Goat milk!

We have spoken about getting a goat for quite a while now.  At first after we got Butterbelle I thought I didn't want goats anymore.  Then my oldest DD turned out to be lactose intolerant.  A friend has goats and offered us one of her goats on a loan until December so we've taken her up on the offer.  Lilly is an Alpine, and she is an incredibly patient and good natured goat.  So we Dan set to work building a goat stanchion.  Have I mentioned how amazing my hubby is?

The beginning of the stanchion.

Almost done

I went to go have a chat with Lilly to tell her how the stanchion building was going

The head gate parts

It will eventually have a clasp to hold them together, for now a bungee will work

Complete!

Feed bucket installed, just the right size for a goat :)

Well... we had to test it out, right?  LOL!

The first milking, which actually went pretty easily!  Did I mention how patient Lilly is?

I love this photo!

Dan gave it a try as well.. he's probably going to need a bit more practice, LOL!

Now all we need is a milking stool :)

I'm quite pleased with how the stand worked, and how relatively easy the milking was.  Of course Lilly is a pro at it by now, and very patiently stood there and put up with our bumbling around.  We will be milking her mornings and evenings, and our friend says we could expect about a gallon a day from her.  We're going to be building another stand for our friend, she doesn't have one yet.

Butterbelle does not seem to like the goat very much... or maybe it's just food envy since we fed Lilly from the bucket we normally bring Butterbelle's grains in.. so for now Butterbelle is residing in pasture 2 with the pigs, while Lilly is in pasture 1 on her own.  They can all have a meet and greet through the gate and get to know each other.  Goats are so incredibly social and Lilly comes running each time someone is in view.  We love her!

We are still searching for our own dairy goat, still deliberating on what breed we want.  We're definitely leaning more toward Alpines, but we're considering Nubians too because they're a dual purpose breed and their milk apparently has the highest fat content of any goats.