Wonderful Milk

I am thrilled to be milking again.  I like routine in my day, and the girls help with that. I can count on them to be waiting (rather impatiently) when it’s time to milk.

Astra, Ava, and Joy

We have an order.  Ava is first. She’s giving me a lot of milk.  There’s a good reason her daughter had fat rolls. Sometimes, she gets tired of me milking her, so we have to take a quick kiss break.  Other times, I have to put the collar on and tell her she has to let me finish milking.

Ava admiring her milk

Astra is next.  She struggles with the heat, so she is looking a bit rough as hot as we’ve been this summer and having two kids.  But I’ll keep milking as long as she gives me something.  The sweet feed is good for her.

Astra

The last one is Joy.  They still crack me up. I often have retired girls waiting to see if they will get a turn.  Sometimes, I end up with a lot of goats wanting to come in because I trim hooves in here too.

Joy and Dolly waiting to come in.

Joy is giving me more this year.  Hopefully, she’s as rock steady as she was last year, and I’ll have plenty of milk for quite some time. The look on her face is just like “Where did that come from and why are you showing me that while I’m eating?”

Joy

Antigone seems to be my wild card and jumps in whenever she can; who cares about an order.  She is doing quite well with becoming a milking doe.  I’m not getting a lot of milk from her, but she’s been in milk since mid-March, and I just weaned her daughter at five months.  Next year, we’ll wean her in a more timely manner, and I’ll get more milk from her.  This year is all about the training.

Antigone

Then there’s Dolly.  She’s retired.  She doesn’t care.  And she’s my darling, so she gets to come in and eat (or just hang out/play in the tub).

She gets to do that while I filter the milk from the four girls who actually give me milk.

I’m getting just about half a gallon twice a day (a little over in the evening).

That means I’m making mozzarella, yogurt, buttermilk, and chevre.  And it gives me milk just to use in my kitchen.