Prancing Pony Farm Maremma Sheepdogs and Mini Dairy Goats
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    • Housing Does & Kids
    • Goat Parasites
    • Annual Disease Testing of Goats
    • Goat Hoof Trimming
    • Milking Dairy Goats
    • Milking Nigerian Dwarfs versus Mini Nubians
    • Our Dairy Goat Milking Parlor
    • Disbudding Mini & Dwarf Goats
    • Mini Nubian Ears
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact us
    • Veterinarian's Letter of Recommendation
  • Mini Nubian & Nigerian Dwarf Goats for Sale
    • Kids for Sale
    • Adult Goats for Sale
    • Breeding Plan Goats
    • The Doe Code
    • Our Dairy Goat Herd
      • Mini Nubian Does
      • Mini Nubian Bucks
      • Standard Nubian Does
      • Nigerian Dwarf Does
      • Nigerian Dwarf Bucks
      • Past Kidding Seasons
        • 2024 Kidding Season
        • 2023 Mini Nubians
        • 2023 Nigerians
  • MSCA Registered Maremma Sheepdogs for Sale
    • Maremmma Sheepdogs for Sale
    • Why Choose Us?
    • Our Puppy Reservation Process
    • Available Puppies
    • Maremma Puppies - Current & Past Litters
  • Livestock Guardian Dog Training
    • Livestock Guardian Dog Training & Consulting
    • About Kim Crawmer
    • Family Dog Mediation
    • Keeping Kids safe With LGDs
    • The Perfect Formula for Training Incredible Livestock Guardian Dogs
  • Wether Giveaway
  • Free Goat & LGD Membership
  • Prancing Pony Farm Blog
  • Goat Care Info
    • Dairy Goat Blog
    • Bringing Home Your New Goat
    • Health concerns of your new goat
    • Dairy Goat FAQ's
    • Goat Care Articles & Links
    • Clicker Training Goats
    • Supplies for Goats
    • Feeding Mini & Dwarf Baby Goats
    • Housing Does & Kids
    • Goat Parasites
    • Annual Disease Testing of Goats
    • Goat Hoof Trimming
    • Milking Dairy Goats
    • Milking Nigerian Dwarfs versus Mini Nubians
    • Our Dairy Goat Milking Parlor
    • Disbudding Mini & Dwarf Goats
    • Mini Nubian Ears
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Our Milking Routine

1/27/2020

0 Comments

 

Milking Our Mini Dairy Goats

This is how we milk our goats and the products we use. There is no one “right” way to milk but this is what works for us. We’re just sharing it here for those who are new to milking goats. Feel free to adapt it to your needs or to scrap the whole thing and do what works best for you and your does.
​Happy milking!
​🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
  • To get fresh, sweet milk you must be scrupulously clean and you need to get the milk chilled ASAP. Whether milking by hand or machine I bring the milk containers to the barn in a cooler with ice packs, to which I add cold water when I’m done milking. This allows me to finish barn chores while the milk starts chilling. I keep our fridge on 33 degrees and have a special shelf for chilling so the milk cools down fast.
  • I secure the doe onto my milk stand. I've tried several and the one I prefer is the one from Premier 1 Supply because it's several inches higher than the other stands, which is great for reaching under those short goats. And it has a detachable ramp for "well conditioned" (fat) goats who can't jump.
  • If the doe is kicky I tie her back legs to the stand with short goat leads attached to snaps. This avoids a foot in the milk, and tears over spilt milk.
  • To keep the doe happy on the stand we feed plain whole oats or rolled barley. No GMO laden "goat chow" for our goats!
  • I only milk into seamless stainless steel containers or glass mason jars. Plastic is porous and holds odors and bacteria and isn’t suitable for milking, except for if you are immediately feeding it to animals, which I sometimes do if I’m in a hurry or don’t need the milk for human use that day. But for human use sterilized SS or glass is a must. I usually milk into quart or half gallon glass mason jars if hand milking. I often milk one handed into a stainless steel frothing pitcher or a small glass jar and pour it every so often into a bigger jar, which is sitting in a cooler with ice and water, as I go. I may even have my strainer in the jar and strain as I pour. It's a bit slower to milk one handed but I'm less likely to lose milk. My Simple Pulse milking machine will milk into glass jars or a SS bucket and has a built in strainer. (I switched out the inflations that came with the Simple Pulse for the Top Flo Z Nigerian inflations from Hamby Supply and they rock! They get way more milk than the SP ones and are easier on the doe's teats.)
  • Properly cleaning the udder before milking is a must. I spray the udder with teat washand clean with a baby wipe or paper towel. (I also wash my hands before milking and as needed during the process.)
  • After cleaning the udder I milk the first few squirts from each side into a dish for the cats, inspecting it for any clumps or anything. (Venda, our tortoise shell barn cat, is my faithful milking buddy!) If all is good I proceed with milking.
  • ​I milk the doe by hand or machine, making sure to empty the udder. After I'm done milking I spray with Fightbac spray.
  • I take the milk to the house. If I hand milked I strain the milk. My Simple Pulse machine has a strainer in the lines.
  • I store the milk in glass 1/2 gallon jars with plastic lids, in my fridge set on 33 degrees. I write the day on the lid with a dry erase marker so I can use old milk first. I have a chiller shelf in the fridge so the milks gets cold fast.
  • If I used my Simple Pulse I clean it after I process the milk. I use dairy detergent and sanitizer and it only takes about 5 minutes to clean. You can also use dish soap and chlorine bleach.


