Sunday, April 21, 2013

There's Not Enough Milk for the Babies!

Ghost gets lunch!
We're milking goats twice a day, but are having a hard time feeding the baby goats!  Our poor Goldie became ill shortly after giving birth and during treatment her milk dried up....completely.  She's much better, thank you, but will not produce milk again until she has more babies.  That won't be until same time next year so we've got to make some adjustments.  Goldie not producing milk is a big set back for both our fledgling soap business and our current crop of baby goats.  Goldie was our biggest milk producer: her daily contribution almost doubled the individual output of our other two mommas, Chocolate and Mabel!

So, Goldie's two kids, Ghost and Giggles, are essentially without a supply of nourishment.  Mabel is not producing quite enough to feed her triplets Monkey, Muffin and Mink.  Chocolate is taking good care of her kid, Coco, who was growing fat and happy on her 'free-choice' milk bar.  So, Coco now is taken away from Mommy during the day and we milk most of Choco's supply each night, leaving some for dinner for the kid.  The kids are all approaching six weeks of age so they are starting to nibble hay and a wee portion of grain.  But still, it's not enough milk!

Fortunately, we had a lot of raw milk frozen.  It's purpose was to make soap - I had planned a good stash for getting ready for Spring shows/sales and the opening of Global Market.  We've slowly but surely been dipping into the 'stash' to feed the babies!  We could have gone to formula but....to us that's yucky, chemical stuff.  We could purchase bottled goat milk- but the cost is silly and we view pasteurized milk as almost dead, much of the nutrition destroyed.  So, the stash it is.

We're finding that, when it thaws, fresh, raw goats milk separates and has some 'curds' suspended in what looks like a mix of whey and thin milk.  We've quickly come to the process of thawing the milk in an ice cream pail and then taking the stick blender to it to reconstitute it.  We add in and blend anything newly milked, once it has cooled.  It's working well and all the kids are thriving!  However, I'm not making any soap right now or eating any of our lovely, fresh goats milk, saving all the good stuff for the kids.  Looking forward to the day when the kids are weaned and the excess becomes mine to do with as I wish!

6 comments:

  1. I know this might be an odd question, but will kid goats 'rob' the same way that baby calves do if their mothers don't produce enough milk?

    It's too bad you have to use your stash -I love your soaps - but I totally agree it's the best choice for the kids. :)

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    1. I'm not sure what 'rob' is....the babies can't steal from another Momma because they are all separated. The mommas can be mean to other kids. We'll wean the kids in another month and then all the milk will be for eating or soap...more soaps soon!

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  2. what a huge amount of work you're going through this spring! too bad you have to use up your frozen milk but good thing you had the stash or things could have been really problematic.

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    1. We have 'blessed' the stash many times in the last few weeks! Just no soapmaking going on :(

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  3. Hi- maybe this is a pointless suggestion- but I know that brewers yeast can help human mamas make more milk (and that it was traditionally used by dairy farmers)-don't know if it would work with goats, though...

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    1. Thanks, Angela! I've got some so I'll add a little to their grain ration!

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