Today we took a little family field trip up north about 50 minutes to a small goat milking farm. Our friends had invited us to do a group tour with them.
It was me and my kids, our friends and their kids, and our friend's parents and a couple cousins. So a small private tour, which was perfect. We made a quick trip to the barn for a bathroom break. Then went over to the milk barn to get a little back story from the owner.
There were two little kids in this area that were about a day old
We learned that the owner was born in Brooklyn and him and his wife didn't have intentions on having a goat farm but in the early 70's they got their first goat, then two, then three... then the rest is history. They currently sell their goat milk in our local grocery stores. They also sold some there at the farm, we went home with some goat cheese and soap.
After the back story we got to see the milking area and learn about the process. They milk the goats at 3am and 3pm. They milk about 400 goats and takes a little over 3 hours to milk. From that one milking they get a little less than 200 gallons. One goat can yield about a gallon a day.
Then we followed the milk pipes into the next room and learned about the 12 "wires" Isaac remembered it as. It was the system that was on a timer to clean out the pipes.
Then we went back to the first barn where all the kids were kept.
The kids up in the white barrels were roughly all around a week old. These are the ones the kids got to feed. They are taken from their mama right away because they don't want them "drinking their profit" and are instead given cow's milk. Milk they get for free from stores, expired milk. It was interesting....
The kids got to pet a rabbit as well
They were pretty excited to feed the goats, once everyone got their bottles our tour guide was able to assist each child in getting the bottle in their mouth properly
Emma's kid was kinda a stinker and wouldn't really let her feed him or finish the bottle.
After the feeding we went next door to the 'sex barn' I'm not sure the real name but it's where they pen up one male with a bunch of females for mating. They keep the breeds the same in each pen.
The last stall was the 'frat house' with all the males mixed together, so various breeds.
Next was the buck barn, with more males, and boy was it stinky! Maybe that's why the kids gravitated toward the back open barn door
And lastly was the milking goat barn where the kids got a chance to hand milk a goat.
Group photo of the human kids :-P
