# Feeding lactating nubians



## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

I know we have touched on this subject once, but can we revisit please. Quite simply, I have 4 Nubian does due to freshen in a month, we turn the majority of our milk into cheese ( hence investing in nubians ) How much grain should I be feeding these girls when they freshen? 
I feed only course milled barley as a grain, they pasture during the day and get alfalfa hay during the night. 
I have read that nubians require 2 lbs of grain a day, but I will not have the time to feed this on the milk stand only, and I wont have the time the pull them out of the herd every day and feed them separately.


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

Your goats won't eat 1 lb per milking on the stand? It isn't much...weigh some out with a scoop and you will see how much is a pound.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

I machine milk so, the time they are on the stand is not long.


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## Goat Town (Nov 20, 2010)

Can you pen your milkers close by your milking area and feed them there as you begin milking and put them back after they're milked until all are milked? If so you could begin feeding them before they're milked, while being milked, and after they're milked out.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

My goats inhale their feed. I can't imagine even with a machine they couldn't eat most of a lb. I bet they'll figure out they have to hurry or leave feed in the bowl. You'll hopefully be getting more milk too, so maybe it will take longer?


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

Perhaps Ive not made my question very clear. Is 2lbs of grain daily ( I feed only crushed barley) the correct amount to be feeding lactating Nubians? Ive seen some of you mention feeding BOSS, is this on top of 2lbs of grain or could I drop the amount of barley and up the BOSS? Is there anything else I could add to help the girls meet their full potential?


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

The correct amount of feed will depend on the doe and your other management. I feed more by body condition and production than an exact amount per goat. But 2 lbs is a good place to start. 2 lbs total is fine, BOSS included. BOSS is too expensive here, especially per amount fat (which is what I'm using it for in the diet), so I use flax. I just mix enough in my grain to get the total fat % to about 5%. Seems to work well.


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## donadavis (Mar 20, 2011)

Hi,

There is no correct way to feed Nubians! You are lucky though because you can feed Nubians from a single pan. You can fee them before or after milking by just putting the feed in one large pan and they will all eat as fast as they can and eat about the same amount as long as the pan is large enough for them to all get their heads in there. I feed 1 lb of grain to my girls twice a day...a lb of grain is about a 32 oz measure of something wet (which is what most containers are labeled for). I have a friend who feeds nothing but hay, no grain at all and her goats seem perfectly healthy so there is definitely a range that will work. So, my advice to you is to use your noggin and see what they want and how it affects their production. A glossy, active goat is a healthy goat so don't go by whether she looks thin or not but rather by whether she looks healthy. Some goats are so productive that they will put everything into milk and remain thin. 

You don't need to do what anyone tells you to do but you can use that advice to get an idea and try it to see if it works for you. Don't worry too much about what is right but just find what works best for you.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

Just out of interest, how much milk do your nubians average daily?


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## donadavis (Mar 20, 2011)

*Milk Production*

My girls at one year old produced 7 lbs at peak per day. They kidded in March and (I live in a very cold climate) I noticed that when the weather got warm for about three months we had peak production. When fall came they gradually dropped from the seven to five when they spent a week at a show. They never recovered completely giving six lbs peak on warm days after we got home. They averaged about 4 lbs when we dipped down and the fresh forage died and even lower during their heat cycles. I kept milking until they produced 1.7 lbs per milking in November.

This season they were both 2 years old and they kidded in February and May. My February goat barely made enough milk to feed her kids in the cold months (-20 degrees) She wore a coat and had as much grain as she would eat (maybe 3 lbs per day) but it was rough. By March she was giving 7 lbs and she peaked at 8.5lbs. Her sister kidded in May and she came right out 8.5 lbs average, peak was 9.5 lbs. Again showing made them drop right off and then we saw similar drops in production with the onset of cold weather.

Just to be clear about my feeding practices, though. I feed as much as they will eat during milking (by hand) and wait until they are done eating to take them off the stand. They eat about two pounds per day while milking. I feed Caprine Challenger, top dressed with minerals, as much hay as they will eat and they forage for most of the day on our property. They are big, healthy girls and they have big, healthy babies (average 8lbs at birth for multiples...I haven't had any small babies yet and no triplets, just twins).

