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sorry. . typo, Kits
Goats
- Thread starter QuietH3art
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wrap it in saran wrap
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How long has Dixie been in milk now? Was she in heat recently and exposed to billy? Just askin cause when some does get pregnant, they can start to be hard to milk. . . they will try to kick you off, just like they would a kid. Mrs Nanny started tryin to kick me off so I know she took a couple weeks ago. She has been my best producer and I will continue to milk her for another month or so before I let her dry up even though you really need three hands now. . .one to hold her collar, one to squeeze a teat, and one to move the bucket when she starts kickin. I like to give them 3 1/2 - 4 months between.
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or you can just keep it in water
Dixie is the mama of the 2 babies so I know she's being stingy to save milk for them but her udders are HUGE and they never drain her.
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She is still a new momma, she will tend to hold in her milk. If it was me, I would continue milking. . . she'll start releasing it after awhile. It just takes time
That's my plan. Same time, every day, bowl full of yummy food to entice her. And, I'll talk to her a lot to get her to relax. Diana was stiff in the beginning too and she wasn't nursing babies. At least Dixie has a good excuse.
Okay, so last week I had to throw away some goat's milk that had gone over in the fridge. So, I decided we just didn't drink enough milk for me to keep milking and I quit milking Diana (she wasn't producing much anyway) and I quit trying to milk Dixie the mama goat. She still has huge udders even with losing one of the babies. The other baby is 4 weeks old tomorrow.
I went to the grocery store tonight and looked at every kind of milk there and couldn't buy any of it. It was all ultra-pasteurized and had "added vitamins" and who knows what all else - even the "organic". After having fresh raw goat's milk, I just couldn't force myself to put any of it in my cart. I'm so screwed.
Tomorrow morning, Dixie is getting milked and I will milk her every 2 hours if I have to to get the milk that I want. I know she's going to hold back on me but it's time for Dora to wean so I'm taking all of Dora's milk!
This means I'm going to have to make a lot of cheese and butter. I learned the hard way that I will have to freeze the butter as I make it until I need it. The last batch I made turned out really nice but without preservatives, it also went over pretty quickly. I'll probably have to freeze the cheese, too. I'm probably going to have to freeze milk, too! I need a bigger freezer.
I went to the grocery store tonight and looked at every kind of milk there and couldn't buy any of it. It was all ultra-pasteurized and had "added vitamins" and who knows what all else - even the "organic". After having fresh raw goat's milk, I just couldn't force myself to put any of it in my cart. I'm so screwed.
Tomorrow morning, Dixie is getting milked and I will milk her every 2 hours if I have to to get the milk that I want. I know she's going to hold back on me but it's time for Dora to wean so I'm taking all of Dora's milk!
This means I'm going to have to make a lot of cheese and butter. I learned the hard way that I will have to freeze the butter as I make it until I need it. The last batch I made turned out really nice but without preservatives, it also went over pretty quickly. I'll probably have to freeze the cheese, too. I'm probably going to have to freeze milk, too! I need a bigger freezer.
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The FDA has made it almost impossible to actually buy any raw milk now days. Your best bet on that is to find a local farmer, but then the problem with that is that they can not advertise that they have raw milk due to FDA regulations. They have actually put some in jail for saling it without a permit and to get one, you have to meet their specifications, which is very costly.
To try to increase milk in your goat, I would milk three times a day and add in some alfalfa hay. That should to the trick without having to go out every couple hours. You and your goat will get tired of that very quickly and she may want to bulk.
I got lucky. I guess Dixie knows it's time for her baby to wean too. She gave me 3/4 of a pint this morning. And Diana, who hasn't been milked in a week, gave me 1/2 a pint. So we'll go back to the morning milkings and I'll be needing to make a lot of cheese.
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Best way to preserve milk is making butter and cheese. . . that way you are keeping the nutritional values of them. Your butter can actually be frozen (which I saw you posted) or you can opt to can it, but the FDA has not approved that method of storing.
What I want to know is if there's a way to rinse the butter without having it get all greasy and stick to everything. I lose a lot of butter that way. I actually had my granddaughter shake cream in a half pint jar this morning and make a little butter that way. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. It was even faster than doing it with my blender.
Oh yes, it clumped together very well. I always finish it up with my mixer, drain off the liquid (that didn't manage to fly out of the container I was making it in), then rinse it. I tried doing it in a strainer tonight and there was a lot of grease left on the strainer, so that isn't going to work.
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I use an old fashion butter churn from the 1930's. Never used a strainer myself. Once I pour out the buttermilk, I add in fresh water to rinse, crank it a few times, pour out and in fresh, etc. till it runs clear. Once rinsed thoroughly, I put it into a mold (an old Velveeta lid that was discarded by one of the renters). Once set up. I cut it up into 4 sticks
That may be where I'm going wrong. Perhaps I need to leave it in the jar I mix it in, pour the clean water over it and continue mixing it on low. Thanks!
After reading your posts I wish rabbits produced milk!
I think my holy grail of prepping/homesteading will be to get a cow.
I think my holy grail of prepping/homesteading will be to get a cow.
