Here's where I get my milk... and some of the many animals that live there.
The red goat on the left, sort of Oberhaasli looking, is the type of goat they are milking, except for one black goat. The others in this picture are colored and white angoras.
Here's some of the sheep. They have both lincoln and navajo churro, and crosses there-of. I think maybe they are not real careful with breeding, more of a what ever happens attitude. Anyway, lots of lambs...
Here's a classic churro, the spotted one. The churro, if I remember rightly, has good carcass quality, lambs and mothers well, and provides a coarse wool suitable for rugs. They are a heritage breed developed by the navajo indians from sheep originally brought over by the Spanish.
And lastly, here's just a bunch of the other residents, wondering if I'm going to throw them some more food...
This message was edited Mar 23, 2009 6:41 PM
Don't tell me you went and got milk and didn't get a pic of yourself tiptoeing through the droplets with your clogs on! I feel cheated.
This time there was no tip-toeing; R had milked the day before and left the milk in his fridge. He wasn't there (already off working his fields), just left the house open so I could get the milk. Well, the house was tip-toe-able, but I'm hardly one to catch aspershuns (?) on someone's housekeeping. =0) I'd win no awards, that's for sure.
After the first couple of years, it doesn't get any worse. LOL
How many goats does he milk?
I was pretty busy wrestling does and trying to figure out who was who to be next, all while trying not to fall out of the clogs (LOL) but I think it was 4 or 5. He gets over a gallon a milking and he doesn't completely empty the bag so there's something for the kids when he turns them out.
A gallon from each one?
Nooooo, a gallon total. It's one heck of a doe that'll give you a gallon a milking, and you'll have to give her high grade feed, I'm thinking. I had a friend who raised and showed some champion saanens and that was a whole different sort of operation. Clean, to start with. Concrete floor, steel milk stand, sleek goats. I sure wish she was up here.
I think I'll trot on over to P & L and ask what is the average per milking of a decent doe...
These are just grade goats, getting cheap hay and no regular grain. I think he most raises them for meat... I can't quite figure out why he doesn't have boers, but maybe this is just the family herd that they've had from time before time. There is the one boer I've seen, but most look more like whatever cheap deal came along.
If you get only a quart or so a day, you'll have to milk maybe 2 goats to keep up with a family's needs? Is goat milk, as a rule, extra high in butter fat or does it vary from breed to breed? I'm thinking if you wanted to make butter and cheese and have enough to drink, you might have to milk 3 goats.
It's tough to make butter from goats milk, as it's naturally homogenized. That's one of the reasons it's more easily digestible. You can buy small home separators, but they're pretty pricey.
Butterfat content does vary from breed to breed in cows and goats. And I think it also it varies from the beginning of milking to the end (less rich). But on average, the butterfat content of cow's milk is 3.8% and of goat's milk it's 4.2%.
According to my cheesemaking book, Nubians and Alpines have the sweetest milk, saanens produce more but it has a stronger flavor. Toggenburgs produce slightly less but also have a strong flavor. And Nigerian dwarfs have the highest butterfat of all breeds and very sweet milk.
I asked over on P & L about quantity... here's a link:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/967595
Looks like you'd get more than a quart if you milked out... like I said, R leaves some for the kids. =0)
Just an interesting note... the book says: "Sheep's milk is one of the most nutritionally valuable foods available. It is high in protein and vitamins,...Sheep's milk contains almost 10 % less water than cow's or goat's milk and is almost twice as high in solids as cow's milk; therefore, it produces a very high cheese yield--almost 2 1/2 times what you would expect from cow's or goat's milk."
Is there a breed of milk sheep?
Are the Nigerian dwarfs much smaller than a "regular" goat? I'm sure they are not nearly as big as the milk goats which tend to be tall.
This message was edited Mar 26, 2009 4:50 PM
Oh wow, I have no idea. I mean, yes in other countries, but here????
I've seen this neat little suction jar they're marketing for sheep milking (sheep have itty bitty teatties) or for folks with weak hands, so it wouldn't be near as hard as it used to be when you could only use two fingers. =0)
I've seen suffolk ewes with a good sized bag...
