Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Milking the Goat is Now a One Man (or Woman) Job

Hi, it's Celia again.

I've been sick. Nothing major, just a cold, but my throat is really sore and I've been sleeping a lot. So on Saturday morning my mom decided to let me sleep, rather than wake me up to milk the goat. But that left her in a pickle, because up to this point we've been milking the goat together, and she wasn't quite sure how she was going to milk Mali by herself. Normally Mom would just wait until I woke up and we'd milk her together, but she had to go cater, so she didn't have time to wait. Dad had to leave, too, so he couldn't help her. After thinking for a few minutes, she asked Dad to screw a bucket to the front of the milking stand so Mali could eat grain while she milked. And it worked!

Mom let Mali out of the goat yard. Mali is trained to walk down to her milking stand, put her head through the stanchion, and wait to be milked. And with the bucket on the front she just contentedly ate while Mom milked her.

This opens up so many possibilities! Previously if both Mom and I weren't home we couldn't milk, but now we can. And we might be able to talk Farm Hand Dad into making a second milking stand, so after Babybel has her kids we can each milk a goat simultaneously.

Who would have thought a bucket and a couple of screws could make life so much easier?

That's not to say the milking went perfectly. Mom told me Babybel and Brie conspired to break out of the goat pen, and she ripped her pants trying to restrain them. She also fell twice and has some nasty scratches on her arm. But she doesn't care. She's just as thrilled as I am about the bucket.

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