Then you get
into to pasteurize or not pasteurize debate.
To pasteurize means you boil the milk at 165°F for at least 15 seconds. This is done to all milk that is sold
commercially, to kill any type of bacteria.
But what unpasteurized or raw milk if full of is bacteria and enzymes
that are good for you. In my original research
I found that the CDC has reported no cases of people being sick from drinking
raw milk. Think of the Amish and Mennonite
communities. They drink raw milk and do
not get sick. As long as your herd is
healthy, and your try to capture the milk as cleanly as possible, I believe that
there is no reason you should pasteurize. But you do your own research and you decide
what is right for you and your family.
Where do you
milk at? Well ideally you will need a
milk stand. You will have to buy or
build one. I was lucky enough to buy one
from my goat’s former owners. My best guess is to look online or ask at your
local feed store. Milk stands very, but
have a few basic parts. A platform for
the goat to stand one, a vice like thing to put her head threw and a place for
grain. If you are milking pygmy’s you
will have to take their height into consideration, as their heads may not fit
into the vice. It is a good idea to
practice with your goat prior to her bagging up and delivering. You will have to train her to get up and put
her head threw. Make sure to lock it,
once she is in. This is for both of your
safeties. As long as she is eating, she
may not care what you do to her. But
then again she may. Many goats freak out the first time you touch their udder’s. You'll need to reassure her and tell her what
you are doing and that you are not going to hurt her. I had one goat who as
long as she was eating would let you milk her, but the second that grain ran
out, she would start to kick. Towards
the end I changed how I milked. I would call my goat into my house and put a
dog leash around her neck, feed her from a bowl and milk her while I sat on the
floor. I think this way takes a lot of trust on the part of your goat and also
a lot of familiarity about what is going to happen to her, on her part. So it might not be for first timers, or
something you want to try at all. Goats
are creatures of routine. They are slow
to change. They like to be feed in the
same place, at the same time, let out at the same time, and milked in the same
way every day. Variety, other than in
food, is not exciting to them and may be hard for them to adapt to.
So time to
go milk. Every morning, before I headed
into the barn I would pack my basket. In
my basket I put:
·
a small "strip" cup
·
2 large mason jars with lids (2 jar per goat)
·
2 wet rags with a small amount of antibacterial
soap on them
·
a dry rag
·
hand
sanitizer or wash your hands before you leave
·
lotion or
body butter.
You will want to put her grain in the
stand and get her on the platform. Once
her head is in make sure to lock it.
Once she is done eating she will try to pull her head out. You may not be done milking by that
point. Be kind to her. Respect her and what she is giving to you and
your family, and things will go well between you two. Talk to her and tell her what a good and fine
goat she is. Mine liked it when I sang
to her or told her a story, usually with the goat as the hero. Now to begin, if you have not already done so,
clean your hands. Then take your first
wet rag and wipe down her udder, pay special attention to the end of her teats
where here ducts are, let it set for a second and now dry it off. Her udder should be full and warm. If it is very hot, she may have Mastitis.
Please see my next article for a discussion on that.
There is no
right way to milk. You will have to try,
and it may be a while before you find your own rhythm. My girls had good teats. They fit well into the palm of my hand, but
then I have small hands. I would wrap my
hand around her teat and gently press up and then slowly pull down while
squeezing. You are mimicking what the
babies do. You will see them go up to
her and bump the udder with their nose.
This lets the milk down into the teat for them to drink. Basically you
are priming it, like an old water pump.
My father is fond of using his thumb and first finger to squeeze down
the teat to get the milk out. Both
versions worked for us. My suggestion is
watch some YouTube videos before you try.
But don't be afraid to try. You
will probably not hurt her. Goats are
pretty tough.
You have
cleaned her udder, now squeeze a little into the cup. Your first 2 or 3 squirts, of each teat,
should go into this cup. You are not
going to inspect the milk. Smell it,
does it have an odor. Do you see blood?
