Milking Agnes, the Goat

Agnes is our La Mancha goat.  She gave birth to Cupcake about six months ago.  We haven't weaned Cupcake yet, but that day is coming soon.  Last week we took blood samples from Agnes and sent them off.  We wanted to test for all the common diseases and things that could pass through the milk and get us sick.  We got the test back and Agnes got a clean bill of health.

We wanted to do a "test" milking in order to see what type of a milker she is.  Will she be calm?  Will she kick?  Goats have only 2 teats whereas cows have 4.  Pound for pound goats are very productive.  Their milk is naturally homogenized.  Unlike cows, where the cream rises to the top, goat milk and cream is combined and doesn't separate like cows.  Here is a look at Agnes' bag.  She has a nice bag full of milk.  We put her up on the goat milking stanchion and hobble her back leg to the stanchion with a lead rope.

I built this stanchion from plans that I found in a magazine many years ago.  It has held up well over the years and is a very useful tool to have.  We put Agnes' head in the head gate and close it around her neck.  As a result, she is unable to pull her head out.  We also feed her some sweet feed in the trough to keep her otherwise occupied.

Tricia uses a quart jar with a muslin rag rubber banded around the opening.  It acts as a filter to keep out dust, hay, hair and other particles we don't want in the milk.

Milking a goat is quick work - if the animal is behaving.  Annie, our Nubian goat, did not behave.  She was not a good milker at all.  She would kick and thrash about.  She would sit down.  Just horrible.  I thought many times about putting her on the barbecue pit.  However, she delivers beautiful baby goats.

Fortunately, Agnes is a good milker.  No shenanigans like with Annie.

Tricia is a diligent milk maid.  She is determined and serious in her work.  In no time flat she was done.  This is a little bit of the milk from Agnes the La Mancha dairy goat.  It is a lot whiter in color than cows' milk.  We put it in the fridge to chill it.

When it was chilled, Tricia asked if I wanted a taste.  I've never been a fan of goat milk.  It is great in keifer or cheese, but as far as drinking it?  To me, it always had a sharp taste.  However, that was Annie's milk.  I tasted it.  Pretty good stuff!  La Mancha goat milk is much better, to me, than Nubian.  I could drink this plain just like cows' milk.  Once we wean, we plan on getting all the milk and we'll make keifer and goat cheese.