Day 2 Milking

Ok, so I woke determined to increase my 1/3 cup bounty. Bonnie was a total wash. I decided to see if I could just get her to stand on the milk stand without dancing a wild jig. Finally a bit defeated I put her back with her kid, determined to try again tonight. She can get her head out of the milk stand so I will fix that and then try again when she has a bit less freedom.

Chianti went much better...on one side. I got more out of her than both goats combined yesterday. One side is FULL of milk and she seems happy to have me empty it. The other side seems kind of empty and I can only get a few tiny squirts out. I think we all need a lot more practice. Maybe twice a day milking? Or maybe I need to call in an expert for advice. I probably need to be careful not to create one side wonders or the poor goats will be walking lopsided and I will never get enough milk for CHEESE...which I somehow still believe I will make despite the general lack of milk. Good things take time. Just as I was about to proudly measure my meager milkings (I would guess I had a 1/2 cup), Chianti decided she was done and put her foot in the bowl while laying down.

Day 1 Milking

Dill is now a week old, Luna (born on a full moon) and her brother Zeus are just 3 days old. I haven't had the heart to separate them from their mothers yet at night, and since Fias Farm (which has been elevated to God like proportions in my mind as the answer to all things goat) waits two full weeks to begin milking I figured I am OK. This morning after months of eager anticipation, I decided to give it a whirl and begin getting the ladies used to the drill. I woke up early, reread the milking instructions and went to the barn with all sorts of purpose and determination. I returned to the house about an hour later with a 1/3 cup of milk. I imagine one day (hopefully not too many days from now) I will look back on this morning and laugh. I imagine on that day I will have chevre dripping deliciously in cheese cloth in the kitchen and loads of fresh milk waiting in the fridge. For now, Minnie the barn cat had a delicious morning treat and I am trying to focus on the modest wins of the day. Both goats jumped willingly onto the milk stand. They let me milk them from one side while there was food, and there were no injuries to goat or human. I now more fully understand the expression, there is no use crying over spilled milk. Tonight's mission...milk both sides, 1/2 cup total! My dreams a bit smaller in scale today.

Goat Dreams

Two years ago we started our journey with the purchase of 2 Nigerian Dwarf Goats. Bonnie (a doe) and Don Pedro (a whether), won us over with their antics and affection and we found ourselves spending hours watching them.

In the second year, we started dreaming of goat cheese. OK, I will admit I tend to leap over every early step to the end and really was dreaming of owning a goat dairy that made the best marinated Chevre in the state/universe. I know...I had never milked a goat at the time so feel free to laugh loudly. Secretly, I still believe it will happen one day. Even if it doesn't, what fun is life without outrageous dreams?

In the year in between, we bought a bred doe and watched her like proud parents for the months leading up to her freshening. Now cue the real laughter. We stayed up all night on her due date in a kidding pen prepared for this big moment. There were Christmas lights twinkling, fresh shavings on the floor and all sorts of stainless steel milking equipment shining brightly in the kitchen. I could taste the goat cheese. I had read every book and blog possible, been to the Vermont Cheesemaking Festival, toured Maine goat farms on Open Farm Day, and taken a class at local farm. So, when Chianti began pawing the ground and trying to sit on our laps, we just knew this was the moment. Many sleepless hours and hopeful blog posts on Goat Beat later ("Sometimes they go way past their due date right?"), we discovered Chianti had what a man at the Cumberland Fair called a "Precocious Udder". Meaning a tricky one that looks to be developing because a doe is pregnant, but actually is just a way to make the new goat owner with crazy dreams look very silly. She is still my favorite goat even after her false pregnancy, and it helps that I believe she truly thought she was pregnant too. My friends at work will forever have a wealth of ammunition when they want to make fun of me.

This Christmas, a visiting Buck Renga came for a holiday and finally the magic happened. Five months later, we are now a step closer to those crazy dreams. Three sweet kids are in the barn, healthy and scampering and unbelievably cute. And truthfully although that goat cheese is still a faraway dream, for now, it is dreamy enough just to spend hours in the stalls holding our first kids.