gorky and Russian goat breeds give 3-5 liters per day. If you purchase an ordinary goat, high milk yields will not be achieved; an outbred goat is unlikely to exceed 4 liters of milk per day, but if there is no satisfaction with the amount received dairy product, there is no need to quarrel with the seller, since the improvement in animal productivity begins after the birth of the kids. In most cases, the goat adds milk after the second lambing.

The following facts may indicate a decrease in goat productivity:

• unfavorable conditions of detention. The temperature in the barn, even in severe winter, should not be less than +6 degrees. The pens must be kept clean, manure removed and bedding added, and a ventilation system must be provided;
• no matter how many reasons there are, a decrease in the amount of milk often occurs with a sharp change in diet. If there is a need to improve the animal menu, then new types of feed should be introduced in small portions for testing. It should be noted that raw potatoes reduce productivity, and hay with field chamomile, on the contrary, helps to increase milk yield;
• Before milking, they wash the goat’s udder, as well as their hands, to avoid infection. This procedure is carried out in the morning, afternoon and evening.

An increase in the mass proportion of green and succulent feed in the diet, unhindered access to water, regular examinations by a veterinarian, and walks in the fresh air, with the exception of cold days, will contribute to improving the milk yield of goats. It should be noted that the basis for high milk yields is considered to be proper maintenance and care, and not the breed of goats, as many are accustomed to believe.

Like other mammals, goats produce milk for the purpose of feeding their offspring. Under the influence of special hormones, the udder develops in the female even before the moment of goatling. In highly productive dairy breeds, even a small udder begins to fill with milk. However, you cannot milk the animal at this time, but only wash the nipples with warm water for better hygiene.

Immediately after the birth of offspring, the goat begins the lactation period. It lasts about 7 months a year. If a goat gives birth in the spring, which is often the case, then milk will be produced from spring to autumn. Then the animal starts and prepares for the new birth of its offspring. Although, as many owners say, they sometimes milk their milkmaids for 8-9 months a year. True, in recent months the amount of product may not exceed half a liter per day.

The process of formation and production of milk is exactly the same as in cows. That is, it is created under the influence of certain hormones, enters the udder and remains there until the moment of irritation of the nipples (milking).

How much does one individual produce?

How much milk a goat produces depends primarily on age, breed, and also on the lactation period. It is believed that the best thrush breeds among these animals are the Saanen, Toggenbur, Russian, Mingrelian and Cameroonian breeds. Purebred breeding females give up to 6 liters per day, while ordinary pets give 2-3 liters.

The best productivity is observed in domestic animals after the third or fourth goat in the first 4-5 months of lactation. However, many other factors also affect your milk supply.

• Feeding. In summer, animals milk better, as they eat a lot of succulent feed, green grass and fresh leaves.
• Care. A goat produces more milk if its daily routine is followed and it is kept in clean, well-ventilated areas.
• Care. As many owners say, these animals very sensitively feel the care and love of their owner. Most often, they become strongly attached to the mistress who milks them. There are cases when a goat completely refused to give milk to a stranger, even though she knew him.

So, let's look in more detail at how much milk you can get from one goat of a medium-milk breed per day, per week, month, year.

In a day

As we have already said, the amount of milk depends on the lactation period, age and breed of the animal. On average, one domestic goat produces 2 to 3 liters per day. High-milk breeding - 4-6 liters. Many people get more milk when they feed their pets well or give special supplements. It is important to take into account genetic inheritance.

In Week

According to average statistical estimates, one dairy goat can produce from 14 to 20 liters of product per week during peak lactation. It should be borne in mind that the milk of these animals is much fatter and more nutritious than cow's milk. It makes sour cream and cottage cheese denser.

Per month

You can milk about 50-55 liters of milk per month in spring, and from 60 to 80 liters in summer. In summer, the milk may be a little waterier as the goat drinks a lot of water and eats a lot of succulent feed.

In year

On average, one goat produces about 400 liters of milk per year. At the same time, those who milk animals for 6-7 months a year and 8-9 receive this approximate figure.

