Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

I did it - it'll be delivered next week. LOL - just as likely me as him...and just as likely that the gasket just gave out... I've got a ladder propped up against it now to keep the door shut until I get all the meat cooked out of it. We've got a HUGE crawfish pot that I'm gonna throw the meat into and just boil. That'll be easier than trying to keep a charcoal fire going all day. It'll use some propane, but I think it will be the way to go. I'll just keep boiling meat, fishing the cooked stuff out and adding more to the pot as there is room.
It's a shame cuz there were several briskets, some big pork shoulders, pork loins, lots of home grown chicken, a turkey, and practically a whole shelf of sausage from our last pig... But, that's just the way it goes. The dogs/chickens/pigs will eat well for several weeks. Besides the meat, there were veggies/fruit/and a bit of seafood. Hundreds of dollars worth of food. Several months back I had talked about pulling out a bunch of it and canning it to make room for this years butchering....shoulda, coulda, wish I woulda...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Cooked up and fed a bunch of the cruddy meat yesterday. All the meat-eaters on my place (except the humans) were in meat heaven, lol. I still have more to do today...ugh. Stinky meat will sure turn you off of wanting a big juicy steak for dinner! We had caprese salad last night - yum, yum!

I got my fancy-dancy milker in yesterday! It took awhile for me to figure out where all the tubing hooks up, but I think I've got it now. I want to get it out to the barn and set up today, if possible. I'm ready to start milking in earnest. I also need to look at my records and see which kids are old enough to go ahead and sell. Need to do some worming and coccidia prevention before I put them on the market.

I've been fighting parasites like crazy with this yucky, totally wet, sloppy, gross weather. I'm trying something a little different with at least one of my goats right now. Red just doesn't look good - all the others have pretty much come around and slicked off - but she's still rough. Sooooo, I bought some herbal wormer to try. I think I've been using chemicals for so long that I have some resistant parasites so I'm going to try this. I've read all the info I can find on both sides of the fence. Some swear by 'em - some swear they're no good at all. I'll make my own decision after a few weeks I guess. Wish I'd run a fecal on her before yesterday - but I should be able to tell by her condition if they make a difference.

AND - new spa pump is here too! Woo hoo! DH is determined to try and install it himself....
I hope I'm like this after he works on it.. and not like this.. Time will tell I guess. At least he's willing to try!

Happy Saturday, ya'll!

 

[Mini Horses]

Which milker did you finally buy? I've looked at a couple that you had researched (thanks...saved ME a lot of search) and thinking about purchase. Maybe. LOL.

Of course, we will need a "user review" later.....

Hope DH gets that pump installed & you all can use that tub again. Miss mine...been yrs but, still enjoy the thought of how relaxing it was, how good you felt after.
Older you get more moisture your skin needs....medical reason???? May push me over -- but with only one person my 100 gal water trough would be enough! Hmmmm....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I bought the Simple Pulse. User review to follow...

We're working on the milk room this morning, but dang it's humid out there. I am literally dripping 'glow juice' and came inside to hydrate. Temp is up there today - already 86 degrees by noon and the humidity level is 77%....ugh. And yes - 'mature' skin needs more moisture, but if I stay out there much longer there wouldn't be ANY moisture left in my body!

I really hope DH can figure out the spa. It's a little harder to work on than most because its a bit smaller than some and all the components are 'squished' together under there.

I got the hot tub 'wants' some years back when DH and I went to a dude ranch/B & B that promised solitude and quiet times and a hot tub under the stars! The hot tub was a water trough big enough for two that they had rigged up to serve as a spa...wish I had their ingenuity. It was really nice.

Similar to these pics - but in a much more rustic setting.

 

[Mini Horses]

Cute "trough tub".

