Goats

[Trev62]

Separated the kids from their Mum's tonight for the first time so we can get into the routine of milking in the morning and as the kids have not been feeding from their Mum's during the night we should get more milk.

Needless to say there is a lot of noise and unhappy goats outside at present!

Headphones on

[Mo]

Will you be bottle feeding?

[Trev62]

Will you be bottle feeding?

No need to, they are already eating hay/lucerne/barley straw etc. along with grain and pellets, also they get their fill browsing when we walk them twice a day.

We do not milk the Mum's dry so they still feed their kids during the day.

It is still a learning curve for us and we are trying to work out what is best for the goats and us. One happily stands on the milking bench but the other goes down on her knees making it hard to milk her. We rigged up a small hoist today to keep her on her feet to make milking easier, not perfect and the idea needs developing if she continues doing this. Still early days yet with them all.

[Trev62]

Gave all the goats their last injections today, the new additions are now out of quarantine and adjusting to their new surroundings and the other goats. Constant supervision at present to ensure there are no major issues when all together, especially with the young kids.

Started trimming all the new additions hooves today as well as they do not seem to have been done for a while. Also completed the first and highest level of the goat beds it just needs a quick sand down and some drainage holes drilling in it but that can be done after levels 2 and 3 have been completed.

Getting better at milking them now, I can get the milk in the bucket and not in my eye

[manda]

Exciting...goats milk cheese ...YUM!!

Getting better at milking them now, I can get the milk in the bucket and not in my eye

Excellent lol!

[Trev62]

Made our first "hard" goat cheese today, nice texture but very mild. We will play about and place half of it in brine tomorrow. We have also made a "soft" cheese tonight which has to sit until the morning before we finish of the making process. Our aim to make another cheese which will "age" once we have found out more about the aging process.

Lots of playing around and no doubt a few failures will follow until we get it right and how we want it.

Also today we made a rest bench for the goats and placed it into their overnight pen which meant none of them wanted to go into the pen tonight with this new wooden monster resulting in a game of "catch me if you can". Took a while, but we won in the end and they are now all wrapped up safely and soundly for the night.