Milking

I’ve been trying really hard to milk some of my goats.  I’ve had some mixed results with varying levels of difficulty.

Lily is the one I wanted to train to be my milking goat.  She has tons of milk.  I was getting a bit over a quart morning and night from her.  She is, however, not nice.  She had to be in the stanchion with Mom holder her collar that was already hooked to the stanchion.  Then I had to slip her foot into a soft restraint.  This was not easy.  I thought she would get better, but she got worse.  I don’t want anyone to get hurt, so I quit milking her.

Below is Dolly.  She’s doing quite well.  Mom would hold her collar and we had the sawhorse next to her as a bit of a barrier, and she’s doing fine.  Now, I’ve been able to milk her on my own for the last couple of times.

Here is Meg in the stanchion.  I do have her collar hooked to it, but no hobble.  Notice how far she is to the right.  I had my face plastered to the side and my arms reaching under as far as I could to even reach her.  She did pretty good about letting me milk her.  Yes, I look and feel like a frog milking this way.

You’ll notice how much corn Meg can scoop into her mouth in one bite.  Also notice how deftly she can lift that back leg and try to pry my hand from her teat with toe.  I’m impressed with her multi-tasking skills.  I do believe it wouldn’t be difficult to get Meg to be a good milking nanny, but she has allergies and I’ve given her some meds for her breathing, so whatever I get from her is strictly for kids, rather than human consumption.  I’m letting her dry up.

Here is Millie.   This is how she and Minnie milk.  They come in and choose a pan to eat from and then I squat and milk.  No restraint.  No tying.  No hassles.

Her babies were not even touching the massive volume of milk she had.  Finally, I decided to milk it out to make it easier for the babies to nurse and feel better.  She filled my mug two times, and I didn’t even take all the milk.  Oh, I miss milking my Millie.

Between Dolly, Meg, and Millie, they pretty much filled my one gallon milk tote.  I wish I could do this every day without all the hassles.

I’m hoping some of my young girls will end up being good, easy milking nannies.