About Our Milk Testing

As mentioned in the previous page, we at IGSCR-IDGR have long had a vital and valuable milk test program unlike no other, which will help us assess the viability of our does to produce milk for many years to come.  These milk test programs are not built to just give every doe an award, but rather as strong aids in herd management to help us discover if our does are viable for producing food for our families. Our programs are also there to help us know if our does are producing too much, that may harm the longevity of our does.

Last night I was talking with a long term breeder of Nigerian Dwarf. She has seen that many of our does are producing such high volumes that are more milk than the Nigerian Dwarf should be capable of producing. Why? There are several reasons.

  1. Some lineages of our Nigerian Dwarf are actually not Nigerian Dwarf at all, but rather Miniature Dairy Goats (ie/ Standard breeds crossed with the Nigerian Dwarf) and posing as Nigerian Dwarf
  2. Many owners of today are greatly harming their animals by feeding farm too high protein feeds to FORCE their animals to milk more than they are meant to produce. They are harming the doe’s udder and her health and longevity. Why is this happening? Its so that the animal will get higher milk weights and also have larger udders in the show ring. This is NOT actual milk, but fake milk amount that is actually harming our animals and threathening to destroy breeds.

IGSCR’s programs for milk testing are set to truly assess the nature ability to milk and tailored to different milking styles.  Most milk programs are built with one idea in mind. That is 305 days in milk and twice a day milking.  And often very low minimum amounts required.  We at IGSCR have long ago created our milk programs to be unique to show the areas of strengths in our does.

We are ever evolving as well in our milk program. Just last night I was asked about some possible additions to the milk test program. We look forward to working on those additions to our program.

Types of Milk Tests

  • 305 day (Dairy Herd Improvement aka DHI or Barn-Self records with special proof of validity system) Volume and Butterfat
  • 30-day (Barn-self) Volume and Butterfat
  • One-day (Volumen and butterfat)
  • Protein (It has long been shown that the protein should be less than butterfat, if our feeding programs are correctly balanced for our does)
  • Extended Lactation (365 days or longer)  many does can milk well for years, if given a chance
  • Lifetime milk
  • We have been asked to create a test for aged does, which we will be implementing soon

Some possible additions

We have newly started working with a long-term Nigerian Dwarf breeder, who long did a special type of milk test through the Ruminations Magazine. We will be working with her to enhance our milk testing program and also other programs that we hope you fill find valuable!