Farm Babies

[olfart]

How about a thread for posting pics of the new farm family members? I'll just drop mine right here.

This is Mama Dilly with her triplets that were born last night. Two girls and a boy, so they'll be Archie, Betty and Veronica. Betty is in the front, Archie to the right, and Veronica in the corner. More pics when they get out and more sociable.

Dilly and Kids.jpg

[redman2006]

Tasty and cute, what better farm animal is there?

Our nubian is getting bred, so hopefully we will be replenishing our milk and meat supply soon. We did away with all the rabbits. Our freezer is over full, so we will repopulate when it gets eaten down a little.

[olfart]

We're trying to breed for year-round milk supply, but unfortunately the goats have some say in that. Nubians are seasonal breeders (at least ours are), so it's kinda hard to space them out. We have one that's due in June, and I hope the one I'm milking now will be ready to breed by then. June will be time to start milking the one that just delivered, so at least we should be good for all summer and into autumn.

We had rabbits about 40 years ago and got tired of eating rabbits. We sold a bunch to Pel-Freeze, but they kept demanding higher weights in shorter times, and we couldn't afford that much feed.

[redman2006]

Do you have plans for a milk stand that you like? I need to build one asap. Have one in milk and one bred for October delivery.

[redman2006]

Do you have plans for a milk stand that you like? I need to build one asap. Have one in milk and one bred for October delivery.

[olfart]

No plans, but maybe pics will help. You'll need it to fit your goats AND you. Basically you want something to stand them a foot or more off the ground so you don't ruin your back milking. A foot wide is plenty, although mine is wider because that was the scrap of plywood I had handy at the time. I added the rail to give them something to lean on and to keep them where I can reach them. The ankle bracelets are to keep them from kicking and/or sticking a foot in the bucket. Once they're trained to the milking routine, you may be able to quit using the restraints. Floor length should be about the distance from the front of the goat's shoulder to the tail plus about 6". Height of the feed tray should be comfortable for your goat to eat while you're milking.

Milk Stand.jpg

Milk Stand 1.jpg

Milk Stand 2.jpg

I also use the milk stand for trimming their feet (at which point the side rail is in the way, so maybe it should be removable), giving shots, oral meds, etc.

[redman2006]

Oldfart,
Can you share some recipes for cheese. I belive you said you made it.

We are over run with milk, and looking for ways to use it and store it.

Thanks

[redman2006]

Oldfart,
Can you share some recipes for cheese. I belive you said you made it.

We are over run with milk, and looking for ways to use it and store it.

Thanks

[redman2006]

I built my milking stand, and as everything I build, it weighs 3x what it should and could support 10x what it needs to. I made it too wide, but otherwise, it works well. For scrap lumber and a few bucks in hardware, I am eased. Beats a $200 metal one commercially available.

[olfart]

Mine was too wide, too, which was why I added the rail. That pushes the goat back to my side of the stand where I can reach her without straining so much. Now I may have to cut a round hole in the floor to put the milk bucket in. The doe I'm milking now is at least a DDDD, and I have to hold her bag out of the bucket while trying to milk. Getting nearly 2 quarts a day from only one side. Leaving the other side for the kids, and they're barely putting a dent in it.

[olfart]

Oldfart,
Can you share some recipes for cheese. I belive you said you made it.

We are over run with milk, and looking for ways to use it and store it.

Thanks

Here's the recipe I used. You'll need some Mesophilic direct set culture, then just follow the recipe. The cheddaring procedure is a bit of a pain, but it's worth it. We end up eating the curds before they even get packed into the cheese mold.

http://blog.cheesemaking.com/farmhouse-cheddar-beginners/

[redman2006]

Thanks. M wants to try it soon. We need to order the right stuff for it. One recipe says age at room temp, but others say 45 degrees. What do you use for aging if you do a wheel?

I won deed about a hole in the deck of the milk stand, but I figured there was a reason not to do so, since all of the commercially made stands do not have one.

Our current milker is producing 1/2 gallon per day. We have a young doe pregnant with her first, and hopefully she will produce a little more. Her blood lines are all commercial dairy lines. The one in milk now was a commercial dairy cull.

2 days worth of milk from her makes enough farm style cheese to last a week depending on how the wife uses it. It makes a killer cheese cake, great stuffed pasta and spinach rolls, and is good on crackers when seasoned a little.

I was worried about time, but it takes maybe 15 minutes to milk and filter. The cheese making is the time consuming part.

[olfart]

I haven't tried cream cheese yet, but when I sell off some kids maybe I'll have enough milk to try it. Unfortunately I've gotten neighbors and friends hooked on goat milk, and now I have to feed their habit. What cream cheese recipe are you using? Or are you making cheesecake with the farm style cheese?

I'm aging the cheese in an old styrofoam ice chest in the corner of the kitchen. I use Gatorade bottles filled with water and frozen to keep the temp around 45 - 50. It takes a bit of experimentation to figure out how often I have to change out the bottles and how many bottles to use, but it works pretty well.

As for the hole in the stand, I'm figuring on saving the plug and putting steel bars spaced around the edge to keep the goat from falling through, then lifting the plug out as needed for the bucket. It'll sure make it easier to milk. Another thing I'd considered was to drill a 3/4" hole in the floor, slide the bucket under the floor, and stick a large funnel through the hole. The concern with that idea is, I don't know what's lurking on the underside of the floor that might decide to drop into the bucket.

[redman2006]

We are using ricotta and farm cheese for that. The ricotta is made from the whey...with mixed success

[olfart]

Yeah, I made ricotta from the last batch of cheese whey. We weren't impressed. She ate most of it on toast for breakfast.