I was up early and said my goodbyes to my couchsurfing host David and his two wonderful Cardigan Welsh Corgis Harper and Moth. I headed up north to Maxfield and found my new host's place, the OLDE OAK FARM. Hello NEW friends, hello cheese, hello goats.
As my hosts Jen and Scott were busy when I arrived I started with a little tour by the apprentice cheese maker Greg . First we went to say hello to the kids. Today was such a nice day and all the goats had been put out to pasture to graze within movable electrified areas. The little goats (the kids) are about three months old. They still wanted to suck on my thumb when I petted them. I discovered today that all goats, young and old are more than friendly. They are very social and love humans. It was like being back with the Kittery Corgis. They watch whatever you are doing and they stick to you like glue.
After visiting the little goats we went over to another area of pasture land and met the ladies. The ladies get milked twice a day, once in the early morning and then at 5pm. It was about 2pm in the afternoon. The ladies greeted me with a smile. Greg and I and the temporary WOOFER then headed over to where the males were grazing. It was the same thing. All the goats were friendly and attentive. Everything was peaceful and quiet and then all hell broke loose. Scott was screaming from the house that the lady goats had gotten out from the moveable fenced area (the electricity had bet shut off while we toured around) and made it straight over to the milking area. Goats aren't stupid. When they are milked they get goat food, tasty goat food, pellets that are kept in trash cans in the milking room. They LOVE that grain stuff. One of the head ladies figured out the fence wasn't charged and so they all charged over to pilfer whatever they could before the humans came and stopped them. It became a goat and human frenzy.
Greg ran over as fast as he could fighting his way though the determined goats. His panicked strategy was to sit on the trash can lids and scream for the goats to stop. Goats are smart but I don't think they understand English nor do they care. They understand TASTY FOOD and totally ignored Greg. With the help of Scott and another helper control was regained. Wow, such excitement and I hadn't even been there a half hour. What was next?
5pm - Milking Time. YEY!. I have been saying for a year that I want to milk a goat. Today was my day. I watched Greg and learned step by step about the process. I learned how to handle a goat from the butt and chin to steer her where I want. Goats are strong pullers and pushers. I found that out pretty fast. I learned about getting them up on the platforms, disinfecting the teats, the process of suction pumping and finishing off by stripping. It was a lot for a suburban gal like me to take in but I did. I excitedly awaited the chance to do each step. I now can say that I have successfully done all steps several times. I have done them all from soup to nuts, teats to butts. I HAVE MILKED A GOAT. And I will be miking some more in the next few days along with DOing more cool NEW stuff. I am so happy that I took on this challenge. It is opening up so many NEW experiences for me and allowing me the opportunity to meet so many truly wonderful people. And great cooks. Dinner was phenomenal.
TAKE THE CHALLENGE !
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