Thought I would do a
thread of my goat videos. hopefully they will help people with things to do.. and not do!
Hahaha. for some of the milkin vids ya may want to turn up your device brightness, they came out kinda dark due to bad barn lighting and, well being lookin under the goat lol.
spring 2011 3 wether kids I think they were 2 months at the time of the
video. things have major
energy. I have gone on a 4 mile out, 4 mile back hike with bottle babies at 5 days old and they ran circles around me majority of the time!
video of me handmilking. this was this does first freshening (freshen, refresh, refresh the
milk supply, each kidding called a freshening) and her teats were quite small and short. so I milked her with just my thumb and forefinger. by her third freshening she had better utter development and slightly longer teats and I could milk with my thumb and forefinger and middle finger. **NOTE** you do not pull down! it looks like it in the video but its actually my hands are moving slightly up to gently bump the udder and my fingers opening to allow milk down into the teat for the next squeeze. you must allow the teat to open and fill with milk or you will be squeezing empty teat and probably get a grumpy doe! also you *must* completely close off the teat with your fingers before you squeeze the milk out the teat or it will be some milk go down and into the
bucket and some/most milk shoot back up inside the udder. you DO NOT want that as it irritates the tissue inside the udder and leads to pink milk = blood in the milk from the irritated tissues, which is inedible except to barn cats or hog slop.
don't worry you will hurt them more if the inner udder gets irritated than if you squeeze the teats too hard. and especially for newbies to hand milking it feels like you are seriously squeeeezin em. this is partially because you are using different muscles in your hands that you probably don't use with much force any other time.
In this video you can see my strip cup. its a cup with a fancy metal screen on the lid part. the first 3 to 5 squirts go in this. firstly the teat develops a plug of stuff and dirt at the orifice to keep out bacteria etc. we don't want that in our milk bucket. this doesn't happen so much with mother goats with kids on em because the kids nurse here and there throughout the day but the plug helps keep the teats and udder healthy between milkings. I milked at 8AM and 8PM. also the screen of the strip cup will catch anything weird in the milk like milk stones or flecks etc which you will want to catch as soon as possible. also you will see me reach the back teat with my right hand (whereas I usually milk the back teat with my left hand) because the does udder and teat was a bit tight that day and I needed the extra strength of my dominant hand.
then you see some of the barn cats. they learn quick once I start the milkin season what time to be in the barn for milk! kept a bowl on the floor for em to drink from so the strip cup milk wasn't wasted.
and yes, this whole barn was made from real long
pallets. the middle wall is just old barn 2x4 boards and recycled from another barn aluminum roof, that divides the milk parlor and hay/feed side from the goat side.
getting ready for pack goat training pt 1
getting ready for pack goat training pt 2 - putting on pack saddle
getting ready for pack goat training pt 3 - string leads
getting ready for pack goat training pt 4 - walkin along the road now
getting ready for pack goat training pt 5 - walkin and talkin about goats
milking - video from many different angles. this is her full milk out except the half minute for strip cup. first freshening she didn't give that much. note the udder rubbing near the end. once the does get near empty do a simple massage of the udder. babies would bump at the udder while nursing which encourages flow and production. my dad once measured and for my two does he got an extra 2 cups of milk between them both from after the massage. not necessary of course but it does help.
milking - more talking explanation
filtering milk
talkin about the goat pasture, planning your barn thoughts and what not to do, storage, things I would do differently, handmade milk stand, meningeal worm, last minute finding a buck for breeding, 12/31/12 buck in with the does for a march 15 due date,
hay feeders from futon/bunk bed sections, squishy ligaments as close kidding signal.
wet fresh newborn kids! moments old! - caution extremely excited critter baby talk!
SHE HAD QUADS!! just watch the video! mom saanen, dad 50/50 pygmy and Nigerian dwarf
part 2 newborn kids - impatiently watchin the second doe to kid, enjoyin the quads, makin sure all the quads can find the teats, squishy ligaments and discharge on the second doe, spotting contractions, digging/pawing at ground, repeatedly watching her back side and/or talkin to her belly, standing-laying-standing-laying,... finally twins!
goat kids older
fun with milo the barn cat during milk time
I ended up having to
sell them all off when I moved. I want to get back into milk goats and lots of other animals once I am set up again. with goats fencing is always top priority! even 5 acres for 2 goats is nothing if they get mad about late feeding/milking or just because they are board and want to get out and wander around. when I get back into milk goats I will likely get a good milker or two and breed to boer for meat cross kids and later breed to a nice milk line pygmy or Nigerian dwarf for hopeful add a couple more milk does. I like the idea of getting smaller goats and being able to rotate them and sheep in a few paddocks.
Any questions feel free to ask! I have about 11yrs of
dairy goat
experience and will
answer to the best of my ability! (: Enjoy the videos!
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