Went back to the website you had given previously (I had saved) and considering same. Hurry & use it!! Like my Henry Milker but, would like a pulse type. Lids, etc., same idea, just different with the pulsator & inflators. You have Nigies, so did you get both size inflators?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I tried it out - sorta. The only goats close to the milk room were mama's whose babies have them sucked down all the time. So, I grabbed one anyway, lol. This is a ff who I've milked a few times, but she's in no way an experienced milker (and she's just a tiny bit crazy)...and she coulda cared less! There was food in front of her so she wouldn't have cared if I cut her right foot off, lol. Only got about a cup, but talk about easy! Course then I had to clean it up then - took all of a minute if you have what you need in the barn. By next weekend, if we can get some decent weather I'll start weaning some of the oldest babies and start milking in earnest. It's gonna make my hands so happy!

I got the set-up for two goats - not that I will probably ever milk two goats at once - but I can if I want to. So, I had it set up with one set of regular inflations for the big girls and one set of smaller ones for the Nigie (and at least one of the Kinders who has tiny teats). I chose not to buy the wooden box that was $50.00 - just couldn't make myself spend that money on a box, So, as soon as this rain lets up (at 2 inches in about an hour...ugh) DH is going to mount part of it to the wall so it will be more stable.

Having it set up for two goats means there were twice the milk lines to get confused over - but once I had it all laid out it made sense and I got it put together alllll by myself. I was so durn proud of me, lol.

 

[Mini Horses]

We so think alike!! I felt the price of the box was more than I wanted to pay...LOL. Like you, probably won't do 2 at once but the cost between them was like, well, the price of the box! Clean up looked easy. I like two size idea. My mini nubs & FF have small teats. And I have some older kids to wean, then could milk moms. (Just what I need...more milking...piggies will be fat!!)

I would want something to store those lines, etc. or carry back & forth to house as the dust/dirt from barn is a concern here. Maybe a plastic box with lid. I don't have a "room" I can devote to just milking right now.

Is the lid one that fits a wide mouth qt jar?

So, now you need to let one fill & advise how long it takes to milk out. Looks like only a very few minutes.

You could get #2 doe up & ready while first milks out, it looks like. GEESH...neither of us NEEDS to add this to our list of chores. I'm not milking right now. Kids nurse & Ivory drying as she will kid 6/7 ish. Nice little break.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I love it! And, I've only really milked one doe with it, lol. I've sorta practiced on a couple of others.

@Mini Horses - I ordered two extra lids. The extra ones I ordered do fit a standard wide mouth canning jars But, they do NOT fit the gallon jars that come with the milker. The gallon jars come with their own lids and the thread pattern is a little different I guess.

I separated the babies from the mothers for about 6 hours yesterday afternoon and totally milked out one doe in about 5 minutes or so. (didn't really time it) It was awesome! She is a ff with tiny teats and it would take me nearly 15 minutes to milk her by hand....tedious and tiresome... and because she wasn't a real experienced milker she would get impatient with me. This made the whole job a pleasure for both of us!

I can't wait to wean some babies and really get into this.

 

[Mini Horses]

Great! Guess I will have to buy one now, thanks

I have lots of 1/2 gal that use the standard wide mouth and for some does that's large enough per milking. Need the larger for Ivory, as she goes well over the 1/2 gal at each milking. She freshens soon. Would be nice to not have to switch bottles! I do have a Henry M set up that works both sides. The pulsating seems less work once set.

Feed those pigs!!

Know that neither of us need more than one to milk for the house and here we are expanding. BUT they do sell better if trained to milk. At least, that's what I've seen -- haven't practiced selling a milking one yet. Getting ready. Maybe.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

If for no other reason than to save my hands - it was worth every penny.

Pig & chicken feed bills ought to go down when I'm milking several. Clabbered milk is a chicken treat for sure - and it's full of protein.

I think one of my 'oldster' does is about to check out. She didn't get up last night and go to the feed...just kinda laid around expecting me to bring feed to her - and of course I did. She's been wormed recently and she's got color in her membranes. Same thing this morning....she eats good when I bring it to her and drinks water with gusto. But, she's well into her teens and is the only doe I've got that is arthritic and she just doesn't want to move. I also noticed that her urine was very dark. Could be she's not drinking enough, or could be the start of an internal shut down. Might be time to ease her way across the rainbow bridge. She did this a few months ago though - and then she rallied. Maybe she just doesn't like this heat that's set in and is playing her 'Diva' card! Can't blame her for that!