Production differences between Nigerians and Mini Nubians


Milking goats is child’s play!

Milking with my Simple Pulse is so simple a child can do it!

Useful Companies & Products for Milking Goats


  • Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
  • Weston A Price Foundation
  • A Campaign for Real Milk
  • New England Cheesemaking Supply
  • Simple Pulse Home Milking Systems
  • ​Hamby Dairy Supply
  • Caprine Supply
  • Hoegger Supply
  • 0 Comments

    Supplies Needed for Goats

    1/27/2020

    8 Comments

     

    Before you bring home your new goats you should be prepared with all the supplies you’ll need to take care of them. Below is a list to get you started!

    Basic Supplies

    • hay feeder/rack (we use a rack for alfalfa and horse hay bags for grass hay)
    • feed buckets/pans
    • water bucket (we like automatic ones)
    • mineral feeder (for loose minerals)
    • rake
    • pitchfork
    • broom (goat berries are hard to rake!)
    • horse brush
    • hoof nippers
    • hoof pick
    • hoof rasp
    • digital thermometer
    • stethescope (goats are prone to pneumonia)
    • bandage or surgical scissors
    • dog clippers & blades
    • large dog kennel for transportation
    • collar (we like the plastic chain ones from Caprine Supply because they will break if the goat gets caught on something)
    • leash
    • dog scale or weight tape (to correctly dose medications)
    • dog house or calf hutch or other shelter
    • proper fencing (no climb wire or welded panels or electric goat fence are good choices)

    Medical, Grooming & Nutritional supplies


    • probiotic paste
    • banamine (for fever, pain & inflammation)
    • antibiotics: Nuflor for respiratory issues
    • Vetricyn Pink Eye Spray
    • Coppertox (for hoof rot)
    • Cut N Heal
    • alcohol wipes (for cleaning injection sites & the thermometer)
    • syringes & needles 1, 3 & 6 ml. syringes. 18, 20 & 22 gauge needles 3/4 to 1” long
    • large (12, 15 or 30 ml) syringes for medications or a reusable drenching gun
    • Goat Nutri Drench
    • Red Cell (to treat anemia)
    • Fortified B Complex - injectable or paste (to prevent goat polio if the goat is sick and goes off feed)
    • Selenium & E gel
    • Replamin Plus Gel
    • Horse shampoo
    • triple antibiotic ointment
    • Super 7 Naval Dip (if breeding, for umbilical cords)
    • Tetanus Antitoxin (in case of injury)
    • CD&T antitoxin (in case of overeating, to prevent enterotoxemia)
    • dewormer (Ivomec injectible or other)
    • rubber exam gloves
    • blood stop powder (for hoof trimming)
    • activated charcoal
    • electrolytes
    • milk of magnesia
    • pepto bismol
    • vegetable oil
    • Toltrazuril (for coccidiosis)
    • BoSe (prescription injection for Selenium deficiency. May or may not be necessary. Discuss with your vet.)
    • copper bolus (For copper deficiency. May or may not be needed, depending on your area and your loose mineral. Discuss with your vet.)
    • epinephrine
    • Vet RX
    8 Comments

