I did an unbelievable thing- I made another big jump in my goat keeping journey by adding two additional does to my herd, one of which is in milk! Now, I had never milked a goat before and here I am bringing home a mom that should be milked 1-2x a day. “What was she thinking?!” you ask yourself. I was thinking homemade yogurt with honey and fresh blackberries of course!

A friend of mine was kind enough to hand deliver my new babies! When she arrived we let the newcomers settle in and I made her a steak and potato dinner to share my gratitude. I had anxiety most of the day worrying that the new goats might be trouble makers and hence why they were on the rehoming list from their prior owners but so far I am not disappointed with their personalities!

The next morning I went ahead and tried my hand at milking for the first time ever. I walked down to the pen without a pale in hand and was determined to give it a go. I figured I would at least relieve the pressure for the poor mama as her kid only nurses off of one side. With my right hand holding her collar and my left hand ready to begin milking I had a thought that I might just be off my rocker to try and milk a goat for the first time ever without a stand and without any kind of bribe for this poor mom. She stood there and stomped her foot as I clamped on to her udder with my forefinger and thumb, I could feel the milk sloshing inside of her bag. “Okay mama, this is me trying to relieve some of this discomfort you must be feeling. Please be nice.” She turned her head and gently tried to rake me away with her horns. I placed my right elbow up a little higher to block her from harming me and continued to apply pressure to her udder in a downward motion with my hands. Out sprayed a glorious white fluid! I quietly celebrated as I carried on milking her for a few minutes. I could visibly see that her bag was shrinking and she seemed to not mind so much as I continued.

What a good milking goat I invested in! I am overflowing with the sense of how blessed I am. Now we wait for my milking gear to arrive… If you are curious here are the Amazon links to the pale and screens I ordered. I always check the reviews and luckily these had a quick delivery option for no additional cost.

First, on my goat’s milk making list is yogurt with swirls of our homestead honey and berries or apricots. Luke and I prepared honey supers last weekend so we should have a harvest in the next few weeks. We prepared the foundation frames by scraping cleaned wax on the plastic foundation frames and the bees begin to build out the wax and pack the comb with delicious honey while we are in this heavy nectar flow. Once the water content of the honey is just right the bees will cap it off and we will know it is time to harvest. This milk and honey land is mine and I can not help but grin from ear to ear.

Do you have milking goats? If so what is your favorite recipe for all that extra delicious liquid? Do you also keep bees if so what has your milk and honey experience been?