At the risk of looking like a total idiot...what on earth does freshening mean when referring to a goat? Is that when she goes into heat? She has been milked now, 5 days in a row (her baby was born 5 days ago). She is only giving 6 cups of milk a day...is this normal for an alpine?

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), March 10, 2001

Answers

Response to freshening...just what does it mean?

With any animal freshening means when they start giving milk again after giving birth. I don't know about the amount of milk for an Alpine, we raise Angora goats, not dairy goats.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 10, 2001.

Response to freshening...just what does it mean?

Freshening is when they birth and come into milk production. Three pounds( or three pints) of milk is not bad if she is a yearling with a baby nursing. If she's an older doe, hopefully her production will pick up.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 10, 2001.

Response to freshening...just what does it mean?

She is two years old and we are bottle feeding the kid. Thanks for letting me know what that meant!! I grew up with goats, but even my parents didn't know what it means. They didn't have registered goats..maybe that makes a difference?

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), March 10, 2001.

I am a cattle farmer. To me freshening means getting ready to calve. A cow will bag up and the 'er - rear end' will get loose and lubricated. Some of my cows get so loose one would think if she stepped in a hole the calf would fall right out. But then I have some who don't show any advanced signs. When I go out to feed, they just have a calf with them.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), March 11, 2001.

As a fresh faced Vet Tech ,many years ago, my first position was at a large animal clinic in the middle of dairy country. When a farmer called in with a post partum problem I wasn't familiar with the terms he was using, they didn't teach his language in Medical Terminology class. When giving the call to the vet I repeated what I thought the farmer had said. To my embaressment I was quickly enformed that if the cow had already given birth it was not "about to freshen", the terms meant the same thing. If the cow had already given birth, it had already freshened. Since that day I have used the word freshen for all dairy related births.

-- Nancy Bakke-McGonigle Mn. Sunset (dmcgonig@smig.net), March 11, 2001.

Ok , makes sense, thanks! I had asked someone not on this list and they thought it meant when the goat was in heat. I hadn't heard the term until on this list, so I thought I would ask. Thanks a bunch!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), March 11, 2001.

Cindy,if the doe just kidded 5 days ago her milk production should continue to improve over the next couple of weeks.Be sure to milk her out completely a couple of times a day even if the kid is nursing. This time lag in milk production is so the kids don't drown in milk before they are large enough to use it all.

-- JT (goneto seed@hotmail.com), March 11, 2001.

That makes sense! Her milk is up to 8 cups a day now. :-) Thanks again!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), March 14, 2001.

i have 5 goats (now) and have had goats for about 6 years. i learn something new everyday. one thing is that you will always have more milk than your frig can hold and that even if you make cheese every day you can't eat it fast enough!! i love my goats and pigs love the milk, as do chickens! (people who have dairy goats don't talk about the cups of milk they get.... it's usually done in pounds. don't know why, didn't ask)

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), March 17, 2001.