# Self-milking doe



## LaManchaPaul (Jun 2, 2008)

A new doe to my farm seems to empty a lobe or sometimes both before I milk. I hand-milk twelve hours apart. One lobe will give a half cup and the other more than a quart. Then another milking vice versa. Sometimes I get a little more than a cup. :crazy

Her first day here she gave a gallon but with the move she dropped dramatically. I milked three times a day and she came back up to a half-gallon a day. Of late I am getting very little milk from her because she seems to drink her own milk. I can’t catch her self-milking but where she lies down there is no spilt milk. She is a wonderfully easy milker, but I’ve never seen her leaking.

At the last goat-show a doe had been taped so as to fill the udder. A lady said that it was just duct tape. So I used duct tape but without success. She almost always pulls it off. The side that remained taped today gave milk as expected and the side she removed the tape only one-half cup AGAIN!!

Does anyone have experience with this? Does this have a name? What did you do?


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## ellie (Nov 17, 2007)

I only dealt with it once (in about 40 years of goats) but I could never cure her. Maybe someone has a trick that works, but I am not hopeful. 
good luck!

Ellie


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

A cone on her head, maybe?


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

YEP a dog protection collar which is a cone and some where on here someone told how to make one from a bucket


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## kuwaha (Aug 22, 2009)

You can make a neck restraint out of leather to prevent her turning her head enough to get at her udder. If you imagine a rectangle of leather about the length of her neck, slightly narrower at the top than the bottom, punch holes down the left and right sides, put it around her neck (room to breathe eat etc  ) thread a lace through and tie off.
Not sure about long term success though?


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## Rose (Oct 26, 2007)

Those cones are called Elizabethan collars.
http://www.bargainbuypetsupply.com/...E7-4497-4A1C-9585-FAD17668F9C6&P=2010&RID=503

I have a self sucking doe. She won't do it when she has kids, but when they are weaned and I'm milking, she will if she gets over full.

Nothing worked yet to stop her.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 27, 2007)

I used to own the doe that Alice now has. :lol I tried everything I could think of to stop her when I owned her, nothing worked.


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## Rose (Oct 26, 2007)

She has wonderful kids with beautiful udders, so she's more than worth the small frustration!


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Also the plastic folgers cans. I have one that is sporting one right now. I split it down the middle and duct taped it back together on the neck. It seems like it would be annoying, but she doesn't seem to notice. She does this when she's getting full. I wish I had allll day and a shock collar hah!


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Bet that would only take one day, though.


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## luvmygoats3 (Jan 12, 2009)

I have a doe that does this.... I tape her with Nexcare durable cloth tape when I'm done milking. She is a real easy milker and a very nice doe. If she's not taped she will nurse off herself, sometimes she gets the tape off.. very frustrating :crazy. Hopefully after she freshens again she will stop doing this :sigh.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 27, 2007)

Rose said:


> She has wonderful kids with beautiful udders, so she's more than worth the small frustration!


Yes, I went to Kentucky to get that doe and besides that bad habit, was more than happy with her.


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## LaManchaPaul (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks all. It really is frustrating. She is a beautiful doe FF with twin doelings. She's been exposed to a strong-line buck so I'm looking forward to kidding time. 

I got a pricey deal on her because she wouldn't stop nursing her mother who also had twins. The previous owner didn't say anything about self-nursiing so I don't beleve that she did until she got here.

I tried the duct tape cup on her teats again twice yesterday. but she always gets it off. During the night she was bagging up beautifully. at 8 and time to milk she was flat. Almost a pint only. I'd expect more than a half gallon per milking. 

Ashley, I don't understand the Folgers plastic can and DT. Can you explain how it is attached?


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Please do not use duct tape this can really cause and irritaiton to her teats and may end up getting staph on them. Go get some surgical tape or even the feed store for good tape for animals. Duct tape is just too harsh.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Not the greatest photo, goat wouldn't be still- of course. Just cut the bottom off, cut down the side and then put it on and duct tape back together. That's how I did it anyway.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Ashley that should work good!!


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Yea, it seems to work well.

BTW, I didn't see it mentioned on this thread, but I learned with this doe NOT to let them stay on their dam too long. I believe that is what caused it. Sounds like the same with your goat, Paul.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

I suppose if you bottle feed them from the get go, they won't figure out what udders are for? I can just see the thought process going on, "Well, lookee here, I didn't know I had one of those so handy!" :rofl


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Yep lol!


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## jillig (Jul 21, 2009)

I was flipping through the Jeffers Pet Catalog today, and they have a variety of neck cones, and something like Karen was talking about.
Good luck!!


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 27, 2007)

hsmomof4 said:


> I suppose if you bottle feed them from the get go, they won't figure out what udders are for?


Unfortunately, not so. I had a kid who was bottled from moment one and she was the second of only two does I have ever had that self-sucked. So I don't really think it always has to do with nursing or nursing too long.


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## grandmajo (May 22, 2008)

Ok, now I have to admit that I'm laughing at Ashley's goat's "collar", because it says "Custom Roast" on it......I could see somebody asking if the goat was for butchering!

On a more serious side....I had one that did this too. I used the tape method (medical tape). When she figured out how to pull that off, I put a couple of small dabs of Vicks on the tape. That seemed to turn her off, and she quit doing it.

Another thought could be a goat bra? Like they sell in Hoeggers?


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## Bil (Nov 22, 2008)

I have to say how much I am enjoying DGI!! I can't wait to see my wife's face if I ever have to say to her, "Hey honey, I'll be back, I've got to go buy a goat bra!"  :rofl

Good luck with your doe!

Bil


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## Rose (Oct 26, 2007)




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## LaManchaPaul (Jun 2, 2008)

OK. Clarisa has a ground roast Folgers can on her neck. FUNNY looking!! :lol I look forward to getting ALL of the milk this evening. I told her that she'd be the oven roast is she didn't mind me and stop.

Rose, I think that she'd have a tough time getting to the milk with THAT BRA!! :rofl

I too LOVE this site. dgi rules!


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## LaManchaPaul (Jun 2, 2008)

Arrrwg she looks so uncomfortable with her neck always straight. She's chewing her cud and all seems ok, just it hurts my neck to see her....

:sigh


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

You might cut it a little shorter? My doe has a pretty long neck. She seems fine.


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## LaManchaPaul (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks Ashley, I WAS JUST thinking that before dark. I'll go do it before I go to bed. TX


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## LaManchaPaul (Jun 2, 2008)

Well, just an update. Thanks Ashley. Cutting it in half was a great idea. She looks more comfortable. She was stressed with the can and off feed. Today, much better and milk production as expected. uummmmm good.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Glad you now have milk


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## Sunny Daze (Jan 14, 2008)

One of my does did this last year however had not done it previously. I had pulled kids, was milking her and bottling kids. This year, I let her dam raise. She didn't do it at all, even after I weaned her kids and milked her. I am curious to see what happens next freshening...probably will bottle again.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Nice to actually *get* the milk you work so hard for huh?


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## Wild4goats (Apr 7, 2015)

Hi all! I too have a self milker. She is a Nigerian Dwarf and I used the folgers can. Her head was small enough to slide thru without cutting in half, but just cut bottom out. I thought it was working, but then saw her very easily reach back and suck despite the collar. 
I bought the doe for her blood lines, not milk production. Although she is a very easy milker and has potential for great production. I am new with Dairy breeds and so I have a question besides how to prevent. Will it do any harm to her nutritionally if I just let her continue to self nurse until she kids?


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## jdavenport (Jul 19, 2012)

You need to break her of this habit, or there won't be any colostrum for her kids.


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