Interviewing a goat farmer

I just finished writing a massive -- and I mean massive (8600 words) -- article for Backwoods Home Magazine called The Home Dairy. I was asked to write something fairly comprehensive (which explains the article length -- it's a huge topic) and to be sure to include cows AND goats.

Well I know plenty about milking cows, but goats? Not so much. I needed to find someone who milked goats. Preferably I wanted someone who wasn't a commercial dairyist (since the article is geared toward the home milker), but even in north Idaho this turned out to be surprisingly difficult.

After a few inquiries, I connected with a delightful woman named Susan who -- despite my phone call out of the blue from a perfect stranger -- graciously invited me over to see her goats and her setup.

My goodness, Susan absolutely loves her goats -- and it was easy to see why. "Goats are very personable," she said. "It's like having dogs." At the moment she has about 35 animals -- Alpine, Saanan, Oberhasli, La Mancha, Nigerian Dwarfs, and some crosses. She sells kids but does no butchering. She's worked with 4-H for about 25 years and helps many local kids get started with their animals.

The portion of the barn I saw had a large open pen at the end (pictured above), a milking stand, and a series of kidding pens.

This lady is one of the milkers, whom Susan obligingly kept in the barn until I arrived so she could show me how she milked.

This is their homemade milking stand. As with most stands for goats, it's elevated for easier milking. It has a feed box on the other side of the headpiece. Susan milks twice a day but keeps the kids on the does. She milks anywhere from two to four animals, depending on how much milk she needs.

The headpiece is an area where goats can be locked in by the neck so they don't move around during milking. Susan and her husband built a clever one that slides in place...

...and locks in with a nail.

Here's one goat in place.

And two goats.

Look at those beautiful udders! Two teats, not four (like a cow). Gotta get used to that.

Susan milks from the side, with her left wrist braced against the doe's hind leg to keep her from kicking. Couldn't do that with a cow!

The strong hands of an experienced milker.

Susan gets about a half-gallon per milking per animal, or about a gallon a day per doe.

After showing me her milking setup, Susan let the herd loose.

She has beautiful property with a small stream running through.

It was enchanting to watch these beautiful animals frolic in the spring sunshine.

Hungry kids.

This is a breed of dog called an Akbash. He's the herd guardian.

Goats, being goats, like to climb things, so Susan keeps the logs from this fallen tree in the pasture for their amusement.

This little fella is a La Mancha, a breed with tiny ears.

This is the herd sire, also a La Mancha.

It was delightful becoming more acquainted with these wonderful dairy animals. While I love my cows, it's easy to see why Susan is so taken with goats.

My thanks to Susan for graciously sharing her knowledge with me.

Homesteading Question #2

A reader asked the following questions:

1. How would you describe Dexter milk, as compared to Jersey? Flavor? Butterfat composition? Quantity?

2. How would you describe Dexter beef? I see you still keep Dexters. I am wondering what purpose they serve for you?

3. Would you mind sharing any of your cheese making recipes? Particularly your cheddar and cream cheese methods? In fact, I would LOVE to hear what your home dairying routine looks like on your homestead. How do you manage the milk production on a weekly basis. I've been at this for a year and still haven't really gotten this down.


Size difference between a Jersey and a Dexter:



My answers:

1. I've found a more consistent flavor with Dexter milk, but possibly it's because I wasn't prepared for the unbelievably high butterfat content with the Jersey. I never got a lot of cream from my Dexters but I now realize it's probably because I always had calves on them. My first year with our Jersey, she had no calf on her and up to 50% of her milk was cream. We had to skim it before drinking because it was so rich it almost tasted bad (like drinking, well, pure cream - okay for a mouthful, too rich after that). Skimmed, it was delicious. Now that our Jersey has a calf, I only get about 25% of her milk as cream. I still skim, of course, but the calf is taking a lot of the richness from the milk. Don't get me wrong, I consider this an advantage. Bottom line, I like both Dexter and Jersey milk just fine. I like having more milk (ie. the volume I get from our Jersey) because I like making cheese.

As far as quantity - it's a little hard to gauge because I treated our Dexters differently than our Jersey. I milked the Dexters once a day, kept their calves on them, and got anywhere from a quart to a half-gallon per day per animal. (Keep in mind that all cows milk on a bell curve - they calve, start lactating, and peak when the calf is about a month old. After that they'll gradually decrease over the next few months. There are also day-to-day variations in milk production.) When we got our Jersey from the commercial dairy herd, she had no calf and I got anywhere from two to five gallons a day, depending on the time of year. Now that she has a calf, I'm getting anywhere from half a gallon (rare) to two gallons a day from her.

2. Dexter beef is indescribably delicious. I mean seriously, compared to the junk you buy in grocery stores, our beef is mouth-watering. Even our five-year old bull we butchered last year wasn't bad (animals that old are pretty tough). Most of the bull got turned into ground beef and roasts (rather than the more tender steaks) but he was still delicious. We butcher our steers anywhere from 18 to 24 months of age.

3. I'm working on an article on cheesemaking for Backwoods Home Magazine, so I'll be posting extensively on that subject within the next week or so.