NoobieChickenLady's Journal - SS Score and Mah Kitteh is HOME!! Yay!

[noobiechickenlady]

I'm so pleased! Free, yogurt & feta, if I can ever get my countertops cleared off enough. Got too many projects cooking in there, black beans, wheat berry sprouts, kombucha, kefir, sprouting more seeds for the garden, dehydrator's running, the meat slicer is out & so is the crockpot blah blah blah. Although the crispy almonds I'm jarring up tonight are fabulicious and the roast will be out of sight!!

That's a really good tip, I'll remember that.

I'm glad I went with Dixie and not her mom. The mom was supposed to be a better milker, but she had more spoiled habits.

DL, I think I'd have to feed her cocoa powder to get chocolate milk. Anyone experimented with this? Thanks!

 

[2dream]

DL, I think I'd have to feed her cocoa powder to get chocolate milk. Anyone experimented with this? Thanks!

Never experimented with it - however, it makes perfect sense to me and I for one think you should try it.

 

[freemotion]

Well, I wouldn't let a tiny baby go a couple of hours late for a bottle......but I would mix it up a bit, with a variation of up to a half hour. They can get really worked up if you are always exactly at the same time and then something delays you. I think it can actually cause more stress. I've seen this on horse farms. There are some farms who go by the clock exactly, and the horses throw bigger fits at these farms. Then the time change twice a year is fun! They have to switch them over in 15 minute increments over a couple of weeks, and they still throw fits. I don't feel that the stress is good for them.

On the other hand, if you CAN be by the clock ALWAYS, the animals love that. They can tell time! I just can't, it will never happen!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

here I am milking Dixie.

look at you being The Boss Goat!!!

and yep sometimes its "are you done NOW? what about NOW? all DONE?" (mutters, shuffles feet, mutters again, taps foot....oh for heavens sakes!)

great work!

we are mostly on time with our milking. last summer i was exactly on time, living in fear that i'd ruin the goat if it wasnt. that was a bunch of hooey. more than anything we are by the sun's position.. so up with the sun, finish with the sun and we dont worry too much about it. i lived in fear that i'd dry Debbie out by being late....and it took me SIX WEEKS to dry that dang goat out at the end of the season!

we were excited when we got a brown goat = chocolate milk. but that didnt work out. sheesh!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

OFG, I bet you could only count on that from a... wait for it ... brown cow!!! Wouldn't it be cool if brown chickens gave chocolate eggs?

3.82 lbs this morning I just left her on the stand while she finished munching. I went inside (still only steps away) filtered & chilled the milk & refilled the rabbits water bottles & alfalfa. The stand doesn't hold her securely enough that it would hurt her if she was flat out determined to get down and from where I was I could get to her pretty quick if she was ready. She seemed pleased.

I want her to eat as much as she needs, because I think the move, new milk maid & new pasture have made her lose a little condition. She's not bad, from what I've learned of body condition scoring, but she is carrying a little less flesh than when I brought her home.

Added the sprouts to everyone's feed this morning, along with alfalfa & a little sweet feed. Only gave her a couple of tablespoons, but she scarfed them down. And learned that she LOVES green banana peels. I snagged a banana this morning & took it with me outside (DH bought 1 bunch ripe & 4 super green ones just for me ) Tried to share it out among all of them, since I haven't had bananas in a few weeks and didn't want to overload anyone. Anyways, neither Shadow nor Lucky wanted it, so she eagerly stepped up & crunched it down. "Me! Me! Oh please me!"

I see what folks mean by Nubians being vocal...

I put away the meat slicer & crockpot, thus opening area for me to deal with milk, so tonight! We make cheese!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

3.78lbs this morning, 4.16 last night, I suppose I can stop being so protective of it now.

Houston, we have curds & whey. I'm not sure it will be feta, but it smells funky enough to be tasty
I've got it draining into a canning jar today. Tonight, I'll put it in the salt and then into the brine in a couple of days. Also tonight, I'm making goat-gurt, but yougurt is a standard procedure.

So for ricotta, all I have to do is heat the whey & strain it?

Dixie sought out the sprouts on top of her feed this morning, she seems to really like them. I also gave her another banana peel for letting me check her hooves. I put it on the table so she could see it, but not reach it and she was so transfixed by the odor that she didn't even twitch. Every other time I had tried to look at them, she kicked and DH had to hold her for me.

I got a tip on a large wire spool that has been abandoned, and found a smaller, 3' one close to home so I'll bring those home to give them something else to climb on.

We've been piling the chicken litter, rabbit & goat berries & other composty stuff at points around the yard. The raised beds that were not ready to plant this spring, the spots I have marked off for other fruit & nut trees, the future asparagus bed. I looked at one DH had tilled (over tilled, I thought) and then covered a little over a week ago. There is so much life going on under those grass clippings & leaves!!

I have to say, I bought some bar towels a while back from wally world ($5 for pack of 6) and they make the BEST strainers for just about anything. They are very thin, with a fine weave, not stretchy & they are huge, like 3' x 3'.

They don't drip my yogurt out into the whey, although a very runny batch may need two layers, its what I now use to filter my milk (udder hair, yuck) strain my kefir (seems to be making progress with the raw milk yay!) and my kombucha. They are white cotton and can you tell that I really like them? I think I'm going to buy another couple of packs.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

thats what they say re: ricotta - let me know if yours works.. mine never did
:-(

happy thursday!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

First, milk. Dixie gave me a whopping 4.3 lbs last evening, 3.6 this morning. I was later than usual getting home, but none of them seemed to notice until I was coming out with feed.

The cheese... well... Its not feta, I don't think. Its shiney and almost a little stretchy, but still crumbly. It does not look or taste like feta, but it is tasty. I'm thinking it will be great in lasagna! The ricotta turned out very well. I added some garlic, tomatoes & salt & ate some for dinner.

Dixie was acting like a child, testing the rules to make sure they are still there :/ I can't complain really, but it is frustrating. Last night was a solo milking again, since DH wasn't at home. The other two did fine, other than trying to steal some food from each other. Dixie however, gave me The Eye again, and threatened my white gold with a raised foot. A stern "No ma'am!" made her lower it again, only to raise it 4-5 squirts later. "Dixie!" in my best boss goat voice and she lowered it. We get aaaaalmost done, up the foot comes again, so I grabbed the bucket, moved it to safety & gave her a stern talking to. Then, one handed, I milked the last few ounces while holding the bucket. She may have been mad at me because I was late. She seemed to have forgiven me this morning and settled down to munch without so much as flicking an ear. I'm going for an early milking this evening.

The cutest thing was as I was coming out & setting up, there were some young boys near the edge of the ballfield next door. They stopped and made a few obnoxious goat noises, which I and my herd ignored with stately elegance. Then, they got brave enough to ask questions. "Hey, ma'am, what are your goats named?" "What are you doing now?"
When I told them I was about to milk her, they got all excited. It was so cute. "REALLY?! Can we watch? Do you drink it? What's it taste like?" they were falling over each other asking questions.
I told them they could watch, from where they were (ballfield side of fence) & to be very quiet so they wouldn't spook her. They immediately fell silent and watched. Then a parent or coach called them from the ballfield, they waved & took off, chattering the whole way. Maybe in another few years there will be 3 more with goat fever

 

[pioneergirl]

Sounds like its all going well! I've got awhile before I get milk, or even test my cheese making skills, but I shall live through you!!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

great work encouraging the goat fever! its a revolution - one goat at a time!

ok:

The ricotta turned out very well. I added some garlic, tomatoes & salt & ate some for dinner.

what EXACTLY did you do????

i've got some chevre going and will have whey tomorrow.. i must know!