I never thought about the teat size. That would be a problem.
Not with this nifty jar deal. And not too pricey... I'll go find the ad. It's in Countryside, I think.
Here's a great article about milking sheep...
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/89/89-2/J_D_Belanger.html
Freisian milksheep...
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/friesianmilk/
Probably more info than wanted, but it does talk about the breeds of sheep used and how to upgrade a flock one might already have. Click on Selecting Stock.
National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service...
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/dairysheep.html#selecting
Here's the vacuum hand milker...
http://www.udderlyezllc.com/
It's not cheap, but what a cool tool. I think if I were still working on the thoroughbred breeding farm, I'd suggest they get one.
That looks to be a God send for folks with achy hands. If it works as quick on a goat as it says, it would be a great investment for anybody who milks goats for selling the milk. It would also be good to have around an equine breeding barn "just in case".
Seems like it would be a great thing for any serious livestock breeder to have on hand. Most large animals haven't been hand milked before and take it kinda personal when you try to collect a little colostrum. LOL I've collected colostrum from mares and meat goats and they all thought I was just about as rude as one could get. =0)
And an insulted mare can get real mean. :o
The only difference between an offended goat and an offended mare is about 1000 pounds. LOL
hi all
we had a baby goat last night
a little boy
we have to bottle feed
mother have hard bag
does any one know what to do about it
beside bottle feed baby
elle
Hi Elle,
I never had any problems with my goats... I didn't milk them, I just let them raise their own and fortunately they all did fine.
Is the bag hot? Can you get any milk out of it? Don't worry if it doesn't look 'normal', the first milk is colostrum and it may look more pinkish or grayish than regular milk.
Do you have some colostrum to give the new baby? It very important as the first milk protects the little guys from disease.
Jay
I found a great site that may answer your questions... scroll down to the section on mastitis. Your doe may not have mastitis, but a condition known as congestion, which should clear up in a couple of days if she is milked, either by you or the kid. The site tells how to tell the difference between the two.
http://www.goatwisdom.com/udder_care.html
"And an insulted mare can get real mean. :o"
OH...ROTFL...I have to tell you. My daughter worked on a horse ranch for a long time. One of the mares decided she didn't want to have anything to do with her foal so they were bottle feeding it with milk from the mare.
This happen to be the same time as the mother of the house had a baby who she was nursing....
My DD decided maybe it would be easier to get milk from the mare using the electric breast pump from the house.....
and that's how she got that big hoofprint on her chest.....
Ginger
Whoa-hoe, that beats any kinda trendy tattoo you could think of! LOL
I can just imagine the snorts and rolling eyes of the thoroughbred mares I worked with... who needs NASA? LOL
Ouch!!!
Langston University in Oklahoma offers an intensive, free online certificate course on Meat Goats - ok we're talking milk goats here but much of the information is pertinent - for example, a goat's very favorite food is ivy - so if you've got poison ivy get a few hungry goats. Goats and cattle are great companion animals; because they have differing grazing habits, each benefits the other by greatly keeping parasite levels down. Did you know that goats are "universal mothers"? If you have orphan animals goat milk is your best alternative when you cannot come by same species milk. Goats are great at clearing scrub and brush; in fact they prefer scrub land to pasture. Beef is not, and never has been, the most consumed red meat in the world. Yep, you got it - goat meat (far healthier than beef by the way) is by far the world's most consumed red meat. If anyone is interested in the free certificate program offered through Langston University (no i don't work for them; i did take the course though and it's excellent) the website is www.luresext.edu/goats . By the way, the single most important thing you can do for your goats is keep their feet dry. Goats hate to get wet, and if let to stand in wet or soggy areas they're prone to developing diseases that can be avoided simply by providing dry ground and dry bedding.
This message was edited Jun 20, 2009 11:55 AM
and remember....if you let your goats eat poison ivy...don't kiss them.
Ginger
I went to the link but couldn't find anything about a class.