How to identify a good thrush?

If you buy an animal and want to get a lot of products from it, then pay attention to the appearance and, especially, to the structure of the udder. So, a healthy good female has clear shiny eyes, good dense hair, a straight back, a barrel-shaped rounded belly, straight legs set wide apart, and a wide chest. A healthy animal is active, cheerful, and responds well to external stimuli.

It is believed that a hornless goat produces more milk because it is less aggressive and more docile. Also pay attention to the shape of the udder. U good thrush it has a round shape, not too fleshy and fatty, after milking it acquires folds and sags a little. Milkings should not be too large or small, or directed to the sides. The defect is a drooping udder with large milkings, which prevent the animal from walking normally, as well as too separated lobes.

Video “Productivity of farm and domestic goats”

In this video you will find out how much one farm pet gives, as well as the consumption of milk to get 1 kilogram of cheese and 1 kilogram of sour cream.

How much milk does a goat give? Goat farming for beginners. Milk the goats after lambing. Goats are odorless. What determines the milk yield of goats? Why does goat's milk smell?

With this article we are opening a new section on our website.

I would like to introduce you

famous goat breeder - Alexander Vasilyevich Sosnovsky!

He will talk about how to get goat milk yield of 7 (and even more!!!) liters of organic milk per day. Are you saying that this can’t happen?

He will also tell you how to raise healthy kids, who at 9-11 months become mothers themselves and delight their owners with generous milk yields -

So, over to Alexander Sosnovsky.

For more than ten years, before purchasing goats, we kept a cow. There were two of them. We are used to working hard in the summer, preparing food, so that in the winter we can live a calm, measured village life. The cow's milk yield suited us quite well. We received 25 kg of milk per day from her in the summer. This milk was obtained exclusively from green pasture grass.

Over the years, our bodies have ceased to absorb cow's milk well, and we have wondered how to get out of this situation so as not to create health problems for ourselves in old age. Our thoughts turned towards the goats. The only alarming thing was that there was an opinion among the people about specific smell of milk, to the point of inedible.

Our first experience as beginner goat breeders.

The saying that a goat is a poor man's cow didn't bother us too much, because... We were primarily interested in the issue of our own health, and not our status in society. Without thinking twice, we bought two adult dairy goats from the same herd. They did not have any documents confirming their belonging to any breed. Outwardly they were similar to the white German improved.

In general, I think that at present it is too early to talk about purebredness, because... This issue is not controlled by anyone, and there is no strict accounting of breeding goats on private farmsteads. This issue is very serious and should be under strict government supervision. Therefore, reading private advertisements for the sale of “breeding purebred” goats always makes me smile. An ordinary schoolchild can now “draw” a certificate. I understand perfectly well that all goats that are brought to us from abroad are accompanied by documents indicating that they belong to one or another breed. But this is the case if the animals are purchased from certified breeding farms. All other options must be considered with great caution. A goat may be highly milk-producing, but there is no point in asserting the purity of the blood.

One goat was 5 years old, and the owner was going to slaughter this goat over the winter, because, according to him, it was already unpromising, and its maximum daily milk yield was just over four liters. The second goat was a year younger and her age was four years.

I bought these goats in the last ten days of December. The goats were pregnant (pregnant). One goat was supposed to lamb in March, and the second in April. Having assigned each goat a cage (by that time we had already sold the cow), we began our first steps in a direction hitherto unfamiliar to us. We had enough hay and other food for the winter, just like for one cow, so we fed our goats plenty and variedly.

We live right next to the forest and went out into the forest almost every day. That year, the winter had little snow, and the goats happily ate blueberries, lingonberries, willow branches, buckthorns, gnawed bark and ate branches from fallen pines.

Milk the goats after lambing.

The goat, which was about five years old, gave birth to triplets. Two goats and a female goat. The goats were discarded as unnecessary, and we began to feed the goat plenty from the bowl. On the second day after lambing, we again continued hiking in the forest. Every day the woman in labor increased her milk yield. This made us happy.

