Holy Goat We Have A Lot of Milk!

This morning I was on both feeding and milking. In an attempt to get most of the animals fed before milking I was working by 6:30. Really nice to have the farm to myself and the animals were slightly calmer so it was nice. I managed to get everyone but the bucks and the dogs fed before the milkers were ready. Abbey was a bit upset with me, especially because I had to yell at her a few times in addition to not feeding her in a timely manner. We have another dog visiting and because of that Abbey and Princess are riled up. Abbey was all full of herself, chasing the goats back into their pens when I was trying to shepherd them out and flying over the puppies door, knocking me over and my glasses off, in an attempt to get their food. Sometimes she's a great mother... Despite her antics she acted supremely hurt when I reprimanded her. Oh well, I can't be a favorite all the time.

They've gotten to the point where they play a lot more and will even follow you around. Cute until they decide to follow you when trying to herd the teens out to pasture. I (slow moving) goat stampede is no place for a puppy.

Milking got off to a rocky start. Our two newest milkers are still terribly upset when they are milked. Both need to be held tightly so they don't run away. Dallas is getting better but Charm is still traumatized. I have to hold her up in the air to get her not to move and the whole time she bellows as if the world is ending. At least this time she didn't lay down and refuse to get up after or hide in a corner of the pen when put back with the others. The rest went better at least.

What a stud. The ladies (or at least the ones outside the fence) are lined up for him. Now if only the ones in the breeding pen with him weren't terrified and desperate to escape.

Not sure if this is super lazy or a tactic to avoid the buck.

Thanks to my early start I was pretty much done by lunch. Currently we have a surplus of milk that is almost to it's sell by day or just past it. We won't sell that milk but something needs to be done with it so I am trying to use it in as many ways as possible. Today I started 2 cheeses, a Cherve and Feta, and yogurt. All need to sit for a while before they're ready so I'm not yet sure how they will turn out. I used 3 gallons of milk for all of that, but we have much more to use. Not sure if anyone else will use substantial quantities so I think I'll continue to tackle our milk surplus tomorrow. So far ice cream is on the list, but I'm not sure what else. There's only so much fresh cheese we can eat and the hard cheeses are pretty involved. Eventually I want to get to that point, but I'm nowhere close yet.

During my cheese making I noticed a rather large puddle on the floor. I cleaned it up once but it reappeared. After some investigative work I saw that one of the pipes had become disconnected. After some maneuvering and force I was able to reattach the pipe. My first attempt at plumbing fixes, though extremely, extremely simple, was a success. Quite proud of myself for even giving it a try. Next up - electrical! Just kidding...

In between coagulating periods for the cheese and my amateur plumbing, I've gotten a lot of reading in. There's a small (~30) book library in the lounge of goat, farming, urban farming, and dairy related cookbooks that I've started to work my way through. So far I've read Goat School - a small manual for those looking to be first time goat owners, and The Year of the Goat, which is a narrative. The author and her husband realize that living in Manhattan is no longer what they want to do and in the search for a different pace of life they hit upon the idea of goat farming. For the next year they travel the country, visiting different farms, cheesemakers, auction houses, and general goat related events. I never realized how extensive the goat world is (pack goats! national conferences!). If you want to know more about people and their goats, this is a cute story with some interesting information. I've moved on to the Omnivore's Dilemma (not sure how I haven't read this before), taking a close look at the American food system. It's a great book to read here since I have access to so much fresh, nutritious food. Otherwise I might have a problem. So far I'm getting the impression that it's a hard book to read and at least not think twice about how we eat.