Morning Goat Milking

(click on the picture to be able to see it much bigger for detail)

1.// Greet the ladies in the morning. They are always eager to see me and know they will soon be getting their favorite food.

2.// Go in the feed room and mix up some yummy breakfast.

3.// We've got some dairy goat feed, alfalfa pellets, black oil sunflower seeds and some goat mineral. They actually don't really like the mineral so much but then they try to pick around it so it takes them longer to eat, which means I have longer to milk before they get antsy on the stand.

4.// Say hi to the hen and her baby chicks.

5.// Put Midnight and Meadow on leashes because they are kinda pushy to get through the gate when it isn't their turn. And this pregnant mama doesn't like trying to haul hungry goats outta the way of an open gate when they are hauling to get to their food.

6.// Red gets to go first. Her name is simply, Red. Because she has a red collar. We are so creative. Up on the milk stand she jumps to get to eat her breakfast. She gets a nice brush down to clear any shedding hair so it doesn't float down into my bucket.

7.// I've cleaned her udders and teats really well, squirted a couple squirts out to clear any bacteria, then am ready for it to go into my stainless steel bucket. Its got a nice little half moon opening for the milk to go in but no hay or hair!

8.// Red is all done so the pail gets a towel over it while I move her to the main day pen and get the next doe up on the stand.

9.// Red back with her babies for the day. (Once the kids are 2 weeks old, they get separated at nighttime so that the mama's udders can fill with milk for me to milk in the morning. Then they get all they want to drink all day-believe me, there is plenty to go around!).

10.// Spotty is up next. Again with the creative names. Spotty was/is our "wildest" doe, but boy is she a dandy to milk! She stands so nice. Gives me lots of milk and her teats are just so easy to milk!

11.// How I clean the udders and teats. With a norwex cloth. I have a pail of hot water to rinse it between does.

12.// Oh hey, look at that. My favorite part of milking! When the farmer comes out to the barn and helps in between his own chores! He will help move does from pen to pen and such! I can do it myself, but it just goes so much smoother/easier when he's around! He's my favorite.

13.// Now, the first two does have been milked. The milk goes into the house and strained into glass jars, then quickly cooled. (All glass jars and milking equipment and anything that comes into contact with the raw milk, I thoroughly clean with a dairy soap and sanitize with a dairy equipment sanitizer. Air dried upside down. Then ready to go!)

14.// Back out the barn to finish milking to last two does. This is midnight. She, along with Meadow, has been on our farm for just a couple of weeks now.

15.// And the last doe to be milked is Meadow. She has LOTS of milk. And usually finishes her breakfast before I can finish milking her.

16.// Her teats are HUGE around and that actually makes them a little harder to milk. But I'll forgive her since she gives me so much yummy milk!

We also have an orphan calf and then one of the baby goats that we bottle feed. So after I've got the milk for us cooling, I get the bottles made for them. 

Oh look, someone is awake. Greet my human kids for the morning =)

Then bottle feed the goat. The farmer bottle feeds the calf.

When the milk gets in the house its at 90 degrees. 

The glass quart jars get put in ice water in the freezer.

 In about an hour it is cooled down to 35 degrees. 

Getting it cooled down this quickly is one of the keys to getting it to taste to good and keeping it safe for human consumption!  A side-by-side comparison of whole cows milk from the grocery store and this goat milk, you can not tell a difference. It is amazing really. Goat milk gets such a bad rap but its all in the handling of the milk and equipment and also what you feed your milking does (and a few other variables that I don't need to go into here!).

So that is my morning routine from when the kids are 2 weeks old until they are completely weaned at around 8-10 weeks. When they are weaned this will be my routine in the morning and in the evening. For now, I just have one doe I milk in the evening so its much less work

. 

Also, we have one doe that just kidded this week so she isn't getting milked at all yet. But she will be added to the milking mix when her kids are 2 weeks old.

Okay, if you made it to the end of this post. Good job. =)

Year in Review: Kid Edition

This year has gone by quickly and many things have happened! Here is year in review post about the kids. I'll do a general review next!

