Milking Time

We are holding at 41 goat kids right now, with 2 mothers refusing to finish up the kidding season in timely fashion.  We had a bit of trouble with the last mother to kid, her babies have trouble getting started every year because her teats are just too big.  They inflate like balloons, maybe 1.5" by 3", and the little guys just can't get ahold of them.  Then, she gets engorged, and swells up tight, and we have to milk her off to get the teats down to a manageable size.  Last year we only had to milk one side one time, and the kids kept up with her production after that, but this time we had to milk both sides several times a day for about 3 days.  She is a great mama, standing perfectly still for me while I try to jam her babies on her, shoving rather sensitive body parts into resistant, toothy little mouths - because goats will absolutely refuse to do anything you want them to, including nurse - but they just wouldn't nurse for the first few days.  I would milk her into a bottle, feed one baby the bottle, refill from her, and feed the second one.  They are nursing champs, now, though, and I think this morning was the last time we will have to help them.

I've started milking again, I've done 4 for the last two mornings, but will quickly be trimming down to 2.  I've been milking Sara as I just explained, so she's now out of the line-up, and the other 3 are my existing milker Sophia, and 2 new trialing girls, Snowpea and Marshmallow.  I will do an individual test tomorrow, milking each one into separate containers to compare volume (so far I've been milking into one bucket), but I'm pretty sure Marshmallow is putting out about half what the other 2 are.  She looks to have a great udder, but it is apparently just lots of firm bulk, and not that much actual milk, and she also has little bitty teats, very obnoxious to milk.  Snowpea has a nice high udder with more volume than it looks to have, and nice nipples, so I think she'll be the keeper.  I like to milk 2 at a time, since it's hardly any more work for twice the product.  More than that is noticeably more work, and too much milk to manage without a lot of cheese or soap making - which I wouldd love to do if I only had the time!

I do need to make soap, and lots of it, I'm almost out of inventory. I usually make a fair amount before Christmas, and sell a fair amount, and then there's a dry spell for the first few months of the new year when no one buys any.  Then, about this time, I realize I'm running low on several varieties, and then I realize that I used up a number of supplies last fall and didn''t bother to reorder because, of course, I'd have plenty of time after Christmas!  So, I'm restocked in ingredients now, I just need to find time to make several batches pretty soon.  Since I've got the goat milk right now, I'm going to try making a batch of goat milk soap.  I'm asked for it a fair amount, but I've never made it because my supply of goat milk is so limited - I only milk about 3-4 months of the year. If I make several batches, though, I should have enough to get a good way through the year - and maybe it'll be advantageous to have a "limited time only" product!  I''ll let ya'll know how that goes.