If you are reading this you are at least entertaining the idea of owning a milk goat. I acquired my first doe in the early 1970s and for about four years I milked my two does ten months of each year. I also retained three doelings each year, bred them, and kept them through kidding and training to the milking stand. Once they were stable milkers I offered them for sale and started the whole process again in the fall.

Back then it was standard practice to remove the kids immediately and bottle feed them. Many people still do this, often to prevent the spread of CAE to kids. Since we test annually for CAE and CL, and because, as primary milker, I like some flexibility in my daily routine, we leave some or all of the kids with their mothers for the first several weeks. Then we confine the babies at night and milk in the morning until the babies are weaned between three and four months of age. By scheduling the arrival of the buck on October 1, kids are born in March, and I if I want to get away for a weekend or just skip a milking, I can leave the kids with the does and let them do the job for most of the summer.