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| GOAT LORE... |
| MILKING: This should be a pleasant time for the Goat. She will look forward to her grain & any other treats you bestow upon her at milking time. It is a good idea to make the experience relaxing with a milking time ritual that the Goat can depend on. First we brush off the Doe with a soft brush. I have a small shelf above the milk stand with hoof trimmer, brush, fly spray & udder cream or balm within easy reach. If flies are a problem we spray with a non-toxic fly spray or �Skin So Soft� oil. Concentrating, especially the back of the legs will prevent her kicking over the milk bucket in order to dislodge a fly. It is important to be sure to �strip� all the milk out when milking. When finished, we always disinfect the teats, especially at the orifices. It takes 20 minutes for these to close. Good consistent habits well help prevent mastitis from contaminating the udder. We also rub on Bag Balm to keep the udder soft. How about that kiss? You may not want to kiss your Goat as a thank you for all the nutritious milk so maybe you could scratch her neck or face for a moment as a �thank you�. How would you like it if you were__________.?? OKAY, OKAY I won�t go there! What�s the big deal about milking? When people find out I have goats they ask with amazement in their voice. �Do you milk? � Big deal, you can milk out a goat in just a few minuets! I love milking. If you get tired of the daily routine, slowly limit the amount of grain at milking time. When the milk decreases you can cut the goat down to once a day milking by moving the milking time an hour longer each day. If you grab a pencil & figure how much milk she supplies every day you well be astonished at what a great deal it is. Plus her milk is 100 % better than cows & also settles the upset stomach. You can raise any other baby animal on Goat milk with no problems. Excess Colostrum can be saved & frozen in order to help an orphan foal or other animal to survive. In order to know how much your Goat really produces it is nice to weigh it. Eight lbs. equal�s one gallon. If a gallon of milk costs $2.34 and your family drinks a Gal. per day in thirty days you well have saved $70.20. My 2 Gal. milker saved me $140.40! Yes, music is soothing to milking animals. Surveys conclude they prefer classical, love songs & western. �Heavy Metal� is not their choice! |
| FUN: Goats can be lots of fun. They love to go on walks with you. Especially hiking! They well not leave you so do not require a leash. They well stop to eat some tasty brush & then hurry to catch up along the way. It is a good idea to tether them when camping at night. They make excellent �packers� & the equipment can be purchased especially designed for Goats or one can use a large dog backpack to start them out. |
| DRESS YOUR GOAT: Dress your goat?! Sure enough! If you live in a cold climate or your goat is cold & shaking after kidding, or you just gave her a bath or you want her clean for a show. By all means pull on a tee shirt or sweatshirt. I have fun at the Thrift store picking out �wild� tees for a show. New born kids sometimes need a shirt. One time I found 5 bright orange ones with cute logos. I poke some holes in and gather up the slack at the top. It works for me. If you just dress one and turn her out you may notice a commotion. I think the rest are jealous! |
| BREEDING: Let�s talk about breeding goals. Each of us makes a decision of what we enjoy about each species of animals we breed. There is a breed of Goat to satisfy everyone, whether it be a grade, Registered, pet or pygmy. Many people in the Goat world love showing & that is their main goal. They do not hand milk & they do not care about high milk production. They will of course like a correctly attached udder for the show ring but are not concerned about volume. Other folks are feeding their family & other farm animals the milk & choose high milkers. In some large herds or Dairy's they use milking machines. If a goat is a hard to milk individual this does not concern them. The milking machine does the labor & they just check each goat & strip out if needed. My wonderful foundation doe �Echo� as a second freshener milked over 2 gallons of milk a day! We carefully weighed the bucket & set the scale back to accommodate its weight. Yep, every morning & night it weighed out at 8-1/4 to 8-1/2 lbs! This experience really made me aware of the time & money involved to produce milk. She ate the same amount as the rest of the does & produced much more milk. The criterion of most Goat Keepers for a first freshener is a daily weight of 6 lbs. We have 2 first fresheners who are now giving 5 & 1/4 lbs a milking! This is a whopping 10 & 1/2 lbs a day! I consider a good mature milker a �keeper� at 1 & 1/2 gallon a day. My goal is to develop a consistent line of high producers. I also want Does who are �easy� to milk. The first Doe I purchased was terrible. The milk came out of a little pin size orifice & your hands were exhausted by the time you were finished. I dreaded the trip to the barn to extract the milk. If my Goats win at the show I am extremely happy. Of course I want good conformation also. A Buck is half your herd. This also means that every Buck must be out of a high easy milking line & I intend to line breed on my high milking does. However we or no one else can predict what volume a goat will milk. Genetics extend 4 or 5 generations in the past. Consistent line breeding on high easy milkers along with culling will help us achieve our goals. There is something important to say about supply & demand. Goats are prolific. You can have just a few Goats, breed them & be shot into a whole herd due to a bountiful kidding season with multiple births. The Goat world needs to take a hard look at the facts. Reg. top Goats do not bring enough money! Long time breeders who have produced outstanding milk & show lines seem to be most likely to realize top prices. These folks also sell improver stock to other serious breeders. The Goat world should get together & by encouraging Goat Keepers to limit breeding & milk some of their Does on through a second year might help Goat numbers to go down. Let me also make an observation. The image of Goats has also been tarnished with pictures of run down Goat farms and Goats standing on junk piles supposedly eating tin cans or any thing else they can get to. Cartoons featuring scruffy Buck Goats that �glow� does not do much for the thought of owning a Dairy goat or drinking the milk. Most of us have seen folks who own 30 to 50 Goats & don�t really know why. They enjoy breeding & want to see what their new Buck is producing. Some Goats become beloved pets like a dog. They have names & come when called. However, Kids don�t sell that well so the herd just keeps increasing! So does the feed bill. Tenderhearted souls can�t bear to send the beautiful Kids to the auction. Soon some of these large collections of animals look poor, have long overgrown hoofs & need more care. Please do not think I am against big breeders. It doesn�t matter whether you are large or small. What matters is the care & consideration with which you are breeding for. I just feel that one needs to keep in mind the demand for Goats in their area & how many Goats they can adequately feed & care for. Some folks feed Pigs & Calves so they have a purpose for their milk & do not have to dump it. We feed our chickens, dogs, horses and cats goat milk. We also sell frozen milk for pet owners. |
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