5 gal milker
The milking machine has arrived, and Genka and Geneva are eating their grain on the milking stand. We’ve still got a few months to go. Right now, they are eating about 2 cups of “sweet feed” each day. That will increase some soon, and more after they “freshen”. We’ve started to pick up a few kidding and milking supplies and will be giving some “booster shots” fairly soon. Seems like everytime I read up, there’s more things to worry about. We just watched a video that demonstrated de-horning and castration. Still struggling with some of those ideas..
Seems like for small scale farming the farmer has to do everything themselves and minimize costs. All this work, and then realize the low prices that the farmers get for their labor. It does force large scale production. For example, a farmer might sell a young goat to the meat market for less than $100. How much effort goes into that? Hay costs $4/bale!
We’ll be turning our attention to getting a hot water supply hooked up into the barn, ( a tankless water heater), and a small utility tub. I tried to find a dairy to buy some goat milk this weekend. Looks like it costs about $10/gallon. I wonder how much the farmer sells it for, and how easy it is to fit out a barn/milk house and get a license to sell milk. ( Not going there).
Genka
lavenderview 