I have continued to work with the goats and get into a milking routine. Sally is getting much better about being milked but she lets me know in no uncertain terms when she is done. I was starting to get 10 to 12 ounces and day and with the longer milking time I found my hand getting very sore. I really stressed my hands with fence building last summer and one of my fingers does not open and close well.

I had used a really cool milking contraption designed for mares and called them and asked if they had something for goats. The woman I talked to said the demand had been so big from the goat people that they designed a product just for us. So I bit the bullet and ordered my udderly EZ goat milker. When it came in I was excited to try it out on Sally and she did not seem to mind it but I got no milk. As it turns out the kids were keeping her milked down so she was not producing any extra. When Sally has milk she stands pretty well but when she doesn’t she leaps and bucks, usually ending up standing in her dinner bucket.

I have learned to ask very politely and get out when she starts to get restless. If I take the kids off her for a few hours before I milk her I get milk for me. The kids are growing like weeds so it is a balancing act to share the milk between us all.

Last night it was time to do the procedure on the kids so they don’t grow horns. Horns on goats cause them all kinds of trouble getting hung up in fences etc. My neighbor, David, borrowed a friends debudding iron and did the deed. The kids took it very well and I put hyper/cal on them afterward and they did not even seem to have any pain. Sally, on the other hand, was very concerned and it set her back on her gentleness. I am giving her lots of special treats, like beet tops and collard greens, to get her trusting again.

I also have 3 new game hens that belong to David. Since I have a bigger coop we are hoping one of them will set on some eggs so we can raise some chicks. So far the little hen that was wanting to brood has not started to sit on the eggs but she acts like she would like to. Madalyn