If I could do it over again, I think I would save up for a miniature Jersey. For about $1800 you can get a miniature Jersey. They produce about a gallon to a gallon and a half of milk per day. One cow would require more space and cost much more to maintain than my goats, though. Now that I can milk both Dixie and Diana, I should be getting about a pint and a half of milk a day. My goats are not intended to be dairy goats, though. I think Alpines, LaManchas and Nubians are the best goats for milking. They are much bigger, though, and prone to climbing. I think I have the best of all worlds in my tiny goats that don't climb, can't escape my yard, keep the weeds and grass down and give me a small amount of milk. If I were trying to provide milk for a growing family, I would need a lot more of them.After reading your posts I wish rabbits produced milk!
My oldest daughter has a huge old goat named Maverick. He stands nearly as tall as I do on all four feet and probably weighs around 250 lbs. And he goes wherever he wants to go, regardless of fencing, including hot wire. He only sticks around because he's an old man who enjoys eating the horse's feed.
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If you find a Saanen goat for a good price, that is the best dairy goat around. My friend has one that gives her 2 gallons a day. That is a hugh amount for a goat. I've had my goats for a few years now and haven't had any problems with them getting out of the fence, except one that likes to jump from his pasture into the other goat pasture next door when one of the does goes into heat, but when it is feeding time, he goes right back to his side. Only thing I have to deal with is one that decided to put it's head thru the fence cause they thought the grass was greener on the other side.
I have a Jersey cow and she gives anywhere between 4 - 5 gallons of milk a day, but she is the full sized. There is enough to make butter, cheese, ice cream, along with all the milk you could want to drink and we still have enough leftover to share with the kids on occasion when they come home and with our moms and neighbor.
I have a Jersey cow and she gives anywhere between 4 - 5 gallons of milk a day, but she is the full sized. There is enough to make butter, cheese, ice cream, along with all the milk you could want to drink and we still have enough leftover to share with the kids on occasion when they come home and with our moms and neighbor.
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This is my Billy Boy standing in the feed box patiently awaiting his dinner. . . always being the gentleman that he is, he opens the lids for me to pour in their grain. Yeah, we are not fancy around here at all and made the boxes out of old plywood we had.
Really nice.
That's poster material!
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or needs one Gaz. . .
I think my family may have a few! Wait, what does that make me????or needs one Gaz. . .
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While I was inside trying to download my hunny gamelan pics one of my does had twins. I did not notice this morning that she was swollen at all on her backside. . . Maybe because I was too busy paying attention to one of the babies born back in Jan. I could have kicked myself for not noticing. The internet repair guy came so was busy with him and once fixed hunny was wanting his pics. Tried for 2 hours, still can't find the "Devices with removable disk" & disk management isn't recognizing the E drive? I think that is where the SUB thing is? That's another tipic. . .
Went out to check on goats and saw after birth hanging out still with no baby in sight. Found one, totally dried off not moving. Scared me, but when nudged a couple times, he stirred. First tried taking him to mom to nursed. She totally rejected him, so brought him in to bottle feed. Then thought about how this momma has multiples. . . Went out looking and found another in a different spot. . . Not even close to where the other was. She was at least alert. Brought her in to bottle feed too.
Took them both back out to see if mom would accept them. She wants them close now but still will not let them nurse. I did put her in the staunch and got some of her colostrum to feed the babes. Just don't understand her right now. She's acting like a first time momma but she has always been an excellent mom. I'll take them back out in the morning. Right now they are in a playpen at the foot of my bed.
Went out to check on goats and saw after birth hanging out still with no baby in sight. Found one, totally dried off not moving. Scared me, but when nudged a couple times, he stirred. First tried taking him to mom to nursed. She totally rejected him, so brought him in to bottle feed. Then thought about how this momma has multiples. . . Went out looking and found another in a different spot. . . Not even close to where the other was. She was at least alert. Brought her in to bottle feed too.
Took them both back out to see if mom would accept them. She wants them close now but still will not let them nurse. I did put her in the staunch and got some of her colostrum to feed the babes. Just don't understand her right now. She's acting like a first time momma but she has always been an excellent mom. I'll take them back out in the morning. Right now they are in a playpen at the foot of my bed.
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So far this kid season I have 9 babies, 6 buckling and only 3 does. . . . I really need to talk with that daddy. All born without a hitch but the one this morning had to get taught to nurse. By the time hunny got out there I had one plug out and trying to get the babe to latch. Didn't happen. So hunny held her while I squirted milk in his mouth. He sucked some. So thought maybe he got the idea. Nope. After about an hour I got momma in the staunch with some corn. It's l like candy to Jen. Finally got baby to latch on and nursed good. After that he and momma are doing good. I try to make it as stress free as possible for my goats. . . It just makes both our lives easier.
All born without a hitch but the one this morning had to get taught to nurse. By the time hunny got out there I had one plug out and trying to get the babe to latch. Didn't happen. So hunny held her while I squirted milk in his mouth. He sucked some. So thought maybe he got the idea. Nope. After about an hour I got momma in the staunch with some corn. It's l like candy to Jen. Finally got baby to latch on and nursed good. After that he and momma are doing good. I try to make it as stress free as possible for my goats. . . It just makes both our lives easier.
