Goat Milk Yield & Lactation Calculator (Per Doe, Herd & Household)

How it works

daily yield ≈ a · t^0.25 · e^(−0.036 t) (Wood's curve, t in weeks, peak at week 7) · lactation total = Σ daily over the lactation length · 1 L goat milk ≈ 1.03 kg · chèvre ≈ 1 kg per 10 L; hard cheese ≈ 1 kg per 12.5 L · dry off 60 days before kidding; gestation 150 days

A dairy goat's milk rises quickly after kidding to a peak around the seventh week and then declines slowly for the rest of a ten-month lactation, so the whole-lactation total is roughly two hundred and fifty times the peak day rather than three hundred, and a herd's daily supply in month eight is barely half of what it was in spring. Breeds differ mainly in scale — a Saanen peaks at three or four times a Nigerian Dwarf — and inversely in butterfat, which is what turns into cheese. Because the curve is shared by every doe kidding in the same season, a household that wants steady milk staggers kiddings or milks some does through a second year instead of re-breeding them all at once.

Worked example

Two Nubians kidding on 15 March peak near 2.8 L a day each around early May and give roughly 640 L apiece over a 305-day lactation — about 1,280 L for the pair, 5.6 L a day at peak but 3.1 L a day by mid-November. For a family wanting 3 L a day two does are enough, though only just in the last months; each doe's milk would make about 64 kg of chèvre. Dry them off around 14 January and breed by 16 October for kids the following March.

Frequently asked questions