Diary of a Milk Maid: Week 3

* Warning:  This post will be full of goat speak.  For anyone who may be interested in learning the lingo I'm learning, I've linked the terminology to sites explaining their meanings*

Today completes three weeks of milking my first freshener Darla.  The three weeks was completed in Darla's cantankerous style.   In fact I would say this morning's milking was the most frustrating of all the milking days I've had thus far.

I purchased a goat hobble last week since Darla's kicking habit doesn't seem to be going away.  She's a kicky milker.  Holding one hind leg with one hand and milking with one hand works, but takes much longer.  On the plus side, my deltoids are getting a nice cut from the isometric workout their receiving holding one kicking goat leg in place with one hand and milking with the other.  But any who,  milking with one hand isn't ideal so I hoped the goat hobble would do the trick and keep my girl from  kicking.  It didn't.  This goat could be a ballerina.  She kicks both back legs up in the air, standing on her front legs in a near hand or hoof stand.  And the unsteadiness of falling off the milk stand when she does this doesn't detour her at all.  She's an acrobat and stubborn!  This makes for an eventful milking.

She may be determined to not let me milk her for more than 30 seconds (which is what she does with her kids) but I'm even more determined to not let her win.  It's gonna be a battle and it may take the entire 305 milking days a doe is said to have, but by golly, I'm not giving up!

Sigh.

This morning's shenanigans had me covered in about a half quart of milk before the not-so-pretty milking was over.  Whoever said milking is a peaceful experience wasn't milking my Darla.

I'm currently torn between my two favorite herd names.  I have to pick one to officially register my goats and since I've found some ADGA members who are willing to write a letter so I can register Darla as Native on Appearance (since apparently she is not registrable with her sire's papers... something I'm still working on investigating) I can at least use Darla to produce official purebred Nubians in the future (her great grandkids can be registered as purebred).  Depending on how her daughters udders look using Duke's (my buck) good milking line I may keep breeding her to him.  If they are not correct like their mom's then I'll just breed Darla for the milk production at home.  Anway, the two front-runners for my herd name are:

Yellow Door Ranch 

or

Lil' Toad Farm

I really like Yellow Door Ranch.  I recently painted my front door a bright yellow.  The pop of color is something of a style I've come to really be drawn to.  I've always been a yellow fan.  I remember as a kid telling my parents that when I grew up I wanted a yellow house with a wrap-around porch and a white picket fence.  Yellow Door Ranch just has a nice ring to it.  But Lil' Toad Farm is near to the heart.

If I close my eyes I can hear my mom softly saying, "You'll always be my Lil' Toad."  I can also hear her calling me through the house in a more urgent manner which meant the "Lil'" fell off and I heard, "TOAD!"  This was usually followed by some instructions such as, "Can you run over to the neighbors and see if they have a roll of toilet paper we can borrow?  We're out!"

When we moved into this place we had several wildlife visitors: Palo Verde Beatles, desert rabbits, coyotes and desert toads.   Desert toads were one of the first to show up at our back door and it was at that time that I first thought of Lil' Toad Farm.

The nostalgia for Lil' Toad Farm weighs heavy in my decision, but according to my 9 year old, it's not fair, cause then it will sound like it's my farm only and not the whole family's.  Hmm.  Good point.  But, since the head of the house weighed in and likes Lil' Toad Farm the best, ownership is mutual.

I just can't let Yellow Door Ranch go though!  Uh!  Decisions.  Decisions.

The average milk production for a dairy goat is 1500 pounds in 305 days.  I thought it strange that milk is measured in pounds when I first started learning this home dairy thing.  I've always been used to the gallon or half gallon as the appropriate measurement for milk.  But, in the dairy goat world, pounds is proper.  If you swear you're old nanny out back gives you gallons you probably have some missing front teeth, a dozen or more broken down cars on your lot, several goats standing atop those cars and you milk your "nanny" straight into an empty, not-so-clean coffee can and swear that that floaty stuff on top grows hair on your chest.  Yeah.  Don't measure goat milk in gallons or you'll be ostracized as a backwards hick for sure.

