well, Zeke, I bought her for 50 bucks not knowing what she was, and then when I found out, she became the stem of goat jealousy among my other goat farmer friends. She weighed a good 80-100 lbs. but still looked sort of skinny, but I have been told that is normal. When we bought her in August last year she looked thin, then in Oct. she developed an udder, but didn't look pregnant at all, I figured since she was running with a billy at my place she probably just got pregnant. On November 11 though I heard her holler and when I got out there she had a HUGE billy baby!! Good breeder The milk was excellent, in taste and medium butterfat for my goat. She gave approx. 1 to 1 1/2 quarts per milking, even though her udder didn't look like it could hold that much. She was such a tame goat, skiddish when loose ( I would let them out of the pen to graze) and when she saw you carrying something, but when I put her in the stall to milk, and she had the food, I could do whatever I wanted to her and she would never squirm. I don't have a milking ramp thingy, I just sit on a bucket next to them, (yeah hurts the knees, and I won't milk again until I have a ramp thingy) She never had udder problems, however she is the one I had to put down, but that isn't due to her breed. Hope this helps, Let me know If I can help any more, here is a link I found useful. scroll down to the bottom for the goats Here is a link that might be useful: sheep and goat breeds

I've never had a pygmy goat, but I know quite a few people who have. The consensus seems to be that milking pygmies is a waste of time. Because of the tiny teats it takes much longer to get a cup of milk out of a pygmy than it takes to get a quart out of a standard dairy goat. The same is true of meat goats - 15 minutes to milk a Boer or Spanish goat, 5 minutes for a Nubian, Alpine, or Toggenberg. However, some people do milk pygmies and there's a link below with further information. I'd think it would be best to purchase stock from someone who'd been milking successfully, since their suitability for milking may be highly variable. Straining milk is standard procedure, even if you're feeding it to baby goats. You'd either want to have a stripping cup, which is a stainless steel cup with a built-in super-fine mesh screen, or a supply of milk filters, or both. When you're milking by hand, a hair or a bit of grass will invariably fall into the milk if you're not milking directly into a stripping cup. The Caprine Supply catalog (free) is a good resource for beginners. It has lots of informative articles to give you some idea of what you're getting into. You can request one here or call their toll-free number. http://www.caprinesupply.com/shop/ Here is a link that might be useful: Pygmy Goat Milk

I was thinking a better comparison would be to give you lots of drinks, then refuse to allow use of the bathroom. How full do YOU feel? Does the feeling improve with time, like 24 hours? Not milking a goat who is used to being milked twice a day is cruel, and will damage the udder over time. Maybe a very short time. I don't think Bag Balm will fix mastitis. We always had to use real medicine, injected into the bad teat, on dairy cattle. That teat had to then be hand milked for the healing time, milk disposed up with medication in it. You can breed the goats to kid and plan your time to milk them. Plan your vacations, allow enough time to dry up the milkers, go on vacation, then have the new kids appear after you return. Do add extra time on expected delivery time, in case they kid early. Milk from goats does taste differently than cow's milk. Cow milk tastes different than mare's milk which is sweet but watery. Each animal produces milk to grow THEIR baby best, calves need lots of fat, so cow's milk is fat. That people can drink it too was not a consideration to Mother Nature. Good dairy goats need high quality feed, to produce quantity and quality in milk. Just like dairy cattle need rich feed for good milk. Trash feed, grazing, makes for poor milk in taste and quantity. Still goat milk flavor can be an acquired taste, like soy milk. You will need a plan, before getting into goats. The books recommended will give you good information. They do NEED to be followed to make good homes for the goats, with reasonable care and attention. Safe fencing, clean milking conditions and proper handling, along with vaccinations, hoof trimming, proper feed, are extremely important over the management of goats. What are the plans for resulting kid goats? Market, meat, pets, needs to be considered before breeding. You get no milk without having kids, yet keeping all will get the farm overrun with goats. You need to castrate any male kids born. You need to locate a Billy for breeding. They stink and can be difficult to handle, would not own one myself. I think it unreasonable to plan on owning any milking goat, then be gone over a couple days and ignore it. Plan breeding to kid and milk when you won't be gone. If you travel in summer, then leave the goats dry at that time, easy for neighbors to just feed. Breed for fall kids, so you will be home to milk DAILY over winter season. If you want a milking goat, YOU need to be available to care for it, not dumping on wife. I remember NOW! You are the one who posted about letting your goats free-range instead of fencing them in!! Also don't keep your dog at home because he likes to wander around. Sure glad NOT to live anywhere around you. You want to have stuff, pretend you are "rural or farmer", yet only do a half-a$$ job caring for them. On days it is CONVENIENT for you! Dang, I need to quit reading ANY of your posts, makes me too mad.

Could you contact the people you got her from? Hope you can get some help here or otherwise. Poor thing must be uncomfortable.