The Dairy

We had only been here at the farm for a year or two when I was finally able to convince my husband that we needed a milk animal (I wanted a cow, but they produce way too much milk) so we got a goat.  Gidget was an American Alpine dairy goat and produced almost 2 gallons of milk a day!  This is comparable with some cows by the way. She was an awesome doe.  She was healthy, didn't have any birthing issues, didn't have any milking issues and was a great goat for a first-time goat owner.    

 

    She produced ALOT of milk!  Buckets and buckets of MILK!  And had the MOST adorable kids!

Well...we ended up with more than JUST one goat!

But they were all descendants of Gidget. 

AND LOTS MORE MILK!

Needless to say, we had more then one goat! NObody can have JUST one goat. So, we had a barn full. And lots more milk!!!

As the years went by and we were figuring out what to do with all the milk, we switched from American Alpines to Nubian goats.  And have never regretted that decision. They have such great personalities.  They have great tasting milk and such cu-ute little babies.  They still give A lot of milk.  We began kid sharing to help with using up some of the milk.  

Kid Sharing is when the kids are a week or two old and are well bonded with the doe, healthy and strong, we take the babies and put them in a separate pen away from the mother each night.  In the morning, we milk the doe, and then let the babies spend the day with their mothers and nurse all day.  Its a win - win situation for all.  Mom gets a break and can rest, babies get the milk they need throughout the day, and we get a share of the milk that the doe produces as well.  

Kid

For over 25 years now we have been milking goats and making cheese, yogurt, kefir, and soap from raw goat milk as well as drinking it.  Raw milk is unpasteurized and full of all the vitamins and minerals that good quality milk has to offer.  Its heatlhy, nutritious, and easier to digest than pasteurized milk from the grocery store.

This year in August, I dried up the doe I had been milking and decided to buy into a herdshare for the winter only until the girls freshened again in Spring. 

Store bought milk is just not something I wanted to do again.

 

 

We went and got our first Milk from the herdshare.  The farm we get it from has Jersey Cows.  The cream on the top of this milk was unbelievable!  3" thick at least on a half-gallon jar of milk.  I skimmed the cream and made butter for the first time...AMAZING!!  My husband took his first drink of the milk and said, "We need to get a cow". 

25 years later.... we are getting a cow!!!  YES!!!!!

Now begins our Family Milk Cow!  Meet Annabelle.  I started the search for a family milk cow.  They are hard to find and expensive.  I found her and her twin sister on the west side of the state.  Young (only 8 months old) and so pretty. She is already halter broke and leading reasonably well on a lead rope.  We bought Annabelle.  And she is adorable! She's very sweet and calm.  Of course, it's going to be a while before we get to milk her.  

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