That said, I calculated my doe's production thus far and she's producing at a rate that puts her around 500 pounds per year.  Sounds bad, but actually it's pretty good considering I'm only milking her once a day.  Most people milk their goats every 12 hours.  So if I doubled her output, assuming she'd put out the same amount twice daily, she'd be producing about 1000 pounds a year.  That's pretty darn good for a 1 year old first time freshener with a novice milk maid like me milking her.



Darla's udder is not prize worthy.  And she'll be considered a "grade" goat because I can't prove her lineage.  And she's a kicky milker.  But even still, she's teaching me tons and despite frustrating mornings like these I'm having a great time being a milk maid!   Besides that, her milk is delicious.  I've been skimming the cream off the top.  When I get about a half cup of cream I'm going make some butter.  Can't wait!

Quieted,

Sheila

Journal of a Milk Maid: Day 1

Warning:  This post was written last night under the influence of head cold medicine.

I think I can add Milk Maid to my list of titles.

Today was my first day milking Darla.  This is her first freshening.  First time on the milk stand.  First time for everything.

I've been a little reluctant to start milking her.  Honestly, I'm having fun but I'm also taking this very seriously.  I feel like I'm discovering my place in the world is homesteading.  Some people love the city and the hustle and bustle of lights and action.  Me, I am finding myself giddy with happiness at the smell of alfalfa, the shoveling of goat droppings, the baaaing of momma and kids, and the tinny squirt of fresh milk hitting the stainless steel bucket.

So along with all the euphoria I'm feeling right now with my first experience raising dairy goats I'm also feeling the need to get it right.  I've been doing quite a bit of reading about dairy goats and milking and the benefits of raw goat milk vs. pasteurized goat milk.  I wanted to have all my ducks in a row before milking Darla, but yesterday I read a post by some person in the goat forum world that basically said:  If you have a goat in milk all you really need is a clean bucket... the rest is for show.  Now, I don't completely agree with that statement, but it did make me realize I didn't need every piece of designated dairy equipment before I began milking my doe.  So I gave up my online shopping list and just went out there with what I had and milked my goat.  This afternoon I set out to Walmart to look for the needed supplies and came up with all that I need for less than $80 which is about $80 less than I would have spent if I had ordered online the said dairy equipment.

I didn't get much milk for our first milking, but that's probably partly because I didn't separate the kids from the momma last night and partly because I didn't milk her for very long.  Like I said it was sort of a spur of the moment decision to stop researching and waiting for the perfect equipment and set up and just go out there and milk.  I feel good about how the first milking experience went.  Today began the practice that will soon become habit.

The 13 ounces I got from my brief milking of Darla this morning I decided to pasteurize.  After all the reading I've done, I think we will probably stick with raw milk.  It just makes sense.  But because this morning's milking was so spur of the moment, and because I wasn't sure that I did everything right as far as shaving and cleaning her udder, I decided to err on the side of caution and pasteurize the milk.

Tonight I did a blind taste test with the kids to see if they would be able to tell the difference between the whole milk we had in the fridge from Walmart and the freshly pasteurized goat's milk.  Surprisingly they both picked the goat's milk as tasting the best and they both identified it as the goat's milk.  They said they were surprised because they thought it would taste "funny" but it actually tasted creamier and sweeter.

Honestly, I remember the bitter, bucky taste of goat's milk I had a as a kid and in the back of my mind I feared that I was going to go through all this trouble and have a product I didn't like.  But it didn't turn out that way.  The goat's milk is really delicious.  It doesn't taste "funny" at all.  It's creamier and sweeter and leaves no bitter aftertaste.   Tomorrow, if all goes well, I'll keep the milk raw and use it.  I'll be interested to see if the taste is different from the pasteurized milk.

And here's a cute little guy I ran into on the way to get hay this morning:

 Quieted,

Sheila