The Land of Milk and Honey

Today, a dream of mine officially came true.  Ever since starting our hobby farm, I have dreamed of having a milk producing animal.  Admittedly, I always thought this would be a jersey cow but it seems that dairy goats are my reality.  Each of our Nigerian Dwarf goat mamas can produce up to 750 mL of milk per milking.  It is possible to milk does twice a day but since mine are nursing their babies all day, I am just going to milk them each morning.

As much as milking is something I very much want to do, there is a bit of a learning curve.  After investing in all the proper equipment: a milking stand with attached feed dish and goat hobbles to keep the goats from kicking and putting their hooves in the milk bowl, I figured I was set to give it a go.

As much as Mellie is a terrible mother, she is a dream to milk.  She stands mostly still and does not fuss.  Martha, on the other hand, is the stuff of nightmares.  She kicks, bucks, thrashes...ugh.  It took me 45 minutes of wrestling with Martha to milk her out and only 15 minutes with Mellie.

In fairness, this process is as new to Martha and Mellie as first time mamas (called first fresheners) as it is to me, a first time milk maid.  Hopefully as we all get used to our new daily ritual, we will get better at doing our respective jobs. 

Even so, I am incredibly excited to have milked, pasteurized and refrigerated my very first litre of delicious and fresh Gael Glen Farm milk.  Here's to many more litres of milky goodness!