Udders, teats and orifices - and milk tastings

 

Above is a picture of Zinnia's udder. Udders, teats and orifices vary in size and shape, and some traits are clearly more desirable than others. Entering our fourth season in milking, I'm beginning to have a clearer idea of my ideal udder. We are also getting to see how udders and teats change over time. Zinnia is a first timer. She is producing about four pounds of milk (1/2 gallon) for morning milking, and then her two rapidly growing doelings are keeping her pretty drained throughout the day. Her udder is a pleasant shape, high and wide. The teat placement is great, they point down, for the most part. The size is good, not too big, not too small. The shape of her teats make for easy milking. And the orifice at the tip of each teat is good size, so the milk comes out easy. Zinnia is an ideal first freshener. She has one teat which is larger than the other because when her kids were just a few days old, she had a teat get chapped and raw. I didn't catch it right away and she didn't let her doelings nurse off that side, so one side became engorged and then I had to milk her out for a week on that side, because her entire teat was a scabby wound - as a result I'm guessing one teat will always be a bit bigger.

 Below is a picture of Zuri's udder, also a first timer. This picture of Zuri is not as impressive as Zinnia's. She has been averaging about 3 lbs. Her udder shows some promise. For one it is not droopy or pendulous. She does have good teat placement. The best part is the shape of her teats, They are not too narrow or too wide, nor are they too big - they are my favorite teat shape. They also point straight down. And, to top it off she has the biggest orifices. As a result, milking Zuri is a dream. She is my favorite goat to milk. Combined with her personality and willing and patient behavior for a first time milker, she is my absolute favorite goat. I expect that she will produce a significant amount more next freshening.

 Above is Xanadu. This is her third freshening. Xanadu has been our favorite goat to milk because of her teat shape, since our first year milking. However, this year, they are just too big for my hands! They have gotten bigger every year, which they tend to do. She has a nice udder. Fine but never phenomenal yield, this year she is averaging about five lb. She doesn't put everything in to milk, which is a good thing sometimes. I don't have to worry about her body condition, she is an easy keeper. We have always loved the shape of her teats, wider at the top, (but not too wide) narrow at the bottom. They are very comfortable and easy to milk - but they have gotten big enough that my hands have to work to hard to get the milk out. This is a personal preference. If Dustin was milking, or another man, or someone with big hands, they would probably love milking her. She has good teat placement. They angle in a bit - which is better than out. And, I think, overall her udder would hold up just fine in the show ring.

Below is Xoe's udder. Xoe has the weakest udder of all our milkers. It hangs lower down, somewhat pendulous. Her teats are huge, too big for me - it makes milking more of a work out - maybe fine if you are just milking a couple goats, but I tend to leave Xoe for last and then my hands just can't get the job done all the way. (Today I milked her earlier in the lineup and that helped). Not only are Xoe's teats different sizes, they also angle out, and they are too wide at the top, which makes getting the milk down, more work for hands. So, when I milk Xoe, I have to angle her teats in towards the pail, which is just one more thing to thinkk about when squeezing. To top all this off her orifices are smaller than anyone elses, so while they are not super small and tiny, they are smaller, which means it takes longer to get the milk out.

All this complaining and I still think Xoe is a decent milking doe. She has a great body. She is a willing milker, who can be very sweet. She is a decent mom. She is putting out between five and six pounds of milk in the morning and then feeding her sons all day. If she was someone's only milker, they may not mind these faults. I am selling Xoe this year. I do plan on asking a fair price for her, and I'm waiting for the right family.

So, here is Rose, totally lopsided, which happens, especially when she has a doeling who prefers one side over the other. Her son left for his new home this past week, and ever since, Rose has been lopsided - so apparently the left side must have been his. Rose is our highest producer and strongest milker. She has been bred every year, milked through the first three months of each gestation, because she just keeps producing. She does tend to put everything in to making milk, so I do have to watch her weight. Her udder shape is my favorite, high, wide and round (not so much round in this pic). Her teats have great placement, size and shape. Her orifice size is also fine. If I were to change one thing about Rose, I would change the shape of her teats just a bit to be a little wider at the top. I think Rose has a strong and lovely mammary system. She has produced up to eight pounds in one milking (that's a gallon folks). This year she has been in the five to six pound range. We've had some diet adjustments that we are finally catching up from, so I expect to see Rose improve over the season.

And now for milk tasting. We've been milking everyone and keeping their milk separate, once a week so we can do taste tests. We had a couple does with mild ketosis symptoms and one with mastitis, and their milk was off tasting for a while so we were tasting it daily and deciding whether it went to the chickens or into the milk tote. Thankfully, everyone's milk is tasting as it should. I think milk should taste clean, creamy, smooth and subtle. There should be no strong sweetness, or other perceptible flavors, including the aftertaste. It has been interesting to see how everyone's milk tastes and how it changes from week to week. Zuri and Rose have had the best tasting milk, creamier and smoother than the rest. Avery is our milk drinker. She loves to drink milk, but she is not very discerning about subtle taste differences.

