Milking Area and Cleanliness

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Milking Area and Cleanliness

Goat milk is sterile, and we can easily contaminate it coming out of the udder.  Make sure your hands, yourself and the udders are clean before you begin.  Keep the udder trimmed.  Udder, back legs, hooves trimmed to keep things from coming into the milking area.  It is best to minimize what your doe is bringing into the housing area.  Make sure it is clean where they live.  Are you re-bedding and cleaning the area your goat lives?

Milking in the back country and what can you get from non-sterile environment? We have learned a lot from the past.  Because of basic principles of hand washing and cleanliness.

Goat milk has been diagnosed to be healthy.  Once pasteurized, you kill everything in it that helps immunity.

Stripping…visual inspection:  One of the most common problems in does is mastitis.  It is important to pre-strip the udder into a wipe before you start.  Look for blood, milk clumps, and/or stringy milk.  Another sign of mastitis is the udder will feel hot and hard and your goat not feeling well.  Some goats may have a little plug.

Three Forms of Milking

One way to milk your goat is with your hands which is much harder to learn. Small scale milkers cost $80-$300 dollars because they are cheap.  The Simple Pulse has a pulsator which simulates a baby sucking.  The cheaper machines cost more in the long run because they will hurt the goat’s udders.  They pull the orifice longer at a time.  With the Simple Pulse, the pulsator creates the on and off action so the teat open and close over and over.The Simple Pulse was created with the homesteader in mind.  It is great for milking and affordable for families.