Long Lactation (as in for years and years)

[Stephine]

I just listened to a fascinating podcast (from France) about very long lactation in goats. These people just keep milking their goats after the first kids have been born. The supply goes down a bit in the winter (they said it varied mainly with the food supply) and then came back strongly again in the Spring. They milk them for basically ever. They had 8, 9, 10, 11 year olds still in milk and giving lots of it. They said the milk quality improved (higher fat content or protein, I can’t remember), they could make and sell cheese in the winter, and mainly their goats’ health was way better. They said they had noticed before going to continuous milking most health issues would show up around breeding: gestation, birth, weaning… , and that just giving birth over and over again took a toll as well. With continuous lactation their goats were in great shape and vet bills had plummeted. They also felt better about not sending so many bucklings to slaughter. And their relationships with the goats were very harmonious because they had them for so very long.
I think that is an amazing approach for anyone who wants to keep goats mainly for their milk!