# Second freshening



## Moody

Hi


I have a 2 year old second freshener Lamancha. She had a single last year and Twins this year on March 19. Sire is alpine. The twins are gaining fast. And growing well. Lamancha momma has little milk when I milk her same as last year. 

I also have a 3 year old second freshener Nubian. She also had a single last year but this year had triplets! Their sure is Nubian. The triplets don't seem to be gaining as well as the twins (maybe just because triplets) but momma has a ton of milk. last year I couldn't get much until I separated kids from momma a at night but this year Nubian momma is giving 6 cups in the morning and has her kids with her at night. She also refuses them milk quite often, or so it seems. She is full in the mornings. 

I'm afraid she will explode if I separate the kids at night since she is full in the mornings with them staying with her. 

Her peak last year was 2.5-3 quarts with just one morning milking. The rest of the time she had her doeling on her until she weaned her around 8 months. 

Am I looking at huge production from this girl? Is it okay to separate kids at night even though she is so full already? 

Thankfully I got a new milker from perry's and won't have to hand milk. I will start using it when I separate kids at night. 

Another question regards that miker. When I put the inflation on my finger to time the pulsations, my finger gets red and a bit tender from the suction. Is that normal? We just got it and the pulsator wasn't going like it should so we already did a rebuild on it. I called mike and he never called back on that issue so we just rebuilt it. I still need to clean it after the initial run and rebuild of the pulsator but I think I'm ready to go.


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## hsmomof4

If she is refusing them and they don't seem to be gaining very well, I would think that maybe you have an issue there. As in, the reason that she is so full is because she's not letting them nurse as much as they need to. You might need to address that.


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## Moody

They are gaining. I know it isn't as fast as the twins or singletons of last year. 

That is the only comparison I have. I will keep an eye on them. It is only the morning that she is full, the evening I get maybe 1/2 cup. I'm not sure that they aren't appropriately gaining, just that maybe triplets being smaller to begin with, maybe don't grow on the same curve as singles or twins?

In my very limited experience, maybe triplets wear on a doe with the constant nursing? She doesn't always refuse them but I do notice her declining them when I'm out there. I have also seen them urinate and I have seen them nurse. Just that she does step away a lot too.


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## hsmomof4

We've had a fair number of quads here. They've never seemed to lag behind singletons or twins. But I've also bottlefed them because I wasn't sure mom could keep up. The most I've had being dam raised at once have been triplets. Anyhow, my point was that if mom has a lot of milk, then the babies should be gaining well, if she's letting them eat enough. She might well feel like they're too demanding, in which case, you might have to take up the slack. How old are they? If they are still pretty young, her refusing them is not really a good thing, even if they're not starving.


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## Moody

They are 2 weeks today. I didn't get as much milk out of her the last two mornings. And the evening is almost nothing now. I need to start separating them at night tonight but I will keep an eye on them to endure they are still gaining. 

I may need to go back to Sudan hay because this coastal from down the road seems to be giving a slightly bitter taste, maybe that's the problem anyway. Her milk was wonderful last year.


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