-- Pilot Milk Test Process

Going forward, in 2010, I will be doing unofficial milk test on my herd to prove out my goats for myself and my buyers through Ruminations Magazine.

I participated in a pilot milk test program (6 month test period) in 2009 to be used for Ruminations magazine . This voluntary pilot test on my herd was used to create a baseline for future Ruminations subscribers to participate in milk test in order to help them prove out their herds unofficially. It was conducted with the strictest of DHIR rules adherence, as though it was a an official DHIR milk test program. The actual weights of recording were computed and completed by an independent, yet official, DHI coordinator - not associated with Ruminations Magazine.

By unofficial, this means; any person that wishes to conduct milk test on their herds without going through their official goat registry. Ruminations Magazine is offering a program to give Ruminations subscribers, not enrolled in official DHIR, a chance
to prove the milking lines in their herd through capacity recordation only. Unofficial milk test allows you to see if your goats would qualify for their milking stars, but it is not part of their permanent registry information.

Unofficial milk test does not go through the USDA and there is no monthly cost associated with the program. It is a way to have an independent and impartial third party, yet official DHI coordinator, involved in your tests to give validity, to both your breeding program and milk test data. The NDHIA milk test program used is OS43.

NOTE: For our involvement, for these 6 months, 2 of our does "unofficially" qualified for their milking stars. If we had continued milking the full 305 day lactation (10 months) on our herd, I believe that 8 of our other does would have qualified for their stars as well. Their milk totals were very close to qualifying when I stopped. This information will be used to advertise our herd.

For more information click on this link: Ruminations Magazine.
Your source for information on the milk testing program

For six years we had official supervised DHIR milk testing done on our herd, but due to career changes and other factors, I was not able to keep up with official testing. I am a licensed milk supervisor and recorded my milk weights using USDA DHIR Code 43 test
plan for Capacity Recordation Only.

We dam raise our kids. Our opinion: We feel this is healthiest for the Dams and the kids as well. For the kid's first 3 weeks, we only milk the does out in the AM and allow the kids to nurse the remainder of the day. After 3 weeks, we go to twice a day. Due to this management practice, the milk weights we record, possibly will not reflect what other herds are seeing that milk twice a day at an earlier age or bottle feed their kids starting at birth.

Milk Test Process: On test day (24 hour period) if the kids are still nursing, we take the kids off and milk the dams out. Twelve hours later we do the AM milking and 12 hours later again, we do the PM milking. Any issues that will affect the weights will be noted, (i.e., kids escaping and milking dam's out before milk time). Once kids are weaned, we follow normal DHIR 305 procedures.

Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us with them.

Thank you for the confidence.

Sincerely,
Barb Halligan

Doe Information			Pounds in AM + Pounds in PM = Total Days in Milk
Click on photo for individual bio page	Xs Fresh # Kids Total Lbs/ Total days Unofficial Stars	Height - Not official	May 2 AM/PM	Jun 1 PM/AM	Jul 1 AM/PM	Aug 3 AM/PM	Sep 2 AM/PM	Oct 2 AM/---
Caeser's Villa Paige ARMCH 4*D E	7th 1 432/184	20.75"	Kid on all day 2.7 --- 2.7 6 days	2.1 1.9 4.0 37	1.5 1.7 3.2 67	1.5 0.8 2.3 99	1.1 1.0 2.1 130	1.1 ---- 1.1 160
CornerStone Farm Asriel AR 2*D	6th 3 332/153	21"	2.0 1.2 (kid on) 3.2 31 days	1.5 1.6 3.1 62	1.4 1.1 2.5 92	0.8 0.3 1.1 124	.6 .4 1.0 155	Dry 9/27 ---- 182
CornerStone Farm Phebe AR*D	6th 1 269/175	21"	----	1.2 1.1 2.3 lbs 33 days	1.4 1.4 2.8 63	1.0 0.6 1.6 95	.4 .4 .8 126	.7 ---- .7 156
CornerStone Farm Abigail	5th 2 518/204	21.5"	2.5 1.3 (Kid on) 3.8 26 days	2.5 1.6 4.1 57	2.0 1.6 3.6 87	1.2 1.0 2.2 119	.9 .8 1.7 150	1.2 ---- 1.2 180
CornerStone Farm Joy	3rd 2 607/194 *D	20.75"	1.8 2.5 4.3 16 days	3.0 2.4 5.4 47	2.2 1.7 3.9 77	1.9 1.1 3.0 109	1.3 1.3 2.6 140	1.5 ---- 1.5 170
CornerStone Farm Amariah	2nd 2 415/203	21.25"	1.6 1.5 3.1 25 days	1.7 1.6 3.3 56	1.5 1.8 3.3 86	1.1 0.7 1.8 118	.8 .8 1.6 149	.6 ---- .6 179
CornerStone Farm Lasea	2nd 1 442/197	20.25"	1.0 1.5 2.5 19 days	1.8 1.5 3.3 50	1.7 1.7 3.4 80	1.3 1.0 2.3 112	.9 1.0 1.9 143	1.1 ---- 1.1 143
CornerStone Farm STS Bethsan	2nd 1 236/99	20.5"	2.0 2.1 4.1 8 days	2.1 1.6 3.7 39	1.6 1.5 3.1 69	----	----	----
CornerStone Farm STS Ammi	2nd 2 528/193 4*D	21.25"	3.1 2.0 (Kid on) 5.1 15 days	2.6 1.9 4.5 46	2.1 1.8 3.9 76	1.4 0.8 2.2 108	1.1 1.0 2.1 139	1.2 ---- 1.2 169
CornerStone Farm Anah II	1st 2 460/196	20.5"	2.3 2.4 4.7 18 days	2.1 1.9 4.0 49	1.4 1.8 3.2 79	1.2 1.0 2.2 111	.7 .8 1.5 142	.8 ---- .8 172
CornerStone Farm Bered	1st 3 383/201	21.5"	2.4 2.0 4.4 23 days	1.5 1.4 2.9 54	1.7 1.1 2.8 84	0.7 0.7 1.4 116	.8 .7 1.5 147	.4 ---- .4 177
CornerStone Farm Saron	1st 2 314/166	19.75"	---	2.3 1.9 4.2 17 days	1.7 1.7 3.4 47	1.4 1.0 2.4 79	.9 .9 1.8 110	.1 ---- .1 140
Herd average for month - # of does milked			3.79 -10	3.73 -12	3.26 -12	2.05 -11	1.7 -11	.87 -10

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We would like to thank all the breeders who have taken the time to breed the qualities we are using in our base herd to produce what we consider the CornerStone to any herd.

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