I was overjoyed after we purchased our new home in suburban northern California. It came with almost an acre of land and a small barn. The next-door neighbor had a paddock which contained two horses which they never rode. The horses did get some exercise, stimulated by the loud barking and aggressive movements of our five pound Chihuahua.
The barn enabled me to get serious about animal husbandry. At the same time my daughters became interested in the 4-H program. We then met some friends who owned African Pygmy goats. We thought they were cute, so we purchased a pair- which we named Jack and Jill. Unfortunately, we soon discovered Pygmy goats did not relate well to humans, and had no other redeeming qualities. Jack became quite boisterous; we donated him to a petting zoo. Jill was sent to a farm in Oregon.
At that time I was an avid reader of Mother Earth News and had a goal of self-sufficiency. After learning of the health benefits of goat’s milk, I decided to take the next step; adopted a French Alpine dairy goat. Her name was Starlene-and quickly became the star of my little menagerie. Since she had recently given birth, she was lactating when she arrived. I quickly and clumsily learned how to milk her; but I must admit milking her twice-a-day , 365 days-a-year , did become a chore. Despite this fact, when she stopped giving milk, I took her back to the farm to be bread again, returning her to milk production.
We discovered that goat’s milk tasted great for about 24 hrs, then began to deteriorate into a strong musky flavor. My children didn’t want to drink it- but I was able to trick them by serving it in a cow’s milk container.
After 2 years of milking twice-a-day, straining and bottling 2 gallons of milk daily; I gave up, took Starlene back to her dairy farm and breathed a big sigh of relief.
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