This is the milk pail that I squeeze the milk into. It has that lid with a cut out on one side that is very useful for keeping debris (like Hyacinth's foot) out of it while I'm milking. The lid is a bit tricky to put on and take off, so I usually just lay it on the top and let it rest there. While I was pouring the milk from the pail to the quart jar that I use for milk storage, the lid suddenly fell off onto the jar, knocking it over and the milk went everywhere.
I got my milking tips from a goat website called fiascofarms.com. It is an excellent site and most of the goat people that I come across know about and reference this site (not that I know a lot of goat people, I'm just sayin'). I've used her sterilizing and milking procedure since last year and it seems to be working OK. Except that last year, Hyacinth had a bad case of mastitis. Hmm. I don't know if it had to do with anything I did or didn't do or if it was just something that happened. Anyway, things are going well this year. The whole procedure, in detail, is here: http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/milking-sanitation-equipment.html
But, in short,
I use this yellow pail to carry a quart or two of water mixed with bleach (2 Tbs.) and Dawn dishwashing liquid (1 drop) down to the barn. I wash Hyacinth's udder with it before milking and I use a little Dixie cup filled with this solution as a teat dip afterwards. When the milking is done and Hyacinth gets off the stand, I pour the rest of the solution onto the milking stand to clean it.
The stainless steel funnel looking thing in the picture is the strainer. I have little round filters that go in the funnel part and I pour the milk into the strainer that I set on top of a mason jar that has also been sterilized in a bleach solution. Everything gets sterilized before and/or after they are used to keep the milk as pure as possible.
This is what is left of the milk I collected today after spilling. I write the date on the side of the jar with a Sharpie and then store the milk in the freezer until time to use it. The date washes off after going through the dishwasher so it can be used again without confusion. I've read that the milk will last up to a year in the freezer, so I just stock up as much as I can.
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7 comments:
On the amount of milk it depends on if you are leaving kids in with her, Is she a first freshener, are the kids locked away for any certain amount of time before milking? Some are not big producers but should produce more. Amount of grain and how long she has been milking this freshening make a difference too. They peak at about 2 months after kidding and then level out for the rest of the time till dropping off in the fall to dry up.
The Fias Co Farms is an excellent site!!
See! Goat people know about FiasCo Farms.
Hyacinth is a second year freshener (is that how you say it?) I separate her from her kid at night and milk her in the morning. She gets sweet feed in the morning while I milk her because it's the only way she'll stand still. She gets a little sweet feed mixed with alfalfa at night. It's almost been two months since she kidded, so she should be peaking soon, I guess. I have her kid sold and will wean him at two months, then he'll be gone and I'll be getting all the milk.
Have you tried massaging her udder as you are milking? I have some that dont let down all their milk unless i massage it or bump like the kids do when they are nursing. Does she still fill full when you are done milking?
No, I don't massage her for two reasons. First, I don't have enough hands. One hand milks while the other hand dribbles out food into her bowl because as soon as her bowl is empty, she'll start to kick. Although, she is getting calmer and kicking less. Secondly, I'm obsessed with keeping my hands clean and I feel like I need to touch as few things as possible while milking.
However, I DO bump her like the kids, except not as hard.
It does seem like her udder is still somewhat full after milking. I didn't know if it was supposed to be deflated like a balloon or if maybe the mammary glands stayed bigger all the time and made the udder appear full.
When I milk I wash the whole udder and massaging it will get the rest of the milk to let down. I have some I can bump all I want to but its not till I massage it that it will let it down.
I put out enough feed that I can milk with out filling the bowl again. I don't let them run out while they are on the stand. Some do finish it all but generally they don't. When I am done milking I take the grain away and they get down.
Some have a more "meaty" udder and some will look like an empty bag nothing to it after milking out.. Just depends on the doe. I have one that I thought she had a meaty udder till I kept working on it the first year I got her as a 3 yr old and it now milks down to nothing like the others.
I would really recommend massaging it to get all the milk out.
Does the initial washing of the udder (which I do) count as massaging? Maybe a prolonged washing?
Hyacinth hogs the food down so quick that I'm afraid to give it to her all at once. I did it that way last year and it didn't work. Maybe I'll try it again this year since she's calmed down a bit.
When she seems to not have anything left stop and wash again massaging while you do that. It makes a difference. THink deep muscle massage..
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