Drying Off, the first season winds down

goats with 2011 buck Allegro

last moments of draining

our pasteurizer at work

Can it be that we have only been milking goats and making cheese for 7 months? It seems like so much a part of the fabric of our days now that when we began the drying off process I was surprised to find I missed the skipped milkings. After 6 months of a.m. and p.m. milking every day, we cut back to just night milking at Thanksgiving. On work days it was nice to just check the animals for food and water and get to school, but it did seems as if some quiet moment was missing. On New Years Day we began milking every other night, and soon we will be done for the season.

A cute buck named Allegro came just before Christmas, in a dog carrier in our Prius (a ripe ride from Alfred to Cumberland). And so the cycle begins again. We could have kept milking for a few more months, but we figured deep winter was a good time to give the does, who we hope are now all pregnant, and ourselves a little break. We could have anywhere from 1 to 20 kids in the end of May or start of June. Likely we will be milking 4 does. (The buck has found ways to get out of his stall using some incredible goat magic so there is a chance our 7 month old doeling is pregnant, but we hope not. If so that makes 5 milking does.) We will likely have a gallon of milk a day and be able to make 15 cheeses every day. We will need a lot of friends to eat it!

It is easy to think of all the things we wish we had done better. Despite giving it our best try and doing lots of research, we did not disbud the kids well and had to have the 2 we sold redone. Not something I ever want to pay for or have to put the kids through again. Little Luna is a one horned wonder, a good reminder that we will have to either embrace horns or hold the iron on a bit longer next year. We had a vet do all the shots and spent a fortune on vet visits, nearly $200. each time. We never got to hard cheeses.

But then, if we sit back for a minute, we can appreciate all we have learned and tried this year for the first time. We leased our first buck, watched our 2 goats have 3 healthy kids, did our own disbudding and banding, bought two new does, learned to milk, and make cheese and cajeta and operate a pasteurizer. And on the side, delivered 4 potbelly piglets (yes I had to reach in to help), nursed a barn cat back to health in the bathroom, learned to take the temperature of a goat, pig, cat and dog. We lost one little piglet, but kept all the rest of our animals healthy and happy and even had a 100% survival rate on our 25 day old chicks. (Another first.) So if the year is measured in firsts, we have had a big one. All that while digging out our new farm and making it feel like home.

The wonderful thing about the break winter provides is it gives me a chance to recognize all we experienced and take stock for next year. Like teaching I will have a fresh try next season. And in the meantime my Hoegger Supply Catalog came and I have already dogeared nearly every page with all the farm treasures I would love to have: a cheese press, a heated bucket, all my own supplies to give the goats their vaccinations myself. Winter is for dreaming, and I can already taste all the cheeses June will bring. Thanks Allego for your help.