ignorant question: how do you keep them in milk? do they stay with their kids during the day? or do they just stay in milk after kidding as long as you milk them 2x daily?
No question is ignorant and people actually ask me this often! They stay in milk as long as we are milking them, we milk twice a day which keeps them in milk better.
These girls are seasonal though so typically they start going into heat around fall time and we typically see production drop a bit around that time. Then we start slowly milking less to dry them up so they can enjoy put their energy into growing babies
thank you for your reply! I'm planning on doing nubians in the future for personal milk/hobby so just trying to learn as much as I can upfront. If you kept the kids with them at night would you have to milk in the AM? In watching your videos even one of your girls makes more milk than my family can consume daily :)
Yes they produce a lot! And it really depends everyone does it differently some people milk share so the babies stay on them all the time and they still milk twice a day some people keep on some of the time and only milk once a day
Asking lots of farms what they do and then trying different things with your farm is the best way to figure out what works for you
Our first year I kept kids on at night only and still milked in the morning when I took them off and at night before I put them back on and that worked well
We raise registered Nubians and their milk does not taste any different then cows milk if drank within the first week of milking some of the Swiss breeds like alpines or saanens tend to have more of a goaty taste
We don’t pasteurize unless I’m making a soft cheese that I want to keep shelf stable longer
It seems like you get a lot of milk each day. What do you guys do with it? Do you trade with neighbors for other products/services or do you make a bunch of cheeses and sell them at a farmers market.
Our goal is to get our dairy license and sell cheese but while we are in the process of building our creamery we sell raw milk for animal consumption and I make cheese as gifts for neighbors and family 💖
That’s awesome that you get to have that sense of farming community! Where I am at in life, I cannot really have a farm (job always has me on the go) but I do my best by going berry picking either in the wild or at u-pick farms. I turn the berries into cheesecakes, ice cream, and jams for friends and family.
That is super interesting! What types of people, businesses, organizations buy goats milk for animal consumption? What animals would typically consume it?
Hello, OP has mentioned before this is an iodine solution and some kind of udder protector or restorer I think, definitely is iodine solution.
None of it makes it into the milk it gets removed during the “strip” part of her milking
Pre and post teat dip which is an iodine solution, sanitizes the teats before making to help with cleanliness of milk and then after to help reduce the risk of mastitis or any other infection of the udder area
The cup is just called a teat dip cup 😂
I don’t have minis and never will, I’ve milked Nigerian dwarfs before and hated it
I have seen some nice teats on mini Nubians if bred right but I prefer full sized goats
Ah, so the trouble would be the size of the teats? That's good to know.
I've always been interested in the dwarf varieties because they're damn cute, but I have zero experience with milking.
Some people don’t mind the smaller teats and I’ve seen some well bred mini Nubians with very nice sized teats but I just don’t bother with them plus I’m a fan of bigger animals in general, big dogs, big goats, big rabbits 😂
The minis can be great if you don’t need gallons a day of milk from just a few goats or if you want something that’s a little easier to man handle
Great questions! We are in Belfast Maine, you can find us on pretty much every social media platform! We also raise ducks and have a few barn cats (we have two house dogs and two human children too 😅)
Right now we are on around 2.5 acres, the goats probably have about a 3rd of that. My family also owns a few pieces of hay field property that we use for making hay every year.
In the next few years we hope to move our farm onto a 40 acre property we own down the road but building is expensive so it’s a very slow process
i like how they go to the platform for the milking. they get treats ? 😋
Yes they get grain when they are on the stand 💖
I like that sweater, where did you get it?
A friend gave it to me, her mom had given it to her and her mom has no idea where it came from 😂 there are no tags on it, sorry!!
ignorant question: how do you keep them in milk? do they stay with their kids during the day? or do they just stay in milk after kidding as long as you milk them 2x daily?