    How to Prepare for Your New Goats

    9/15/2019

    2 Comments

     
    If you’re purchasing goats from us this article is to help you prepare for your new arrival before you pick them up. If you live in another area of the country and are getting your goats elsewhere this article may still be beneficial to you but keep in mind that some things mentioned here are regional, like types of hay commonly available or shelter appropriate to the weather of the area, and some things are dependent on the types of goats being discussed. We raise Mini Nubian and Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats on our farm in Central California, where winters are mild but summers are brutal and where alfalfa hay is the most economical and readily available thing to feed livestock of any kind but grass and browse are almost unheard of. The info we are providing here is based on what we do with our herd, based on our geographic area and their needs. If you don’t live in this area then adapt it to what works for you, but if you do live here and especially if you are buying a goat from us this article should help you be better prepared to start this fun new adventure!

    Things You'll Need Before Bringing Your Goats Home:

    A Goat Buddy
    Goats are herd animals so the first thing your new goat needs is another goat buddy! A dog is not an appropriate substitute for another goat because a dog is not a herd animal, like a goat is. A horse or pony is better than nothing but really, goats need to be with others of their own kind, that think, play and act similarly. Your goat won’t be as happy and healthy by itself as it will be with another goat. It may be stressed and stress leads to illness and sometimes death in goats. It will be overly dependent on you, often yelling for attention all the time. And you will miss out on the joy of seeing the goats playing together. So do your goat and yourself a favor and make sure you have at least two! Or 3, or 10! ☺️
    ​
    Proper Housing

    Goats can handle cold weather but they can’t handle excessive heat or too much rain, so appropriate shelter is a must. (They are susceptible to both heat stroke and pneumonia. And they HATE rain!) This can be as elaborate as an enclosed barn or a run in shed or as simple as a large dog house or a calf hutch. Our bucks live outdoors with large calf hutches and Dog Igloos for cold and rainy weather and a tall open horse shelter for shade in summer. Our does and kids live inside a large horse barn or in paddocks with large calf hutch shelters. We use both Polytec and Calftel hutches and love them because they are easy to move around, especially the Polytec ones because you can just roll them! In winter time they also have large dog houses and small calf hutches inside the barn for extra warmth. We provide Premier 1 Heat Lamps in the calf hutches during kidding season in the coldest months. Since our barn is a very open and tall horse barn we also use Shade Sails around the barn and paddocks in summer to keep out the heat and tarps in the winter to keep out rain and wind. We deep bed the stalls during winter and kidding season with hay, straw or pine shavings but we keep the floors bare in summer and rake daily.
    Protection from Predators

    Goats are at high risk from predators and even horned goats can’t protect themselves adequately from such attacks. I highly recommend you have a Livestock Guardian Dog in place the minute you bring home your goats. Even if you don’t have coyotes, mountain lions and bears you may have stray dogs as well as human predators who would hurt or steal your goats. The first line of defense is a properly locked up and secure pasture or barn. The second defense is a LGD. If you don’t have a LGD then lock your goats up tight inside a completely enclosed barn at night and pray. Seriously. You need a LGD! You can’t undo a dead, injured or stolen goat. It’s not a matter of “if” but “when” something will happen to them if you don’t have a LGD. We use and breed Maremma Sheepdogs and we have two kinds of people who buy our puppies. The ones who are planning ahead and get a LGD before they have a predator problem. And the ones who get one after they’ve lost stock to predators or theft. You don’t want to be the second kind. 😢

    And a LGD is NOT a collie, German Shepherd or any other herding breed or non-LGD breed. It is one of several breeds of dogs bred specifically for thousands of years to bond closely with and protect livestock. We use Maremma Sheepdogs and highly recommend them but at least make sure you get a dog that’s ONLY a LGD breed, not a non-LGD breed or worst of all, a mix of LGD and non-LGD. THAT is a disaster waiting to happen!
    ​
    Proper Transportation

    You should bring a medium sized dog crate to transport your goats home in, as well as a leash and collar, if you think you’ll need to get them out along the way. You may not need the large crate when they are tiny babies but you will eventually so if you don’t already have a smaller crate I would just go for the biggest one you can find now. We transport even our biggest bucks in a large dog crate in our mini van!

