[Polyanya]

As a complete milking novice with two ff's with single kids I must admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed with the prospect of a committed milking routine and wonder if anyone could give me some tips as to what to do once I've milked the goats.

I;ve decided to milk in the morning after separating the kids which will be happening within the next couple of weeks. Kids are three weeks old. I'm just a bit vague about milk churns, or pails, or jugs and filters. Which have you guys started with and then changed it to something different?  I'd rather not invest in expensive equipment only to find that I prefer doing it differently.

What I am pretty sure about and have ordered already from Lakeland are 8 large wide mouth jars holding just under 1 ltr I think and I've ordered the plastic screw caps for them from amazon, I'll use these as holding containers for the fridge whilst I decide whether to make cheese, yoghurt or icecream etc.

Any thoughts most gratefully received. 

[Penninehillbilly]

Hi Polyanya
Depends how much milk you get/hope to get.
I milk just in the mornings, i don't milk her out completely, leaving some for kids, 
I use a largish mixing bowl to milk into, (set of 3 from a cheapy supermarket special buy, on again just now I think).
I buy filters online, I think about  £25 for 500, supposed to be single use but I wash and use a few times.
I make a cone with this in the top of storage container (sweet jar or old wide topped coffee jar). Holding round edge with left hand while I pour with right.
Job done. Jar in fridge. Wash filter and bowl. No big pail, bowl goes on normal plate drainer.

 

[Lesley Silvester]

My current milker needs to be tied and have her head held in a clamp to keep her still. I do feed her while milking as a way of helping to keep her still as she still dances a bit. The previous milker would just get up on the bench and stand without being tied until I said she could get down so you could end up with either. I use a handful of treats to get the correct goat out of the yard and keep the other one in. Once I've milked, the reward is 3 ginger nut biscuits and she won't get off the bench if I only give her two. I did fool her once but giving her two separate halves and a whole one. I then return her to the yard. I strain the milk through butter muslin lining a plastic sieve over a jug. The muslin is then rinsed and put in soak in hot soapy water (washing up liquid is good). The previous day's muslin is rinsed clear and hung to dry. Every so often, the muslins go in a boil wash in the machine when I do dishclothes and tea towels.


I use clean plastic milk bottles saved from supermarket milk that friends have had. Great for freezing the milk until I have enough to make a batch of cheese.


Be warned: some goats are very good at 'saving' their milk for their kids. When mine still had kids at foot, I was sure she still had milk in her when I couldn't get any more out but she was hanging on to it so the kids always got some breakfast from her.

[Buttermilk]

The last part of a milking contains the most butterfat.

I used a stainless steel honey bucket pinched from my dad to milk into, strained through a filter held in a sieve, then stored in a plastic juice jug with a lid to prevent picking up taints from the fridge.

It is easier to milk into a wider container but there is more chance of a foot landing in it. Anything too high is also harder to milk into.  If you have doubts about it milk into one container and transfer into another regularly so that you do not lose a whole milking if the goat plays up.

[Polyanya]

Thanks PennineHillbilly - that does sound nice and simple, I like simple ) Your filters are more expensive than the ones I'm looking at - 500 (6 1/2inch) for £17.40 plus postage. Are yours bigger?
Thanks MGM, my lovely husband made a milking stand so I will be using that - I just can't decide if the convenience  of using filters outweighs the savings of reusing muslin. I've heard of people rinsing the filters then sterilising to reuse.
Thanks Buttermilk - I had to look up honey bucket, does yours have the tap at the bottom. I like the square shape, I've read some people use stock pots. Currently a lot of the milk just runs onto my hand and down my arm not into the container and I'm hoping thats not because of small teats but more to do with my technique which should improve.   

[Polyanya]

Also meant to ask - how much milk would one get from a first freshener (approx)? My goats are GG crosses and weigh around 70kgs each.