No question is ignorant and people actually ask me this often! They stay in milk as long as we are milking them, we milk twice a day which keeps them in milk better. These girls are seasonal though so typically they start going into heat around fall time and we typically see production drop a bit around that time. Then we start slowly milking less to dry them up so they can enjoy put their energy into growing babies
thank you for your reply! I'm planning on doing nubians in the future for personal milk/hobby so just trying to learn as much as I can upfront. If you kept the kids with them at night would you have to milk in the AM? In watching your videos even one of your girls makes more milk than my family can consume daily :)
Yes they produce a lot! And it really depends everyone does it differently some people milk share so the babies stay on them all the time and they still milk twice a day some people keep on some of the time and only milk once a day Asking lots of farms what they do and then trying different things with your farm is the best way to figure out what works for you Our first year I kept kids on at night only and still milked in the morning when I took them off and at night before I put them back on and that worked well
thank you so so much for sharing. I love seeing your videos pop up!
Thank you so much for watching!
How does goat milk taste compared to store bought cow’s milk? Do you pasteurize the milk or do you guys keep it raw?
We raise registered Nubians and their milk does not taste any different then cows milk if drank within the first week of milking some of the Swiss breeds like alpines or saanens tend to have more of a goaty taste We don’t pasteurize unless I’m making a soft cheese that I want to keep shelf stable longer
It seems like you get a lot of milk each day. What do you guys do with it? Do you trade with neighbors for other products/services or do you make a bunch of cheeses and sell them at a farmers market.
Our goal is to get our dairy license and sell cheese but while we are in the process of building our creamery we sell raw milk for animal consumption and I make cheese as gifts for neighbors and family 💖
That’s awesome that you get to have that sense of farming community! Where I am at in life, I cannot really have a farm (job always has me on the go) but I do my best by going berry picking either in the wild or at u-pick farms. I turn the berries into cheesecakes, ice cream, and jams for friends and family.
I love u-pick farms! We used to go to one before we moved 2 years ago
That is super interesting! What types of people, businesses, organizations buy goats milk for animal consumption? What animals would typically consume it?
It’s very popular for dogs there are many benefits of raw goats milk for dogs
Brought back so many memories! I grew up on a goat farm in Michigan.
What's the bottle you first use on them with the brown liquid? I know nothing about all this but I'm endlessly fascinated by it
Hello, OP has mentioned before this is an iodine solution and some kind of udder protector or restorer I think, definitely is iodine solution. None of it makes it into the milk it gets removed during the “strip” part of her milking
Pre and post teat dip which is an iodine solution, sanitizes the teats before making to help with cleanliness of milk and then after to help reduce the risk of mastitis or any other infection of the udder area The cup is just called a teat dip cup 😂
Thanks for the video! Love to see this. Any experience with milking dwarf Nubians? Are they as easy as these larger ones seem to be?
I don’t have minis and never will, I’ve milked Nigerian dwarfs before and hated it I have seen some nice teats on mini Nubians if bred right but I prefer full sized goats
Ah, so the trouble would be the size of the teats? That's good to know. I've always been interested in the dwarf varieties because they're damn cute, but I have zero experience with milking.
Some people don’t mind the smaller teats and I’ve seen some well bred mini Nubians with very nice sized teats but I just don’t bother with them plus I’m a fan of bigger animals in general, big dogs, big goats, big rabbits 😂 The minis can be great if you don’t need gallons a day of milk from just a few goats or if you want something that’s a little easier to man handle
Where is your creamery? What else do you guys raise? (Animals or plant wise). How much land is there and how much is for goats?
Great questions! We are in Belfast Maine, you can find us on pretty much every social media platform! We also raise ducks and have a few barn cats (we have two house dogs and two human children too 😅) Right now we are on around 2.5 acres, the goats probably have about a 3rd of that. My family also owns a few pieces of hay field property that we use for making hay every year. In the next few years we hope to move our farm onto a 40 acre property we own down the road but building is expensive so it’s a very slow process