I've kept spotty milk records but this year my daughter is doing a 4H goat project so we are weighing every milking and every feeding and recording what they do and don't eat and what the weather is like so if you ask me next year I can give your precise results. We are planning spread sheets and pie charts. I am such a nerd.

This is my third herd of goats--I moved to all purebreds two years ago. I've had Alpines, Oberhasli, la Manchas and Nubians and mixed breed goats. The Nubians are by far my favorite! If you fed Alpines or La Manchas from the same feeder one goat (boss goat, I call her) would eat until she popped and the others would just stand there. With Nubians they all dive in and eat together. Much easier! They don't bully each other so much either and I enjoy their personalities so much.

Sorry for the long post!


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

Thanks for the info, no one in my area has nubians so I have nothing to compare them with, milk yield wise. All the info I have is of web sites, so its nice to hear what a nubian owners goats produce. I am a real nerd when it comes to milk records, I have records from milking 2 x daily from every goat I have owned so I know exactly where my herd is at production wise. 
We turn most of our milk into cheese, hence investing in nubians, so it will be interesting to see the difference in cheese yields from nubian milk compared to our other breeds.


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## donadavis (Mar 20, 2011)

*Nubians*

Nubians have their pros and cons. They produce just as well as the Alpine breeds (quantity) during peak lactation, I have found comparing average Nubian to average Alpine. The milk is rich and creamy and the cheese to die for. You pay the price in days of production. I've never tried but I've heard they don't milk through well, either. The down time works well for me because I'm not making my living through the goats and I don't want to milk in -10 degree weather.

What are you getting for milk? How big is your herd? I would love to hear about how you do with your cheese making. My husband and I think about retiring and just having goats and going to all the farmers markets selling cheese for our retirement.

Best of Luck!

Dona Davis
Vermont
Purebred Nubians
Spring Mtn Farms
http://vermontdairygoats.blogspot.com/


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

First of all, I do not live in the states, I live in Bulgaria, so giving prices I dont think will help you. We will have 10 adults and 6 first fresheners milking this season, a mixture of purebred nubians, cross bred saanens/ local breed and a few local breed goats. We make Bulgarian Feta cheese, a cheddar style cheese and I have plans of making camembert this year.
We dont have farmers markets in Bulgaria, our sales are by word of mouth, and people come to us to buy, however, we did make and sell more than 900 lbs of the Feta alone last season.
I know a goat farmer in England, ( his website is fieldingcottage.co.uk might be worth a look ) that started making cheese from the milk from his 10 goats to start with, now he has a thriving business and owns more than 70 goats. His main outlet is farmers markets, a luxury that he and you have, which we dont.
Regardless of that, I say nothing ventured, nothing gained, as long as you make a quality product, and the market is clearly there, which for you it is, I say go for it, no matter geographicaly, where you are situated.
Start small, make consistantly good cheese and see how the sales go, we started 5 years ago with 2 local breed goats, now we have 16 milkers and still cant supply demand. Be aware however, that the first few years you will be putting money into the business with little or no profit for that investment. Having said that you will be starting with good stock dairy breed goats ( which we didnt ) so that will make life easier for you.
Good luck in your venture.


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## donadavis (Mar 20, 2011)

*Thanks*

Thanks for the information! In the States what we battle are regulations designed to prevent small-scale farming...it's almost a black market. Here in Vermont we are lucky because there is a huge movement, supported by the local government for allowing small farmers to sell their goods.

In Iowa you have to dye the milk black if you want to sell it in any form and you can't sell it for human consumption unless you have a grade A dairy. In Vermont you have to save a sample of every bit of milk you sell (I freeze them in an ice tray) and you must record who bought what milk, when. You are also required to allow for inspection of your barns and facilities. You also need Brucellosis testing done annually. The regulations in Vermont are some of the most liberal of all of the states. 
I hope the atmosphere for small farms gets better here. I really think the quality is much better.


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