Is it stringy? Is it a strange
color? If you said yes to any of the
above. Stop! Do not pass go! Call the vet or consult someone who knows
more about goats then you do. If all
things look normal, you may proceed. Oh
and if all things looked fine I usually gave my dogs that little bit of
milk. The reason you do this is the milk
that sets in the teats for a little while has a higher chance of having bad
bacteria in it. You are also checking on the general health of your goat at
this point.
Place one of
your jars under your teat. You are going
to get a lot of foam. That's
normal. It will go away as the milk
cools. The milk should be coming down in
one stream. If not you may have
something in the teat opening. Take your
finger nail and gently scratch at it.
You can also use your wet rag to rub it. After that it should come down
in one stream. If not you may just have
a wonky nipple. Okay so you will see her
udder begin to deflate. I usually used one
glass per teat. Some books will tell you
to us a stainless steel pail with no seam.
I used a jar cause it was convenient and easy to sterilize. And if she kicked it, I only lost what milk
was in the jar, not the whole pail. When
you are done with the jar, place lid on and put jar in basket. Now repeat until you are getting almost no
milk. My girls gave me anywhere from 1
1/2 quarts to 3 quarts per day. Use a
new jar for each goat. Once the milk
cools and settles you can check to see if there is any blood in it. It usually settles to the bottom. While not desirable, your goat may be fine,
but it is something you should watch. If
the amount of blood in the milk increases you should contact the vet. The milk is also still okay to drink. Just pour off all but about the bottom inch
of it.
Once you are
finished, wipe her udder down with the second wet cloth and dry her. Now apply some lotion or body butter. A sent you like, she won't care what it
smells like. I liked Jergen’s in the
pump bottle. It was pretty thick and
gave her a good coating. Doing this step
will help keep her udder soft and supple, as they are prone to cracking due to
over use. Plus it is a nice way to thank
her for her service to you and your family.
Also as you release her from the vice make sure to thank her and tell
her you love her. Hey what can it
hurt?
So now you
have milk. Into the refrigerator it must
go. Let it cool for several hours. Never add hot milk, to cold milk! Once it is nice and cool you need to strain
it. Here is where it can get a bit
messy. You’re going to pour the milk
from one jar into another clean jar.
Take a clean Masson jar and cover it with a paper towel that hangs down
a little bit into the mouth of the jar, now secure it with a rubber band, and
set on a plate. Now pour milk from one
jar into the other it may go slow, don't rush it. What you are collecting is any little hairs,
dirt or debris that may have gotten into the milk. I liked Viva paper towels for this as they
are not quilted, caught just as much stuff and let the milk strain threw fairly
fast. As the paper towel begins to be
saturated it will drip down the sides onto the plate. When you finish filling the jar, with your
clean hands, remove the paper towel and squeeze out remaining milk into jar.
New jar, new paper towel.
Now all goat
milk is easier to digest then cow’s milk as it is closer in structure to human
milk. Fresh goat milk will never get as
cold as cow’s milk. Why? Because cow’s milk has had the cream and fat
removed from them, your milk will not.
Goat milk is very homogenized. No
matter how long you let it sit, the cream will never rise to the top as in cow’s
milk. From goat milk you can make many
kinds of cheeses, but to make butter you will need a centrifuge type machine,
that runs about $300 to $400. It takes approximately
5 gallons of milk to make 1 lb. of cheese.
Fresh milk will last up to a week in the refrigerator. Have fun!
Try to make some cheese. I was
just never very successful at it. You
can also freeze the milk for later use, but it will taste kind of grainy.
I hope this
series of articles has helped you decide if you want goats or not. If you have any questions I look forward to receiving
them. Remember above all DO YOUR
RESEARCH! Five years on, and I learn something new about them every day. If you
can, reach out to others in the goat community.
Nothing will make your life easier than having a buddy you can talk
goats with. You are going to be your goat’s
best advocate, and you may be the closest thing to a goat vet for a hundred
miles or so, depending on where you live. You know your goats best. Be patient with them, listen to them, respect
them, learn about them and understand why they do what they do and you will
have friends for life. I wish you well
and blessed be.
Ilsa
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