Milk, No Milk, Love Stinks, and Homecoming

I finally started weaning goat kids, which means now we have plenty of milk to put back.  I need to run at least 3 canner loads a week in preparation for next spring.  See, by canning the milk now....when the does freshen in the spring the babies can drink the canned milk and we can drink the fresh milk.

Last year was so hectic I didn't put near enough milk back, which explains why it's the end of August and we're just now having milk for us.  Well, that and the fact that we retained 11 kids.  

I am still giving the doe kids milk twice a day, just because I think it gives them a good start.  But the bucklings got weaned cold turkey over the weekend.

That's what happens when you are over 70 pounds and turn into sir humpsalot.  No manners whatsoever.  So now they live in the buck pen.

Their days of full buckets of warm milk and grazing in the lush grass of the front yard ended when they started blubbering and ..... other things.

With the does producing 4 gallons a day, there is plenty of milk for us to drink, plus feed doe kids, fatten pigs, and feed the pup.

But a priority right now is canning.  I do it in quart jars, hoping to get 3 canner loads/week which would be 21 quarts per week.  Very doable.  We'll be milking until Jan 1, so we should have a very good supply for kids when they start to arrive in Feb and March.

I do all of the milk in the pressure canner.  I start with warm milk fresh from the goat, fill sterilized jars, cap them and pressure can them at 15# for 10 minutes.

At that temperature the milk caramelizes a little, and it changes the color and consistency of the milk.

The milk is quite safe, but it looks unappetizing.  The goats drink it just fine, and I have even used this for making caramel sauce and creamed gravies.  I wouldn't want to crack open a jar and drink it though.

Once it settles on the pantry shelf it begins to separate.

This is also normal.  I usually box up the canned milk, mark the dates on the boxes, and use them in first in first out order.  They keep well for 6 months, but after 6 months I would only use it for animal feed.

So we've started breeding plans.  Something that is very difficult this year with Pete gone.  I thank God that I kept 2 of his sons this year.  We haven't actually bred any of the goats as of yet.

Since we're on milk test and we started testing late, we have to keep milking until Jan 1.  Which means that the milking does don't need to be bred until the last week of Sept or first week of Oct putting their due dates the end of Feb/earlyMarch.

Besides the 5 milkers, I plan to breed Tina, Holly, Rita, Faith only if she chooses (she'll be 9 in Jan, I'm not pushing it), and the currently visiting Ginger.  (as a side note, I sold Ginger this year to a great family only on the condition that we breed her to Ditto and I get to keep a doe kid.  Ginger is my last link back to Angel so this kid is very important to me.  I only placed Ginger because I knew this family could give her the extra TLC she needed at the time, and they have done a fantastic job with her!  She is here for a couple of weeks so that we can breed her.  Unfortunately she is a bit modest and shy, very unlike her grandmother Legacy who tended to be a bit of a trollup.  So we're working on Ginger's time.   Once she's bred, she will go back home to be with her family.)

Okay, so I planned to breed these does in August.

Tina

Holly

Rita

Ginger

Guess how many of them came into heat.  You got it.  NONE.

However, every one of the milkers are in heat.

This is why my friend CB calls "breeding plans" .... "happy thoughts"

One last note for today.  Aegis was AWOL for a week.  I got so worried I went out searching on the 3rd night.  I spotted him with another dog, and he continued on it's path.

I waited another couple of days and then went by the local dog pound to be sure he wasn't incarcerated.

Saturday night our prodigal son returned!!  He's lost at least 10 pounds and he's a bit rough around the edges, but in good health.  I am SO HAPPY to have him home again!

I have been calling to him every day several times a day in hope that he'd come home.  Late Saturday night Reserve and Farouk started barking.....when I went out to see what was going on I could hear Aegis howling and coming up through the woods.  We all howled back and I had tears in my eyes as I saw him coming up the yard.  This is a picture I took of the greeting of the pack.

I love these dogs, and all of their primitive ways.  Thank you, Lord for answering our prayer and bringing our boy home safe.