*************I feel a desire to yodel coming on*************

Move over Shirley Temple and Julie Andrews…..

With the passel of kids…..comes mother goats producing milk…..or “in” milk…..

We’ve had dairy goats for well over twenty years now…

We’ve necessarily honed our expertise in milking…..

…..and evaluating udders…..

…..and knowing a good teat when we see one…..

…..(yes, I did just say that)…..

(***More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Dairy Goat Anatomy***)

…..to be able to discuss a good escutcheon attachment is always a cocktail party favorite…..

Now that we have Boer goat crosses…..we’ve discovered that they have nasty teats…..

…..you see our past has been steeped in showing dairy goats…..

…..and did you know that 50+%-ish (?) of a dairy goats scoring in the show ring is based on the quality and conformation of their udder…..(I may be wrong on that percentage…..but I am relying on my goat-friend-afficionados to correct me)…..

Soooooooooooooo all my family can recognize a bad udder…..or poor attachments…..or supernumeraries…..or leaks…..

…..there’s a lot that comes into play for the perfect udder…..

*****Bad Teats Explained*****

Too much udder-information…..(?)…..you bet’cha!…..

I wonder what meat goats are judged on in shows(?)…..because their udders are a mess…..they work…..but they are convoluted and nasty…

A lot of our “serious” goat friends have automatic milking machines…..

…..even our vet (Dr. Stevie Wonder) milks his sheep with an automatic milker…..

…..(really…..who milks sheep!?!…..c’mon, Dr. Wonder…..that’s pushing the margins)

…..on this farm…we still rely on the old-fashioned (and cheaper) sequential-digit method…..

Because I haven’t milked for a while…..

…..my hands are cramping…..

…..they’ll get used to it…..

…(eventually)…

***Note:  my hands aren’t pretty…..I can palm a basketball***

Right now I’m “milking out” the does…..not for our consumption yet…..

…..their babies need the milk…..

…..it will take a week or so before the girls really crank into gear…..

…..then they will have surplus milk for our use…..

***here’s a little known fact…..Paolo has a milking trophy from the local county fair…..***

Cool, huh?

…..Soon now…..Feta will be just around the corner…..