Holy crap, I milked a goat!

I'm still in awe of how our life is progressing! :eek:

On Saturday, we bought a mature Alpine goat doe. Her name is Sasafrass and by Saturday evening, she needed milking. H couldn't get it to work, so I gave it a shot. After a few adjustments, I was milking a goat! We had to milk her twice yesterday and then again this morning before work. It's not an easy process for us right now because I haven't finished building our milking stand yet. Our 20-year old jigsaw failed me last night, so I'm going to pick up a hand one on my way home tonight to finish the stand. So, in the meantime, H holds her head & feeds her the goat ration while I milk her. I tried holding her one other time so that H could do the milking but I wasn't really strong enough and he still hasn't gotten the hang of it yet.

And wow...we've already got a lot of milk!! There's now a gallon in the fridge and we've been using it regularly since Saturday night. I need to learn how to make yogurt and cheese...STAT!

We have baby chicks in a brooder in the garage and a goat in the backyard. It's no wonder why we have no time for riding anymore! :rolleyes:

When you make yogurt, use more starter than you would for cow's milk yogurt (about 1-1/2 times to twice as much IIRC). Otherwise goat's milk yogurt will be runny and tart.

How exciting! I'd love to have some livestock... but can't happen when we're only home half the year :(

I am so jealous!

You are living the life I hope to after retirement (assuming the housing market recovers and we can bail out of the SF Bay Area - forever!).

Please continue posting about your new life. Then I can live vicariously through you :D.

if you can tie her head up (make a little halter?) and feed her her oats when you milk her, it shouldn't be too hard to do.
I used to tie the goat along side a wall and push my head into her belly (for balance and warm in the winter) worked pretty well without a stanchion.

have fun! my goats were magpie and carmella! (oh, and Lucy and Wendy and Buckwheat)

speaking of goats!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2242/...6b73e645c6.jpg

Mimi - we have no walls (yet) to push her up against! She's only fenced in by temporary electric fencing and the lean-to is only partially finished!

I think that if I can get the milking stand finished tonight (while H works on the lean-to), we should be good. And we need to get the regular fencing done ASAP because Sassafras needs a companion.

five-one - we also have a huge garden and an 'orchard' of fruit trees. It's all overwhelming right now...but we are loving it.

Oakleaf - thanks for the hint! I have a recipe for making the yogurt from goat's milk specifically, but I'm sure there's tons of room for error/interpretation.

With all this fun stuff going on at home, I hate having to come to work! ;)

Goats are so fun! An old high school friend kept goats for her 4-H project, I got to milk them a few times and it was a hoot! Oh, and baby goats sucking milk off your fingers is really neat too. :)

One of my Great Uncles had goats when we were young and when we visited him in Florida we were treated by getting to have some frozen goat's ice milk, just a thought, perhaps you could freeze some of this as well..:cool::D

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

five-one - we also have a huge garden and an 'orchard' of fruit trees. It's all overwhelming right now...but we are loving it.

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Can I come live with you:p?

When we had a large yard, I had an wonderful organic garden in six raised beds. It was heaven. But the house was a rental. When we could finally (after ten years - don't ever leave CA unless you have no intention of returning. A very hard lesson learned) buy again, a townhome was all we could afford. There's a small yard, but the soil is very poor and there are gophers we can't seem to get rid of, so I haven't put much effort into it. Riding, right now, has more appeal. There just aren't enough hours in the day for everything. But I have dreams...

Pictures would be fun to see.

five-one - have you heard of Square Foot Gardening? It might be doable in your small space...even with gophers!

This is our 'square foot garden' field. I spaced these boxes out considerably more than they needed to be...I just wasn't sure of the trellis of one shading another too much. We also have a more traditional row gardening plot where we have a little bit of corn and three types of potatoes planted. We will be expanding both areas next year, but we were very late getting started this summer as we didn't have the house until June.

http://www.tranquilitysystems.com/ga...eldofboxes.jpg

(this photo is over a month old - there's way more growing there now!)


Oh, and if you really want to see and read more...this is the blog I've been keeping to have some type of informal record of this experience.
http://simplemetamorphosis.blogspot.com/

If you haven't already heard of Doug Fine, you need to read his blog, Dispatches from the Funky Butte Ranch. I'd imagine you might find all sorts of great tips for dealing with goats, as well as on making yogurt and ice cream from their milk.

Not to mention, his adventures are a hoot :D

Garden pics are nice, but where are the goat pics?

Love the blog - and the goat. Very cool:)

Kalidurga - there's a goat pic on the blog:)

CA

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Originally Posted by Kalidurga

Garden pics are nice, but where are the goat pics?

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She's got one in her blog. :D

I just want to know, when do you sleep? :p Man, you are busy!

V.

I LOVE TE SOOOO MUCH.

This is a fantastic place.

Keep sharing your home-farming stories please!

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Originally Posted by Veronica

She's got one in her blog. :D

I just want to know, when do you sleep? :p Man, you are busy!

V.

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Ah...that's the real trick, isn't it?

I do still sleep some...but biking is definitely suffering. Big time. :(

I bookmarked her blog.

I wish I lived closer. You could borrow our jigsaw. We've also got a band saw and a table saw and a compound miter saw and the scary saw (circular). Definitely saw enabled in my house. :D

V.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Veronica

I bookmarked her blog.

I wish I lived closer. You could borrow our jigsaw. We've also got a band saw and a table saw and a compound miter saw and the scary saw (circular). Definitely saw enabled in my house. :D

V.

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OMG, I should have shared it in my blog - but the best part about building this milking stand is that for the very first time in my life...I used the circular saw ALL BY MYSELF! (I had to go find sunglasses to wear because I don't own goggles). I'm terrified of that saw, but I conquered my fears! I also used the table saw, but that one seems so tame in comparison!

I don't even think I know what a band saw is! :p

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

I don't even think I know what a band saw is! :p

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I think of it as like a giant scroll saw. We don't have one of those. :rolleyes:

http://sawdustmaking.com/Band%20Saws/general.jpg

V.

What a great blog! I'll definitely bookmark it once I'm on my home computer so I can keep up with your adventures. Sigh...

Seeing your garden pics makes me want to find the ones I have from mine (pre-bicycle). I miss digging in the dirt. Maybe this fall I will get back to it.

On my Sunday rides on the country roads around Morgan Hill, San Martin, and Gilroy, I pass farms with goats all the time. There are also alpaca ranches. Those critters intrigue me, too. The Home Ec major I was a lifetime ago would love to go from critter to sweater sometime.

Working with power tools is very cool. Another dream of mine is to apprentice with someone who is a fine furniture builder.

I love goats. We had them growing up.

No shortage of saws in our household either... :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

OMG, I should have shared it in my blog - but the best part about building this milking stand is that for the very first time in my life...I used the circular saw ALL BY MYSELF!

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I love tools! Hubby and I have our own set of 'em. I have a compound miter saw and he has the jigsaw. He's got the belt sander and I have the drill press. For Christmas I would hunt for a new cool Craftsman tool that I absolutely *had* to have. ;)

The neat thing about being a former sculptress is that I learned to weld. :cool:

Someone teach me to use a chainsaw...

I'm terrified of it :o

And trees coming down across our lane is not an uncommon happening.