# Does it really matter



## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

if a FF goes a full 10 month lactation? If I let her dry up early, will she really have shorter lactation's in the future?

I have 8 milkers right now. I am drowning in milk. My 3 freezers are full of frozen cheese and milk and goat meat. I don't have room for more. I have been making yogurt and soft cheese (vinegar type) for the dogs and chickens just to use it up. The critters got to the point where they just didn't want any more milk! 

I would love to dry up the FF's I have right now, which are 5 of my milkers. Most are being bred this month. I am milking them once a day, so that does help a bit on chores and amount of milk, but......drying them up next month would be a way to save money, time and sanity if it wasn't going to reduce their future production.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

It's not permanent, but they will try to quit sooner. But if you keep pushing, they will keep going. I dried mine up. Everybody was griping about the milk in the freezer. I was dumping milk we didn't get used up, and I was tired of milking. I don't like to milk once I start breeding, cause then I have to fight the bucks for their does every night.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

Thank you. I'll be keeping 3 of the mature does in milk, but wit, it the 5 FF would be a welcome relief if I didn't have to milk them.


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## Laverne (Apr 4, 2010)

I would dry them up also. All that milk would drive me nuts.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

That's why we raise pigs! Or veal calves!


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## cvalley (Apr 15, 2009)

Ditto, here! We raise pigs with the extra milk


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I can't say about it causing shorter lactations in the future; I have been drying off early for three years now! Without a way to legally sell milk, i end up with gallons and gallons of extra milk and more cheese than even my extended family can eat! I am seriously considering dam-raising next spring. I'd still have to milk twice a day but it wouldn't be such a huge volume of milk to deal with.


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## Laverne (Apr 4, 2010)

With my limited forage with only about 1 1/2 acre, so having to purchase most the feed, my milk comes out at about $3.00 gallon so I really like keeping it down to manageable levels.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Michelle, you won't be milking twice a day for long 

You should move to Arkansas where you can sell allll da milks


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## Golden Delta Alpines (Mar 8, 2012)

You can sell milk legally in Arkansas? What other states is it legal to sell raw goat's milk?


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

Idaho. But we like to keep it for ourselves. So, everything else sucks, don't move here. LOL


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

I can sell up to 500 gallons a month of raw goat off the farm. Customers must come and pick it up.

Yes, there are other states though I don't know if any others have such a good law as that.

Check here: http://www.realmilk.com/state-updates/


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Ok. Ashley, I 'll be right there! LOL I will bring all my girls and just camp out at your place til we get a house.


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## EmyAcres (Jul 3, 2013)

In Georgia we can sell raw milk for pet consumption only. But every one that I know that buys it drinks it themselves! Lol


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Sounds good Michelle


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## Twillingate Farm (Oct 26, 2007)

Here in New Hampshire we're allowed to sell up to 20 gallons of raw milk (or the equivalent in raw milk yogurt, kefir etc) each day. We can sell at farmers markets, or off the farm and we do sell an incredible amount of aged hard cheeses since there is a growing "Eat Local" movement here. We like to offer the entire menu... salad greens or spinach & scallions with the Feta etc. or packaged stir fry vegetables, turnips & squash for the entrees.

Once you establish a decent customer base it becomes more of an issue of keeping up with the orders so, after having been milking since early February, I got relieved by my wife taking over October 1st to give me a break. All the girls have been bred now and we should be able to dry them off by Thanksgiving and sustain hard cheese sales through the Winter until it all begins again come February. 

But, don't tell anyone since we don't want more competition! :biggrin


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## Laverne (Apr 4, 2010)

Twillingate Farm said:


> Here in New Hampshire we're allowed to sell up to 20 gallons of raw milk (or the equivalent in raw milk yogurt, kefir etc) each day. We can sell at farmers markets, or off the farm and we do sell an incredible amount of aged hard cheeses since there is a growing "Eat Local" movement here. We like to offer the entire menu... salad greens or spinach & scallions with the Feta etc. or packaged stir fry vegetables, turnips & squash for the entrees.


Yum, you have quite an enterprise going on!


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Nice Allen! We can't do the other dairy products here.


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## Twillingate Farm (Oct 26, 2007)

Well... it's a good arrangement for the time being anyway. The Food Safety Modernization Act will effect all of us to one degree or another so it may all fall apart for all of us as this corporate takeover destroys the local foods producers nationwide.
:fire


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## 2Sticks (Dec 13, 2007)

In Mississippi we can sell milk off our farm but we can't advertise or even put up a sign. We can't sell cheese or yogurt unless you are a Grade A Dairy. I'm tired of milking and drying my girls up now


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Tamera, now *thats* a stupid law. Put up an ad and suddenly the milk gets unsafe lol. I can see a limit on what constitutes small scale production but advertising?


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## hmcintosh (Jan 8, 2013)

Here in Alabama you can't sell raw milk period without risking your farm. Some do sell for pet consumption but its risky. Really stinks. We ought to be able to do what we want to with our stuff.


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## PrairieTrail45 (Nov 28, 2011)

In Oklahoma you can sell up to 100 gallons a month of goat milk. It is supposed to be "incidental sales off the farm".


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## EmyAcres (Jul 3, 2013)

I think that its funny that in Georgia we can sell our milk for pet consumption but everybody who buys it drinks it themselves! And honestly I wouldn't pay $11 a gallon for my pet!!! Lol


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

To the people that have incidental sales, pet sales, etc, is there any kind of licensing and milk testing you have to have done? We can sell from up to 7 goats at a time at stores, farmers markets, off the farm, pretty much anywhere, as long as the goats are tested for tb & brucellosis annually and the milk passes monthly tests for bacteria, coliforms, temperature, somatic cell counts, and drug residues. Or you can do herdshares from up to 14 goats with the same kind of testing. You can also have up to 3 cows and 7 sheep. Oh, and you can make any products to sell from the milk, as long as they are made on the premises and they are also tested for coliforms.


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## PrairieTrail45 (Nov 28, 2011)

Here they don't have anything that says the goats or the milk needs to be tested. If you are selling more than the 100 gallons a month, then you are supposed to get licensed as a dairy, but who would know exactly how many gallons you are selling


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

I am not a Grade A dairy, but we have to have a permit, to exempt from the laws for Grade A as a small herd. It worries me when there are no testing requirements. THAT is when people get sick and start suing.


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