Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night....

Suzyq2u · #1 04/03/12, 06:55 AM

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds...

Does anything keep you from your milking routine?
I sit here as I wait for a pot of coffee to brew, apprehensively acknowledging the thunder and lightning out the door...
It would be so much easier to just open the baby pen and let them loose rather than playing around in the rain trying to coax mama's to come milk...

Hmm, maybe I need a covered run there, lol

SO, what's your line (if any) you won't cross to go milk?

mammabooh · #2 04/03/12, 07:20 AM

I don't have one of those lines! Milking time is my favorite time of day.

Of course, I must add that the goats' pen is in my big bank barn and my concrete-floored miking area is just outside of their pen!

Suzyq2u · #3 04/03/12, 08:05 AM

Yes, I love it too! It's so relaxing (usually)...
I just wish they'd come willingly through the muck to get to the garage

Oh well what's a little rain, eh?... lol

Backfourty,MI. · #4 04/03/12, 08:05 AM

I don't milk our goats, at least not now but I am always thankful for our goats as well as all our critters because no matter what the weather is I know they are waiting for me to come feed, clean, let them out of their house or barn, give them treats or just for loving.
Another words I know they are counting on me so even when were having the worst weather possible for Michigan I still have to head to the barn.

All these animals get me up & going on days I'd probably just stay snuggled up in front of the fire otherwise, setting on my rear!!

southerngurl · #5 04/03/12, 08:10 AM

The only time I missed milking was when my grandpa was in the hospital dying. There were nights I was milking at 1:30 am. But the does were not milking heavy or I would have had to have been more on top of things even then. I have milked with migraines, in the rain etc. I fell of a horse and could barely walk to the restroom. That time they tootled me down to the barn in the rtv and I sat on a bucket and explained to everyone what to do. By the next morning I was able to do things myself IIRC.

I've said, if I ever build my own house, the barn will just be a wing of the house

And I mean it!

prairiedog · #6 04/03/12, 08:26 AM

I love milking the only time I missed was when I was in the hospital.

yarrow · #7 04/03/12, 10:34 AM

we milk, no mater what.. I've milked with a fever so high, I literally laid over on them as I milked.. Back during the last severe icestorm.. we strung ropes from the back deck to the barn.. I sort of slid/pulled myself out & back each milking.... I didn't realize how much the *goats come before anything else" we had gotten until last spring.. My mother died, very unexpectedly.. my sister called to tell me... After the words "Mom is dead" she instantly followed with " but I know it's kidding season and you are milking already... so we know you can't make it down here... and mom wouldn't have want you leaving the does & kids in someone else's care"... so I stayed home to milk & bottle, instead of going to her funeral.... (first grandbaby is due in June.. I'm already trying to figure out who-s & what-s of how we are going to be there for his delivery and here to milk LOL.. thankfully mom-to-be is my goat partner and is just as concerned !!!

susie mo. ozarks

RedSonja · #8 04/03/12, 10:54 AM

Nothing much stops me from milking. In nice weather I milk outside, beside our garage. In not nice weather I milk in the garage (has heat for winter and a/c for summer). Sometimes I milk late or early to avoid bad weather (even when I milk in the garage I have to bring the goats down from the barn) or if we have somewhere to be at a certain time. But the girls get milked, no matter what. We really do revolve our lives around milking time. We are going to Europe for business then vacation time after business is done, for two weeks in May. My parents are going to house sit and my mom is going to milk for me. That'll the first time we'll have been away from the farm during milking time since we bought goats two years ago.

-Sonja

chewie · #9 04/03/12, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southerngurl

I've said, if I ever build my own house, the barn will just be a wing of the house

And I mean it!

I believe some countries do jsut that. a friend nearby lived in virginia. her hub came up here to hunt and fell for the place and they decided to move here. he came up and bought a place, no house, but built this big barn, the kind with a tall middle and wings off either side. they raise hunting dogs and had one wing a very nice kennel set up. (this place is cleaner than many ppl's houses!) he built a sort of apt in the middle 'just for now'. they planned a house on the next hill over, about 2 miles around. when she came up we had a real sd winter. she asked 'how long does this sorta thing go on?' uh, 5 months!? right then she said forget the house, as it was her doing the midnight whelp checks! they live in the barn, and it is THE coolest house around. the big double door on one end was replaced with a fireplace, its warm and cozy and just has something about it that you feel comfortable the minute you walk in. she has a stained glass studio on the back half, dogs in one wing, storage/mud room in the other.

and nothing stops my chores routine. if I am an hour late I am in a tizzy. if I know I will not make it at the night time chore, I will milk once more in the afternoon, doing the feeding/watering, so when I come home super late, I will milk then once more, that way no over full udders.

I do however plan my breedings according to the DD's school schedule--they get out at the end of may. the kids will be big enough to happily take all the does have to offer. therefore it does give me a few days' to sneak off if I want to, with my daughters. just have someone check everybody and its not much to do.

Blue Run Farm · #10 04/03/12, 11:56 AM

Southerngurl, I had a friend in high school who lived in the best house ever. My husband still has to hear me whine about how I want a house just like hers. The back half of the house was the barn. You went "out" the "back door" and the horses were right there, it was lovely. Plus in the winter it cut down on heating costs. What's not to love? I could see me with horses in the stalls on one side of the door and a goat area in the other half. I'd be in Heaven!

To answer the original post, I stopped milking on October 4 two years ago, when I fell off a horse and broke my neck in three places. It was NOT the horse's fault, and I got back on and rode him to walk him out after I hit the dirt. He slipped, it was a total fluke, and I didn't think anything was broken at the time. I went to the hospital the next day and found out it was broken, got a heck of a talking to from the doc at Shock Trauma after they transferred me there, too, lol. Luckily, the girls were mostly dried off anyway so I was able to stop cold turkey and not worry about someone else trying to milk for me.

wolffeathers · #11 04/03/12, 12:09 PM

The barn attachment to the house sounds awesome. We have a big well-to-do horse community near us and they almost always put the "house" on top of the barn. I never liked it because I always told myself if I built my dream house it was going to be something I could age in, and climbing up stairs to my "apartment" surely didn't appeal to the idea.

Now, this house off the side of the barn, now that's something. Will have to inform my husband I'm going to revamp the "dream" house some. Half the time baby animals and the sick and injured come into the house now.

Wouldn't it be something to have a big observation window on the back of your house that allowed you to hover over a birthing stall? Drink your coffee at a breakfast table and watch the horse/goat/etc in the birthing stall.

I love it! It also gets rid of the dirt path between the house and barn.

LFRJ · #12 04/03/12, 12:32 PM

No line but the hard line. THey HAVE to be milked daily and reasonably on schedule. Nope. It is not my favorite chore, nor of deep pleasure. It's a chore and part of their care.

The only short cut is the milk handling. If I'm in a real hurry, I just dump the milk to the chickens. I don't even guesstimate it's weight for our records. I just note: "Milk Dump" next to a reason why.

But I feel for ya, SuzyQ! - I've trudged through snow, had hail hammer on my head, and fallen several times in the mud only to have to return to the house to redress, re-sterilize the bucket and head back out again.

Our doe does come willingly though. For her, it's not a chore - it's a treat!