How to Milk a Goat

Milking Goats is fun, learn how easy and fun Dairy Goats are here.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A Goat in milk
• A pan, pail or clean bowl
• A place to tie the goat or a milk stand
• Patience

1. Place a bucket of feed out for the goat. Remember to increase feed rations gradually if you have not been feeding grain before now. Start with about 1/2 cup of a dairy goat ration and increase slowly until you are feeding the recommended amount stated on the package.

2. Tie the goat or secure her head in the milk stand. You can tie a goat in a corner and use the wall to help keep her still if you do not have a stand. Often porch steps can be used, tie the goat to the hand rail.

3. Prepare the udder by washing with a mild bleach and soap solution, udder wash or betadine spray. Wash your hands well too, and dry the hands and udder with a new paper towel.

4. Place your right thumb and fore finger in a ring around the teat at the very top where it meets the udder. Squeeze these two together to clinch off the top of the teat.

5. Now, keeping the top squeezed off, squeeze with the middle, then ring then pinkie finger. Squirt the first two or three squirts from each teat into a strip cup and examine for stings, blood, or abnormalities.
   
   If milk doesn't come out, you probably didn't clinch off the top of the teat well, and the milk went back inside the udder. Goats udders are very tough, don't be afraid to squeeze firmly.

6. Repeat this with the other hand/teat and alternate between the right and left hands until the milk stops coming out of the udder.

7. Gently but firmly bump the udder, such as a kid would do to stimulate the doe to let down more milk. Continue to do this until you can not get anymore milk to squeeze out. You can also massage the udder to encourage more milk to let down.

8. spray the openings on the udder with beta dine spray to prevent mastitis and keep the goat standing until the orifices on the teats have closed up. This keeps bacteria from entering the openings into the udder.

9. Stain your milk through a milk filter, coffee filter, paper towel or a finely woven sterile cloth to remove dirt, hairs and debris from the milk. Chill in ice water or pasteurize as in the following step.

10. To pasteurize, heat the milk in a double boiler to 165 degrees F for 15 seconds. Remove from heat and chill in ice water.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep hands, udders and buckets very clean to prevent bacteria being introduced into the milk
• Pasteurize the milk, at least until you are familiar with clean milking procedures to prevent illness from poor cleanliness.
• Keep a pleasant tone and talk to your goat. A loved goat is a happy goat that will stand still and give lots of good milk.
• Feed your goat a good high protein hay/forage. Goats happily eat weedy hay, and this can be gotten very inexpensively.
• Have fun, the commitment to having a dairy animal will become burdensome if you do not look forward to milking time.
• Provide a proper diet with whole grains, lots of hay and roughage, as well as a good mineral mix prepared for goats.
• Raw milk can cause illnesses, if bacteria are present, or introduced into the milk. Cleanliness is essential and pasteurization is a good idea, at least while you are learning proper milk handling.
• Goats are addictive, and they procreate quickly, so be prepared to sell extra offspring.
• Keep bucks away from does, the milk will taste bad.
• Chill milk as quickly as possible for optimum flavor.
• Off flavor can be caused bucks, improper milk handling and vitamin deficiencies. Goat milk does not and should not ever taste "goaty".

[MizGreenJeans]

on 9/15/2008 Excellent article. Makes me miss my does!