    *Please note that the the size crates we have and use are these two:
    • The 28” Petmate Sky Kennel, which is 28" L x 20.5" W x 21.5" H. This crate comfortably fits a couple of small Nigerian kids (10-20 lbs ) or one very small Mini Nubian kid.
    • The 48” Petmate Sky Kennel, which is 48" L x 32" W x 35" H, and comfortably fits one or two Mini Nubian (100 lbs) or Nigerian Dwarf (75 lbs ) does or a doe and her kids, and even a buck if necessary!
    ​We should probably get a medium sized crate for larger kids but we don’t transport often so we just use the large crate if the goats are too small for the small one. If your goats won’t fit in the smaller crate that we have, based on the info here, you should probably get a larger crate. Probably something in between these sizes will be ideal.

    *Transporting more than one goat in the same crate is perfectly fine, so long as it’s big enough, and they’ll probably be happier together.
    *The average weight for 9-12 week old Nigerian Dwarf kids is about 15-25 lbs and the same age Mini Nubian kid is roughly 25-40 lbs, so use that as a guide to cage size.
    Feeding Supplies

    First you’ll need a hay feeder. There are lots of styles to choose from, bought and homemade. Goats need basically free choice hay but they are notorious for wasting hay so I wish I could tell you I have found the perfect feeder but I haven’t. I just try to rescue the wasted hay before they use it for a toilet and feed it to my horses, who eat anything! 😂

    You’ll need a good sized water bucket but not so deep that baby goats will fall in and drown. I prefer automatic ones so I don’t have to always fill them but I check them daily to make sure they’re working properly and to clean them if needed.

    A mineral feeder of some sort to put the free choice loose minerals in is vital. We use big ones from Caprine Supply that hold about 20-25 lbs at a time, but if you just have a couple of goats a small one will do. Just make sure they can’t knock it over and waste those minerals and try to hang it high enough that they don’t decorate it with goat berries!

    If you feed grain you’ll need feed buckets but it’s mainly milking does that need grain, not pets and dry goats. But having a few feed buckets or pans on hand helps when you need to entice the goats into the pen! Simple alfalfa pellets or plain oats will do for this.
    ​

    Other things you'll need will be listed in another post and will include:

    Basic Equipment and Supplies
    Medications, supplements, etc
    Proper Food
    Milking Supplies


    ​
    2 Comments

      Author

      Hi I'm Kim. I love all animals but goats and dogs are my favorites so I built a business around them, breeding miniature dairy goats and Maremma Sheepdogs. I love sharing my passion and knowelege  of these amazing creatures with others.

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    ​"Above the arch there was a lamp, and beneath it swung a large signboard: a fat white pony reared up on its hind legs. Over the door was painted in white letters:
    ​The Prancing Pony by Barliman Butterbur."
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    • Home
      • About Us
      • Contact us
      • Veterinarian's Letter of Recommendation
    • Mini Nubian & Nigerian Dwarf Goats for Sale
      • Kids for Sale
      • Adult Goats for Sale
      • Breeding Plan Goats
      • The Doe Code
      • Our Dairy Goat Herd
        • Mini Nubian Does
        • Mini Nubian Bucks
        • Standard Nubian Does
        • Nigerian Dwarf Does
        • Nigerian Dwarf Bucks
        • Past Kidding Seasons
          • 2024 Kidding Season
          • 2023 Mini Nubians
          • 2023 Nigerians
    • MSCA Registered Maremma Sheepdogs for Sale
      • Maremmma Sheepdogs for Sale
      • Why Choose Us?
      • Our Puppy Reservation Process
      • Available Puppies
      • Maremma Puppies - Current & Past Litters
    • Livestock Guardian Dog Training
      • Livestock Guardian Dog Training & Consulting
      • About Kim Crawmer
      • Family Dog Mediation
      • Keeping Kids safe With LGDs
      • The Perfect Formula for Training Incredible Livestock Guardian Dogs
    • Wether Giveaway
    • Free Goat & LGD Membership
    • Prancing Pony Farm Blog
    • Goat Care Info
      • Dairy Goat Blog
      • Bringing Home Your New Goat
      • Health concerns of your new goat
      • Dairy Goat FAQ's
      • Goat Care Articles & Links
      • Clicker Training Goats
      • Supplies for Goats
      • Feeding Mini & Dwarf Baby Goats
      • Housing Does & Kids
      • Goat Parasites
      • Annual Disease Testing of Goats
      • Goat Hoof Trimming
      • Milking Dairy Goats
      • Milking Nigerian Dwarfs versus Mini Nubians
      • Our Dairy Goat Milking Parlor
      • Disbudding Mini & Dwarf Goats
      • Mini Nubian Ears