Well, the kids are in bed. It is another phenomenal Fairbanks night. Sunny and clear, blue skies at ten p.m. The lure to head up to the garden is strong, if only the mosquitoes were not so ferocious. I'm at least heading out to say goodnight to the goats, and shut their door so they can escape the majority of mosquitoes. Goodnight.

Fussy milkers

We've have been having a cold spring around here. The forecast was looking brighter, but today has disappointed. We had big plans for the day: cover greenhouse with new plastic, assemble row tunnels and covers, turn more beds, plant carrot and turnip seed.... None of which got done. I did venture over to a friend's garden to dig Toklat strawberry plants, which is always exciting...never enough strawberries.

This week I've been working with our two main farm helpers for the summer. I'd say that I'm "training them" to do my morning chore routine. But with the milkers acting up, I'm not really sure who is training who. We humans, have been double teaming the milking does. I have finally moved inside and set up my milking area; milk stand, grain tubs, counter with supplies etc. Dustin had been tiling the area with slate, and like all projects this one went late. So, up until this week I was just milking one doe twice a day, and another doe once a day.  outside, in the mud, in a frustratingly, disorderly fashion. Each doe is bringing some personal issues to the milking parlor, with the exception of Zuri, who is the best first time milker ever - an absolute angel.

Rose, four season veteran has been balking at the milk stand. She has bad feet and has slipped a couple times this year on either wet milk on the stand, or a while back on frozen milk that pooled on the stand. She has also had mild Ketosis symptoms which we are attempting to remedy, but as a result she hasn't been interested in her grain, so she doesn't think she should have to stand patiently while we milk her - if she isn't eating.  So she has been stomping, jumping and struggling vigorously to get out of being milked. Then there is her daughter who is a first timer, who deeply resents being milked. She jumps on the stand fine, but doesn't eat and it takes one person to hold her hooves down while another person milks. She also poops out of nervousness every time she gets on the stand. Which until this year we have only had two occasions where we had a goat poop on the stand, our record is totally skewed now.

Then there is Xanadu, this is her third season. I just started milking her this week, as she has triplets and they are just three weeks old. She is going to be fine, but it takes a few days to get into the rhythm. She has stepped in the pail twice this week, but has stood fairly well, we milker's are just slow on the reflexes- but as the season progresses we will get sharper and quicker. Lastly there is Xoe who just kidded on Friday. Her twin bucklings are nursing on one side and leaving the other to fill to enormous proportions. So we've been emptying her full side. Well, then we had some clots and blood in her milk - I know - gross right? So I tested her for mastitis and one day it looked negative, but today maybe a mild positive. For now, I'm going to milk her out twice a day, teat dip with essential oils, massage with salve and some stimulating essential oils. If  this continues or gets worse I am going to start giving her Molly's immune support tincture a few times a day, but first I'm going to see if it clears up on its own. This is another first, first time in four years of milking that we've had clots like this or a maybe positive mastitis. Xoe has also been reluctant to hop onto the stand. So, milking around here has been a two person job. We are trying to be kind and patient, but it is hard with the seasoned milkers. Come on already, haven't we been doing this routine for four years now. So you got a few months off, time to get back to work, remember this?  I don't remember the beginning of milking season being so difficult before - I guess I gave them too much time off. They've been on vacation for too long.

Another week of this and we should all be re-trained. One cool thing that has just happened is that Zuri, our first time milker who lost her only doeling this year, has started caring for and nursing Xanadu's doeling, Bali. Bali is nursing off Zuri frequently and keeping her drained through the day. If I was counting on Zuri's milk this wouldn't be good, but as Bali is one of triplets and the smallest, and growing slowly, and Zuri is lonely, well it works out for everyone, and I get to skip the nine p.m. milking for another couple months, until we sell most the kids.

In other news, one row of shelling peas is in the ground, along with the first sowing of scallions, beets and the fava beans. The beds are covered with plastic mulch to keep the heat and moisture in. I'm about two weeks behind last year in planting, and our spring is about two weeks behind. The birch still haven't leafed out and greenup has yet to come to Fairbanks.

We have bees now. I can't wait to check on them. If today had been a little warmer and sunny, I would have checked on them. On one of our nicer days this week I counted about thirty bees entering the hive per minute, all loaded up with pollen on their legs.

Dustin is out building me a second milking stand. Having two stands will help in a number of ways. Milking won't take as long as I'll be able to start on the next doe without waiting for the doe I just milked to finish her grain. Also, we need to start getting the younger does use to the stand so we don't have some of the same problems we are having now, next year.

It still looks like fall out, brown, cold and blustery. Is summer ever going to get here?  Sixties would be lovely, but I'll settle for mostly sunny and no wind. I am so ready for summer. Ready for bare-footed dirty children, wet children splashing in the baby pool, children dripping with watermelon or cherry juice.