I still can't really believe that this is really happening. Every morning, regardless of how incredibly hard, how many times I was bit on the shoulder, or how unexpectedly smooth the milking process goes, I walk away with the same thing: about 3 quarts of fresh goats milk.
Of course these pictures are blurry. Trying to take pictures while milking a goat that is screaming and stomping and trying to bite is not the easiest thing in the world to do. I wish I could say that milking was a peaceful, bucolic way to start the morning, but in reality, I have to tie the goat down and work as fast as I possibly can. That is why instead of hand milking I got a little held pump system from Dansha Farms. I know my time with Cupid is extremely short and I am a very slow hand milker and there is no way Cupid is going to cut a newbie any slack.
With this system, I attach large plastic syringes to her teats with a hand held pump that creates a vacuum and boom! there's milk. It sounds easy, but some mornings are easier than other, some mornings the vacuum seals in no time, and some mornings it just won't and I feel like I'm going to go crazy. That was this morning-an epic battle of wills, where Cupid tried to get me stop milking by simply and defiantly laying down on the milk stand. I kept at it milking her one teat I could reach and she finally conceded and stood up on all fours. Milking took about an hour this morning, there have been some mornings (OK, 2 mornings) where it has taken about 15 minutes.
I milk Cupid once a day, at about 7am. The rest of the time the kids get to feed of her as much as she will let them. We separate Cupid from her kids at night to maximize the amount of milk we get from one milking. The way the stalls are set up is that Cupid can still see and be near her kids, but they can't nurse from her. This will also help when we wean the kids from her, since at night they are eating hay and other treats, instead of getting their main nourishment from milk. After we wean the kids, I'll be milking twice a day-I'm not really looking forward to this!
Ok, so milking kind of sucks. But at least we get the milk!
So far I've made yogurt, cottage cheese, and chevre. I also have some goat milk and duck egg vanilla ice cream chilling in the freezer that I haven't tried yet. And still I have almost 2 gallons of milk in the fridge! I'm not terrible at cheese making, but I still have a lot have a lot of leaning to do! At least it's all been edible so far!
And the kids are still super cute and getting bigger everyday!
And while Cupid may fight me tooth and nail when I'm milking her, she also knows that during the day I bring her delicious treats. I think of it as a thank you for today's and tomorrow's milk.
Yes, milking could be going better, but I am so happy with 3 qrts of milk a day! We didn't prepare from the reality of having this much milk so soon and are now trying to get through all out dairy products as fast as possible, as Cupid and I make more every day!
