Milking

Commercial goats are normally milked twice per day and this is done with special goat milking machines. If you only have a few goats for home cheese making and some tasty milk, the cost of such a machine could never be justified. It is also then recommended that the goats are milked once a day. Remember that goats only produce milk after the have borne kids. After the kids are taken away and hand fed, ewe’s will keep producing milk provided that the udder is stimulated to do so by regularly milking the goat. If you stop milking the goat, she will dry up and will only come into milk again once the next baby is born, next year. You must therefore keep milking the goat, everyday, without exception. Milk production will fall dramatically when she is close to kidding again and this should be permitted. A dairy goat should be allowed to be dry for at least six weeks of the year to give the udder time to rest.

If a goat in full production is suddenly not milked, the chances of contracting mastitis are almost 100%. This is an infection, which occurs in the udder and is very difficult to get under control. It is also very painful to the goat and they often run high fevers and stop eating. Deaths due to this disease are very common. When there is any abnormality around the udder area, employ the services of your vet without delay.

When milking a goat, it is important not to stretch the teat. We have attached a graphic description of how it should be done. Teats are tender and very fragile and any hard handling could be very painful and cause permanent damage. It is advisable to apply some good cream to the udder and the teats to keep the skin supple and soft. Make yourself a little stand with a platform to raise the goat to a comfortable height. When the milker is sitting down next to the platform, the teats should be visible and within easy reach. This process should be comfortable for the milker and the goat alike.

Remember that milk is a LIVE liquid and is an almost perfect breeding substance for bacteria and diseases. Your hands, the udder and the milk bucket must be perfectly clean at all times when handling milk. After milking, pour the milk through a soft cloth (make sure it is clean) to filter out all hair and impurities, which may have landed in the milk while milking. Then cool the milk down as soon as possible to reduce the possibilities of bacterial growth in the milk.

Pasteurising

Pasteurising of milk is something that has to be done. There are just to many risks involved. The process is often misunderstood and people often think that you need special equipment to do this. The other misunderstanding is that one cannot make cheese once the milk has been pasteurized. Both statements are untrue.

To pasteurize the milk at home, simply put the milk in a large pot on the stove and heat the milk to about 80 degrees Celsius and keep the temperature there for about 10 minutes. Then cool it down as soon as possible, and whala! the milk is pasteurized. Do not boil the milk. This destroys the structure of the milk and obviously also changes the taste. It is therefore important that the milk is stirred slowly while the temperature is raised to the desired level. If the milk is not cooled down quickly after this process, the new colonies of bacteria will return to the milk that is now much more susceptible to bacteria growth due to the higher temperature. Remember that milk is a delicate and live liquid and care should always be taken to make sure you look after it until consumed.

Goat’s milk purchased from reputable farmers is normally pasteurized before it is packaged and frozen. Goat’s milk can be kept frozen for up to six months and will defrost perfectly, then being as good as the day it was milked. The reason for this is that goat’s milk is naturally homogenized and the structure of goat’s milk is much finer than that of cow’s milk. Homogenized means that the milk has exactly the same structure throughout and does not separate the way cows milk does. So after the pasteurizing, freeze some milk and keep it for the two months or so when the goat is dry.

Intro |Getting started | Housing | Health and Feeding | Milking and Pasteurising