Post by Stacy on Jun 5, 2008 8:40:38 GMT -5
I found the cream.
The two new girls are wonderful! The oldest, the six year old lamanche is a HUGE sweetheart and better than a dog! She wants to be loved on and you can get milk from her. I wish I could have her in the house! LOL She's got great teats to milk from, almost too big for me to squeeze! She gives about a half a gallon a day. She likes her feed and jumps RIGHT ON THE STAND! That's a new thing for us as we were struggling before!!
The alpine is sweet, but picky about who she's sweet with. She seems to only like my oldest daughter and myself. That's ok with me. She comes right up to either of us and will walk over to the stand and jump on. It took a little while for us to find the feed she likes while on the stand, but we figured it out and she's patient at milking as long as there's nothing really to spook her (such as my youngest two girls running around, dogs barking, etc.) She's got smaller teats but they actually fit my hands the best! I am worried because I can feel a small lump at the top of her teat where you grab on. I don't remember feeling it the first day, but have ever since. It doesn't seem to hurt her and if I milk her all the way out, I can't feel it at the end. I try and rub it around every time I'm milking her to see if I can help make it go away. I haven't found any signs of mastitis in her yet.
The first day I had them, I measured the milk seperately. She gave about a gallon for the days' total. Otherwise I've been milking all the milk into one container after checking to make sure it looks clear. I just NOW took out a jar that I've had in the fridge for three days. I poured some in a cup for myself and my youngest to drink and out *PLOP* came a big lump of CREAM! I guess someone is making cream in there! YUM!!! I will also admit that I stirred into the milk and we drank it down. It was, I'm going to say, about an eighth of a cup of milk. YUM! Ok..so it's not a LOT of cream, but I was tickled to find it.
I've also still been milking the one lamanche I haven't sold yet. I believe her production is up and her condition is coming back now a bit. She's eating now what we bought for the other two does to eat and she's doing a lot better. Probably still not a quarter gallon a day from her, but that's ok. She's 'contributing'. She's got such tiny teats that I'm only milking her once a day and whew! It's hard going. My oldest daughter usually has to help with her and her hands are a bit smaller!
Both of the lamanches have the most wonderful tasting milk and no one can tell the diff between that and the milk we're used to drinking except it's just got a 'fresh' taste to it. The alpine's milk has a bit of a taste (just going from the first day) but when mixed in with the others, it's not too noticeable.
I'm so glad to be able to have this chance to start out milking goats and figuring out this whole milking thing before we go full force into the cows' milk! I'm going to find some recipes here shortly, as we've got LOTS of milk in the fridge now (to me anyhow!). I'm developing some GREAT muscles in my arms, which I'm sure you all know about already! LOL!! It makes me especially happy to say it though as I've got a lapband and I was worried about that skin getting the flabby thing that tends to happen with rapid weight loss. My family has actually said (without me asking!) that I've started to look like I've got muscles in my arms! Hehehe...
Whew...sorry such a long post. I'm just really in love with these goats, their milk, milking them.... etc!
Stacy
The two new girls are wonderful! The oldest, the six year old lamanche is a HUGE sweetheart and better than a dog! She wants to be loved on and you can get milk from her. I wish I could have her in the house! LOL She's got great teats to milk from, almost too big for me to squeeze! She gives about a half a gallon a day. She likes her feed and jumps RIGHT ON THE STAND! That's a new thing for us as we were struggling before!!
The alpine is sweet, but picky about who she's sweet with. She seems to only like my oldest daughter and myself. That's ok with me. She comes right up to either of us and will walk over to the stand and jump on. It took a little while for us to find the feed she likes while on the stand, but we figured it out and she's patient at milking as long as there's nothing really to spook her (such as my youngest two girls running around, dogs barking, etc.) She's got smaller teats but they actually fit my hands the best! I am worried because I can feel a small lump at the top of her teat where you grab on. I don't remember feeling it the first day, but have ever since. It doesn't seem to hurt her and if I milk her all the way out, I can't feel it at the end. I try and rub it around every time I'm milking her to see if I can help make it go away. I haven't found any signs of mastitis in her yet.
The first day I had them, I measured the milk seperately. She gave about a gallon for the days' total. Otherwise I've been milking all the milk into one container after checking to make sure it looks clear. I just NOW took out a jar that I've had in the fridge for three days. I poured some in a cup for myself and my youngest to drink and out *PLOP* came a big lump of CREAM! I guess someone is making cream in there! YUM!!! I will also admit that I stirred into the milk and we drank it down. It was, I'm going to say, about an eighth of a cup of milk. YUM! Ok..so it's not a LOT of cream, but I was tickled to find it.
I've also still been milking the one lamanche I haven't sold yet. I believe her production is up and her condition is coming back now a bit. She's eating now what we bought for the other two does to eat and she's doing a lot better. Probably still not a quarter gallon a day from her, but that's ok. She's 'contributing'. She's got such tiny teats that I'm only milking her once a day and whew! It's hard going. My oldest daughter usually has to help with her and her hands are a bit smaller!
Both of the lamanches have the most wonderful tasting milk and no one can tell the diff between that and the milk we're used to drinking except it's just got a 'fresh' taste to it. The alpine's milk has a bit of a taste (just going from the first day) but when mixed in with the others, it's not too noticeable.
I'm so glad to be able to have this chance to start out milking goats and figuring out this whole milking thing before we go full force into the cows' milk! I'm going to find some recipes here shortly, as we've got LOTS of milk in the fridge now (to me anyhow!). I'm developing some GREAT muscles in my arms, which I'm sure you all know about already! LOL!! It makes me especially happy to say it though as I've got a lapband and I was worried about that skin getting the flabby thing that tends to happen with rapid weight loss. My family has actually said (without me asking!) that I've started to look like I've got muscles in my arms! Hehehe...
Whew...sorry such a long post. I'm just really in love with these goats, their milk, milking them.... etc!
Stacy