Our new “kids” on the block…

This is Barbie.  She is a registered Nubian milk goat from our “goat lady” on loan to us until she has another milk goat we can buy.  When we got Shasta it became apparent that to both drink milk and have extra for cheese, ice cream and  yogurt, we would need another goat.  That will allow us to have two milk goats at a time.  Ideally.  So Barbie comes to us after her first “freshening”.  She has been good and stays calm even when the cats are begging for milk.  Shasta, the goat we bought last month gets very agitated and starts stomping and kicking when cats and dogs come to see if there is any milk up for grabs.  Sometimes I think they do it just to make her kick because if she catches me off guard the milk ends up on the ground.  Hans was so frustrated with me as we lost two containers of milk in one day.   One she kicked and one I just dropped for no good reason.

I sometimes wonder why I am loving this so much because it can be a bit of a pain and it hurts my hands as milking two goats takes about 30 minutes start to finish.  I noticed the other day after a stressful, rushing around day that to milk I have to stop, slow down and do something so basic and even primal that it takes me back to my  nursing days.  Except of course for the farm noises!