How much milk?

Its my third day of milking a saanen/boer cross doe. She lost her new born kids on Saturday. the first two days the milk was thick and cream colour and I fed it to the pigs. today the milk was frothy and white so I have strained it and its in the fridge. It measured just over 600mils.
My worry is that I'm not milking her out properly, or is that Ok for this stage of things. She stood better today and it was less stressful for both of us. Her udder was hard to start and quite soft when I stopped and I was only getting a few drips on each squeeze.
It took me a couple of days to get the hand action right and neither of us enjoyed that but I think I have that sorted now.
so back to my question, how much should I expect to get?

I think that's a kind of 'how long is a piece of string' question to answer, as the Boer in her may very well bring down her production (but it should be nice, creamy milk!). If she has no kid on her, though, and you're the only one taking her milk, I would still expect about 1.5 litres at a once a day milking (I get about that from my Arapawa does).

That first milk (colostrum) sure makes lovely custard - something to think about for next time, perhaps?

What sort of feed is she on? That will also have an effect on the milk production volume, and if she's wormy, that will always have an effect, as will cobalt/B12 deficiency (can be common this time of year, post-kidding).

If you're only getting a few drips each squeeze, it could be down to your technique, which will surely improve over time, or she has a small teat orifice, which will always be a pain.

Keep milking her, and her milk supply should slowly come up.

Cheers
Andrea
Oxford

is it Ok to milk just once a day? I should get twice as much then?
I wasn't really clear in my explanation, I get a good squirt each squeeze when I start but got down to a few dripps at the end. So the 600 was thismorning, 12 hours after last evenings milking.
The first couple of milking were only fit for the piggy because we had a couple of foot issues - foot in bucket!
Hubby needs to build me a platform this weekend as things are too low at ground level.
She has good forage, she gets some bread, silverbeet and 50/50 mix with adlib hay as well as the forage. She also has a couple of apples and sometimes a banana. I gave her a couple of wine biscuits whilst she was sstanding to spoil her and make her carm standing.

any other goat milkers that can help? Andrea would it be Ok for her to be milked once a day?

TKP, for a comparison. I milked a saanen and a boer last year. The sannen wasn't a great milker - not sure if becuse it was her first lactation or if she isn't from a particularly good milking line (I suspect the latter) and I was share milking her with a doe kid. I milked once a day (am), kid ran with her for the day and was locked away at night. I got about 1.5l at her peak. By comparison my boer doe (same routine, also feeding one doe kid) only gave 500ml at her peak. The milk was much richer looking though so I guess that's the trade off. I've also noticed our boers don't drink nearly as much water as the togg and the saanen does. I guess it was an advantage in the African desert to drink less and thus make richer milk with what water was available. I'm looking forward to milking my toggenburg doe next year as I'm sure I'll get more milk. Andrea bred my wee togg, Dyta.

Only 4-5 weeks til I start the early morning milking again.

With the hours of work I am doing once a day, is the norm here and on days off I do it twice.. and boost up the volume. like cows they dont reach maximum performance for 3-4 wks as the kids are growing and their needs balance out then.. the udder is hard as most is tissue making the milk not the vessel holding it.. but needs massaging to bring it out of the ducts.. if ya get wot I means.. so like the kid massage instead of bunt to bring that lot down.. by wek 6 all should be soft and easier.. and she standing like a darhling..

Once a day milking is fine, it's all I've ever done. From what I've read and been told, you only get marginally more milking twice a day, and for me with all the goats and the clean-up each time, it's just easier to do once a day.

You may get about 1.5L a day from her at her peak, but if it's her first lactation, it's usually the smallest, volume-wise. I had a purebred Togg give only 1.5L per day in her first lactation, and then that jumped up to 5L per day from her second lactation onward (thank goodness for her, because her second lactation udder was enormous!!).

Andrea
Oxford

So there is hope for my saanen to produce a bit more this coming season? Would be nice to only have to milk one doe to get what I need for our house.

I got 700mils this morning and will leave her till tomorrow morning now. I was doing 7am and 7 pm but if I can get her till about 9am once a day that will fit in really well with my routine. thanks for the advice you guys. I have aboout a litre and a half in the fridge now so soon have enough to try my first feta making.

I remember reading about cattle, the shift in production from twice to once a day milking was something like a 8-20% drop in milk volume per cow, but overall volume for the farmer stayed almost the same because the farmers concerned could have a higher stocking rate per hectare.

Some breeds did better than others - Jerseys were found to hold a lot more milk than Friesians - and some individual cows did better than others within each breed.

Actualli I've been thinking and I might milk her tonight and then 9am in the moring otherwise she would be going 26 hours which might be a bit much. What do you think?