Titus turned 7 years old in January and started 2nd grade this year when August came around. His birthday is Kansas Day(its almost here again!), so he got to dress up for school! He is a sweet, energetic boy. This past year, he graduated from his speech therapy that he was doing. He had an amazing speech teacher and he talks so well now! We are proud of his hard work and sweet spirit! He loves to help out his littlest brother and playing with him also! Legos are his thing right now, along with fishing (when he gets the chance), and shooting his daddy's BB gun. He is dreaming of his own. The first time he shot down a pigeon from the barn, he was flying high all. day. long!

We surprised him with a party after school with some aunts and cousins! So fun to have a surprise party for the birthday boy!

(Before)

Lillie turned 9 in March and started 4th grade in August. For her birthday, she took her cousin with her to get her hair cut short and then spend a day in town!

(after)

She got to try on dresses at Von Maur. So fancy =) She is growing up to be quite the young lady. She is  a social bug and loves her friends and being with people. She is quick to make friends and is outgoing. This year she got to have a main part in the church Christmas play and she sure has a knack for that sort of thing! So proud of her! Not sure where she got her stage presence from cuz her daddy and I both cringe if we have to be front and center! But God blessed her with that and we love her for it! She also loves to do arts and crafts and can be found up in her room creating all sorts of things. She made a magnet board for me for Christmas and its so special!

Mommy, daughter picture!

Zethan turned the BIG 5 this year!

He celebrated with a donut tower cake in the morning. And then him and his best friend/cousin got to go bowling! Those two are two peas in a pod. Funny funny fellas! Zethan has much energy and sometimes doesn't know when to slow down! Some of his favorite things include: playing with his farm toys, legos, playing the ipad, and pretty much anything big brother is doing. He is always making us laugh and we love him to pieces! He started Kindergarten this year as well! Quite an adventure!

At the bowling alley! 

Simon baby turned 2 years old in August. He started his morning off by meeting Papa and Aunt Tiffy at Drubers for some yummy donuts! (Do you sense a donut theme in this family??)

Then we got to play with all the cousins at a spray park! Perfect day for that!

He also got to celebrate with an ant cake at Grandma & Papa's house! Lucky boy! He is a sweet little guy and we can't imagine our lives without him! God blessed us with a special boy and he is always bringing a smile to everyone in the family! Except for when he destroys lego cities of course =) He got to start going to Sunday School this year when he turned 2 and quickly got used to going in and sitting down to do a puzzle or two to start. He picks up his little memory verses quickly and is ALWAYS talking. He has quite the vocabulary and we laugh at the phrases he uses that he has heard adults use and his cute little sayings that he says. He is growing up quickly and we treasure these sweet moments of his lingering babyhood.

We are so blessed to have these children and we pray God's wisdom to raise them. Some days are harder than others and we treasure the good days and know that the bad days too shall pass. It is all a part of this life and we hope to bring honor and glory to God each of the days.

Corn Harvest

Corn harvest Twenty-Fourteen has been going on awhile now! But finally one of our own corn fields was dry enough to cut! (My farmer husband works for another farmer so they both have fields). (And not all our corn is ready-just a little was dried down enough for now.) 

We got to go out on the four-wheeler and await our turn for a ride! It was right around our home place and the road across! It started out a chilly morning.

 There is the Farmer in the combine picking corn! (I just learned that its not cutting corn, its picking corn because the corn header doesn't have a sickle on it cutting the corn. Who knew. Haha.) =)

 Riding along. First time to ride this harvest season! This is about the only kind of date we get around here =) But I'll take it!

 Simon thoroughly enjoying time with his farmer Daddy doing what he loves! Farming! He loves all things tractor, combine, truck. You know- big machinery.

Simon loved that tire! Brief moment while we were stopped, he got to hop up there. It was a lot of in and out- trading riders, waiting for more semi-trucks, going back home for nap time, getting lunches and suppers ready... Then the combine broke down for a few hours, so that always makes farmers real happy... =) But its just a part of the process.

 The golden flow of corn is so pretty coming out of the auger! Can't wait to see more pictures that my sis-in-law got! She's way better at picture taking than me!

And when the farmer says to everyone that the elevator is about close so if you wanna come-jump in, you all jump in, no shoes, no clothes. Whatever. We are real classy around here. They were so excited to see how the corn dumps out of the bottom of the hopper.

So there is still some corn harvest left this year and then they will be on to bean harvest and drilling wheat before we know it, busy time in the farm life. But it was fun to have a day seeing my farmer! He's the best!