Goat Milking: 101

Here's Stella. Due to a rough start, she's painfully thin, but we're fattening her up on good prairie grass, leafy alfalfa, and sweet feed (a prepared corn/grain mix, coated in molasses ~ so good, the kids like to munch on it!).

And here's our sweet girl all set up on the stanchion, starting to munch on her sweet feed. She's a picky eater and manages somehow to pick out all the corn, and leave most of the rest of the grain in the bucket. How she does that with only her tongue and teeth, and her eyes way atop her head where she can't see, I have no idea! Here's good ole (bald) Dominic, showing Cathy how to wash the teets and udders, and brush off any hay or dirt that might fall into the milk pail while milking. To "bring down" Stella's milk, he shows how to knead the udders.

Then he explains good milking technique: use the crook between your thumb and index finger to "stop" the milk, or else, when you squeeze, it'll go right back up into the udder instead of out the teet hole.

Stella's young and her teets are short, so big people have to "squeeze out" with only their index and middle fingers, but the little girls can use all but their pinkies. Stella is a perfect little girl goat. Here's the first squeeze.

Here's Cathy having a go at it. She figured it out after only a couple of squeezes.

Dominic showing the art of hitting the teets with the teet spray after all the milk has been milked out. This cold little blast serves to close the teet hole and disinfect the teets to prevent infection.

And back Stella goes to the barn to brag to the other goats about that bucket of sweet feed.

While Cathy and Gabe run the milk back to the house.

(Don't run with the milk, CATHERINE!)

And Mom processes the morning milk, straining it into a pitcher, then setting it into ice water to cool quickly.

Then it's wash up time.

And time for a cool, creamy drink of fresh, fresh milk.

"Yummy!"