When you first start milking a goat that has just come into milk, you really need to milk twice daily, about 10-12 hours apart to keep them producing. If you start with once a day she won't produce as much and if you decided to pick up an extra milking later on, she probably won't produce much for you. They don't fully come into their milk supply until about 1 week after they kid. The colostrum is the best the first day. You can always drop to once a day milking later on once you have gotten her milking established. Hope that helps. Bonnie

The male goats urinate all over themselves constantly and the females they are mating with. You will know by the smell how far away to keep them and it's a LONG way! Their smell will permeate everything around, including the milk and anything else nearby. The folks I know with a few dairy goats for milk just have females and young ones. They take the females to another farm for mating when they come in heat. If the kids are male they sell them before they get very big. You could also put them in the freezer. Mature bucks can be very aggresive and hard to tame, as well, but that might depend on the breed. If you get a fertile buck, you will need to keep him way out in a large pasture, but not by himself. A whether makes a good companion for a fertile buck. I don't think you want to put two fertile bucks together as they might fight a lot. You can also shear some goats, or comb them when they shed. Mohair (from Angoras) and Cashmere both come from goats. I have not kept goats myself, but have friends who do. I am considering it for when I have more time, though. I'd like milk and cashmere. I want a spinning wheel :-)

I know how frustrating it can be to milk a moving goat! It was smart you put a milk stand together. Trying to milk a goat while she is just tethered is pretty hard unless she is accustomed to that. I would suggest putting a hobble on one of her back legs to keep her from kicking over the bucket or stepping in the milk. My first milker was used to being milked with a milking machine, which is very fast and she would snarf down her grain in a flash and be done. When we bought her I was a total newbie milking and it would take me 30 minutes to get her milked, not to mention the milk on the floor, me and everywhere ;-). So, I was told to tie one of her back legs to the milk stand and try that. They won't kick as much with one leg immobilized. They feel off balance if they can't pick up both legs, so it keeps that other foot rooted. If that doesn't work tie both back legs to the milk stand. I have a metal milk stand that has brackets for this. Eventually, she will learn that if she behaves you can release her leg(s). Also, maybe you could give her a bit more grain until you get the hang of it so she will be concentrating on her food longer. You could check with her previous owner to see how much she was fed. But, since you said that she hadn't been milked in a while, you could gradually build up the amount she is getting so she will have more to eat and more time for you to milk. I tried all sorts of things to try to get my goat to settle down, and it took about 2 weeks for her to adjust to me and for me to get better and quicker at milking. Good luck! Bonnie

christineny - I've used the ultra-pasteurized goat milk (1- quart in a carton) and it works just fine for kefir/yogurt and general use as a substitute for cow's milk. It been difficult to find goat's milk in the carton around here. Wal-Mart was about the only place that carried it, and they don't have it all the time. Lots of health benefits associated with goat's milk. You can usually find powdered goat's milk in the same place you find non-fat dry powdered milk or SACO (dried buttermilk). The ultra-pasteurized is much better than dried. -Grainlady