yay I got a milk goat!

[Rosalind]

Quote:
Yes. Probably you should add a little bleach to that warm water, or rinse with hydrogen peroxide (the regular kind you put on cuts from the drugstore is fine). Listeria is a bacteria that can grow in any kind of milk (cow, goat, camel, human...) and most types of processed meat (e.g. bologna). It's less of an issue as long as you keep your own kitchen and milk equipment/pails sparkling clean, and if you don't buy any processed dairy or deli stuff yourself, it's less likely that you'll have cross-contamination in your fridge.

Things to do with lots of milk:
yogurt
kefir
butter & buttermilk
cream cheese
ricotta
mozzarella
cheddar
gouda
parmesan...

Cheesemaking really uses a LOT of milk, and it's not at all difficult to make pizza cheese, snacking cheese, cheese for pasta dishes, etc. 1 gallon milk = 1 lb. cheese. That sounds like a lot, but 1 lb. cheese = 1 medium pizza's worth or 1 medium mac-n-cheese casserole dish's worth. Sheesh, just one good NY-style cheesecake uses up a few pounds of fresh cheese all by itself.

 

[savingdogs]

You have already heard these answers, but I got dairy goats so that I could make cheese and soap. I chose to buy babies so I have to wait for them to grow up to have milk! I'm envious. However, having the babies is awfully fun, so you have that to look forward to as well if you want to raise more goats.

I think cheese was originally invented as a way to save up all the fresh milk that was seasonal. If I had an overabundance of goat's milk, I would try making a big variety of cheese. In soapmaking you are not going to use up a ton of milk unless you are making soap for more people than just your family. However, our family buys and eats quite a bit of cheese each month, I suspect we could consume more if we tried, too. Cheese seems to make everything taste more yummy. I'd start learning to make cheese if I were you!

 

[Hambone]

What ever you do, dont try to sell it raw. lol