A month later, our goat was already producing more than five liters of milk per day. We were at a loss, because... the previous owner did not reach such a figure. The goat was feeling good, and this reassured us. At the end of May, the milk yield of this goat was already 7.1 liters of milk per day. Milked in exactly six hours. This yield lasted for about two weeks, while the grass was growing and contained a huge amount of vital energy and structured liquid, which we call juice. » How to milk a goat correctly? Proper milk distribution means high milk yield.” — .

With the onset of hot days and the age of the grass, milk yield began to slowly decline. In October, being pregnant again, she gave 5.3 liters of milk per day. That year, we milked 1550 liters of milk from this goat in 11 months. Next year her the annual milk yield was already 1680 liters.

Goats are odorless. Why does goat's milk smell?

The milk was very tasty. Everyone who came to us and tried it drank it, thinking it was cow's milk. When they found out that we no longer had a cow, we were very surprised that milk was not at all what people say about it.

I don’t know about anyone, but our goats did not have any unpleasant smell of milk. The milk of some goats may have a specific taste and aftertaste that is not pleasant to everyone. All this is very individual. In the same goat, during different periods of lactation, the taste of milk may vary. This is especially felt before launch. Before the dry period, when older goats are sitting in the womb and need more nutrition, the body of a pregnant goat begins to work slightly differently than that of a single goat. Nutrients necessary for the growth and development of fruits begin to be produced, and the hormonal background of the body changes significantly. Perhaps this affects the taste of the milk.

In addition, waste substances from the fetuses sitting in it enter the blood of a woman in labor, and her body must disinfect and dispose of all this. I was talking about pregnant goats.

But there are goats whose milk taste leaves much to be desired throughout their entire lactation. If we assume that the milk of pregnant goats acquires an unpleasant taste due to the disposal of waste from the fruits, and the goat’s organs do not have time to efficiently utilize all this, then it turns out that in a goat that has a persistent unpleasant taste of milk, the organs also work poorly.

The taste and smell of goat milk depends not only on the breed.

Such poor-quality functioning of organs is inherent in goats of the pure Saanen breed. The standard defines the taste of Saanen goat milk as ACCEPTABLE. I attribute this solely to human intervention.

By creating a high-milk breed, man violated the primordial relationships of all the internal organs of the goat and forced them to work in sweatshop mode. Such interference cannot go unnoticed. Saanen goats in their litters give the highest percentage of hermaphrodites, the taste of milk, I repeat, is acceptable. And all because this breed was bred a long time ago and is constantly subjected to "improvement".

Later breeds that are "improved" by humans will also give birth to hermaphrodites and will lose the taste of milk that they now have. It's a matter of time.

Try to understand this and explain the taste of your goat's milk . When keeping a goat sloppy, the milk will smell of manure and goat grease . These are external odors that are transferred into the milk at the time of milking. In all other cases, genetic engineering is to blame. Our goats did not change the taste of their milk when changing food.

What determines milk yield in goats?

Analyzing this (and subsequent) experience, I boldly assert that the expression “A goat is a poor man’s cow” is nothing more than a myth created to justify the poor quality of keeping and feeding the animal.

Milk yield directly depends on the amount of feed, its quality and the ability of the animal to process huge quantities of feed units, which form the volume of these milk yields and maintain the good health of the animal throughout the entire lactation period. “What to feed a goat in winter?” — . A strict schedule when working with animals is required! Any failure of it affects milk yield in the direction of its decrease. The expression: “Milk is on the tongue of a cow” applies equally to a goat.

Maximum annual milk yield from one goat ours was 1780 liters. Maximum daily milk yield from one goat ours was 7.3 l/day.

We can talk about all this next time, but I warn you that all this will require dedication. Relaxed people can stand back and watch how the upper levels are overcome. All these efforts will result in high results in milk yield, good health pets, obtaining strong, highly productive offspring with a reliable prospect of high milk production in the future. For this it is worth working hard, strictly following the prescribed schedule! Self-discipline never hurt anyone. Good luck to everyone!