[Penninehillbilly]

The filters I get are bigger, they give enough to spread over top of jar and more to give the cone shape into the jar. Jars have wide tops so I can get my hand in easily.
If milk is running down your arm I would think goat is too high or you are too low  . Obviously you need to keep your fingers away from teat end. Difficult with small teats, i have one that was finger and thumb job, luckily I can get 2 fingers on now. But she just feeds her kids this year.
Feeding while milking is quite a debate. I don't. You rarely see a goat eating while it's kid feeds, and if she finishes her food before you finish milking you may have a problem. Mine get a few dairy nuts from my hand when they jump up, and a few when I've finished. Maybe top of rosebay willow herb stem to be chomping. My goats are tied to a ring in the wall. Short if they are naughty, current girl gets a slack lead, she's a good girl 

[Polyanya]

Gosh this is such a learning curve  Yes I think my third and pinkie finger are too close to the teat because this happens even when I'm perched next to the goat. Big hands, small teats - dreadful combination and because this is so new to me I'm all fingers and thumbs  Re feeding or not to feed, I was going to give a good handful of dengies alfalfa which takes them ages to finish.

[Isla]

Also meant to ask - how much milk would one get from a first freshener (approx)? My goats are GG crosses and weigh around 70kgs each.

What are they crossed with?  70kgs sounds quite big for a GG to me - but I am no expert!

[Isla]

I bought a cute churn type bucket from Goat Nutrition because it had a lid.  Turned out the opening was too small for my poor aim so I now milk into a stainless steel bucket (from Homebase) with a massive opening.  I rinse the bucket with cold water before use to make it really cold.

I keep empty glass bottles in the fridge so they're cold for the milk going into and help it cool quicker.  Each one has a small chalkboard sticker so I can write the date on.

I bought a Kilner fruit seed strainer thing with a funnel which I put in the glass bottle.  And I put a single use filter from Goat Nutrition into the funnel. 

[Polyanya]

Thank you Isla - Heidi has Tog and is a dark honey colour and Jasmine has Saanen  and is a pale gold and I'm not sure how much of each. I guestimated the weight using the heart girth measurement scale, so I'm not sure how accurate that table is - they sure feel like 70kg when they don't want to do stuff that I want them to do!

Thanks for the list of supplies and chilling the glass bottle tip and I'll have to check out the kilner strainer. I've been looking at the small churns from GN, but probably wont invest in one just yet as I've no idea how much I'm going to be getting from them although I appreciate it'll be much less this year.

[Anke]

Food-grade (white) plastic buckets - with snap-on lids (a small one to milk into, mine takes about 5 ltrs, squat enough to go under a GG plus a larger one to collect milk from several goats). Small plastic jug if you find that milking one teat at a time is easier, especially at the beginning. Cone-shaped stainless steel filter with filter paper (the largest ones you can get from Goat Nutrition, bought in large packs once a year to save on delivery charges - they don't go off, I use only once). Large 2ltr plastic jugs with lids from Ikea for storing in fridge, if freezing using milk bottles from OH's work kitchen/coffee place. That's all I use at home, stainless steel for showing, but almost al bought second-hand, as new ones of good quality are very expensive.

All of mine washed straighter after filtering milk, very hot water and normal washing-up liquid. Every so often (usually when I need to wash the machine clusters), buckets get soaked in Milton. Stainless steel sive goes into dishwasher regularly.

[PhilW]

I use a small stainless steel bucket, holds about 4 ltrs. Strain the milk through sieve into a jug the sieve has kitchen towel in it, works a treat. Store the milk in supermarket plastic bottles, but make sure they are really clean, I use baby bottle sterilizer. As for milking it's all a bit of trial and error until you find what's best for you and the goats they soon get used to a routine.

[Polyanya]

Thank you Anke - just yesterday I bought 3 x 3 ltr white handled plastic buckets with snap on lids from ebay, these will be for milking into and I've already bought glass mason jars for storing in the fridge. I do use a 2 pint jug at the moment but I'm only taking a little - just to get them used to it.

Thank you Phil - I' think I'll probably progress to stainless steel in subsequent years when my goats are in full gear and I know what I'm doing (hopefully). I've tried milking from behind and prefer it plus the milk goes into the container not all over me )

[Flump74]

I have got a zebra Billy can which has a lockable lid and an extra little dish in the top of it which I found really useful when i first started as I could milk into that near the end and decantbintonthe main bucket so as not to have the whole lot knocked over!
The whole thing locks together afterwards and has a no seams and a nice carry handle!

I use kilner glass bottles for storing in the fridge...just because they are lush! Not so easy to clean with out a very long bottle brush though!

and i use muslin to strain.....works well enough for me although i do like the idea of disposable filters. May invest in some.