goat milking

[dacasodivine]

Tell me your goat milking procedures! It looks like here in the next few months, we will be getting a couple of goats for milking. I have done research on the internet, but I'm curious what the average goat milker does.

I don't mean how do you get the milk. I mean things as simple as does your bucket have a lid? Do you wash her first, then strip cup, then milk, then dip, etc?

Step by step right up to your cooling steps and what you use for storage.

Thanks!

Daca

 

[zatsdeb]

I get my goat in the milking stand with feed and lock her in
I wash her
(I have washed my hands also)
I milk her in a stainless steel container
I put the milk in a glass jar in the fridge right away.
When I get enough I pasturize in a double boiler to 160degrees,
then cool off right away in the fridge, in a big stainless steel bowl, covered.
I wait 24 hours and scoop off the cream, then freeze it until I get enough to make butter.
then I store the milk in glass bottles.

 

[goatkeepers]

I get my goats on the milkstand with feed,
-milk her out into a stainless steel pail (no lid),
-"bump" the udder to nake sure she drops the milk, do that a couple of times until you get nothing more out,
-strain the milk in the house with a stainless strainer (hoegger's goat supply) into a ball jar
-put it in the fridge right away (or in the freezer for a couple of minutes) and label it with the date

I don't dip the teats or anything... The ss pail and strainer get rinsed in luke warm water (hot water at this point would make the milkstone form), then wash it in hot water with soap and every few days I let it sit for a couple of minutes in a sink filled with about 1/4 c of bleach to every gallon of water.

Enjoy your milk goats!! If you ever want to make cheese, contact me, I can give you recipes and such. It's fun!! I'm making cottage cheese today, as a matter of fact.

 

[dacasodivine]

Perfect. This is exactly what I wanted.

I noticed that neither of you mentioned using a strip cup. I did wonder how necessary that step was.

Zatsdeb, just curious, but why do you choose to pasturize?

Goatkeeper, I might take you up on that. Once we get into the swing of the whole milking thing! The person I got milk from for the family to try, also makes cheese and she sent a sample. My husband was the most skeptical but he loved both.

What kind of goats do you have? Have you tried other breeds to compare taste? What I REALLY want to know is how La Mancha milk tastes compared to Nubian? What we tried it Nubian but I think I would like one of each and hubby thinks we should go with what we know tastes good.

Thanks,

Daca

Edited because I see you have Nubians Goatkeeper.

 

[greyfields]

Get the goat.
Clean the teats with a foaming dip cup.
Dry the teats.
Use Purell on my hands.
Strip each teat into the stripping cup.
Milk into a stainless steel bucket.
Hope she doesn't stand in the bucket.
Remove the bucket.
Re-dip the teats.
Get the next goat.
Strain the milk in the hosue into a stainless 1 gallon milk can.
Pateurize when we get a gallon.
Store in the fridge in mason jars with plastic lids.
Every other sunday, we run everything stainless through the dishwasher.

If I had a sink in my barn with warm water, I would probably scrub the udder once a week and just wash my hands with soapy water rather than using the Purell.

Quote:
If you don't have a stripping cup (sometimes I forget it in the house), I just squirt a bit onto the milking stand to check for color or lumps.


Quote:
I pasteurize because I think it's daft not to. I have read all about the alleged health benefits of raw milk; and I would never stand in someone's way if they felt it critical. But, it's milk. I don't even like milk that much. If I were ever laying in a hospital bed because I made myself sick from goats milk, I'd feel like a right dildo. The discovery of pasteurization saved countless thousands of lives, I don't feel any urge to go that retro.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'd go for a rare steak any day (especially our grass fed stuff). But, that's steak. Milk is not steak.

Quote:
Chevre is super simple. It's what we do when we get 2 gallons of milk and still have milk to drink in the fridge. I think we get aorund 3.5 lbs of cheese from that. I love goats cheese like crazy. But that is seriously a lot of cheese for any one family to eat. I often give it away to neighbors.


Quote:
I really think the breed has little to do with it. I have substituted goats milk for people here without telling them and they drank the whole glass without questioning it. The largest difference is that your milk at home is not skimmed, so you are drinking whole milk. It's amazing for cooking; but of course tastes richer/thicker than the pathetic, thin, holstein cows milk you get at the store.

I've never understood 2% milk. There isn't enough fat content in your glass of milk to contribute in any meaningful way to your daily allowance of fat intake. Yet, we have to have everything lean and low fat say the doctors.... yet, even since that guidance came out, obesity and heart disease are at all time highs. That ought make you wonder.

 

[zatsdeb]

I forgot about the straining part! I strain through a clean paper towel in a colender.
I pasturize because what I have read I decided it was the best, and healthier. I have a grandson that is 5 and he drinks the milk when he comes to visit, he loves it!
I read where a bunch of school kids, young, went to a goat farm for a field trip and drank the raw milk, and all got sick.
I just won't take any chances.
I also like the way when I skim off the cream it tastes like 2% milk!