Cheesemaking 101

     I've been milking Bouquet and Belinda for about a week straight, now. The result of that milking has been quarts of beautifully rich and creamy milk - milk that I've been turning into cheese. Cheesemaking 101.  Amazingly tasty cheeses.  Neufchtel, with herbs and olive oil... The process is a lot of work - but the end result so makes it worth it! In fact, this week I ordered more cheese cultures, cheese presses and cheese molds - so I can expand to Bries, and Cheddars and eventually Blues. Acquiring the milk for the cheese making, though, is the most work and time-consuming portion.  It requires my attendance at least once a day - and sometimes twice a day, to collect the milk. The actual act of milking the goat, however, doesn't take too long.  Its the keeping-things-clean steps that take the longest - but are also the most important.  Seeing that foamy white rich liquid in a clear quart jar, is an amazing sight to behold. Cheesemaking 101...it all starts with the girls.

     Bouquet is a charm.  She stands perfectly still on the milkstand - munching contentedly at her feed - gently lifting a leg if it appears that it will be helpful to me. Once a day, I milk her by hand. Around noon, her two boys, unofficially named Adam and Aiden, are separated so Bouquet's udder can fill to capacity.  I usually get a quart from her each evening.  The rest of the time the boys get to hang with mom and eat to their heart's content.  She produces enough to go around.

     Then there is Belinda.  A sweet little goat - until you get her on the milkstand! She DOES NOT want any hands touching her udder ... let alone squeezing any portion of her udder. Her solution to the unwanted touching is to lift her leg (not in a gentle way like Bouquet) but in a kicking motion - to get that hand away! She quickly eats her feed, in the hopes of getting out of there pronto. First we tried having someone hold her leg, so she couldn't kick.  The only result from that attempt was the person getting kicked in the chest, the leg, the arm... Then we tried tying her leg to a rope and having the person hold the rope ... that didn't work either.  FINALLY I found a solution! I now tie her leg to the milkstand, just tight enough so she can't lift it - and my hand doesn't touch her udder (except to clean it) for milking.  Instead, I use my handy-dandy vacuum milk pump (for small herds).   It's a "hand" held device that vacuum sucks the milk out and directly into a jar.  At first I didn't think she liked the device, because it squeezed too hard - but now that she's settled into the routine, I find she much prefers it. Whew - its a relief to have found a solution. For me, the whole point of having the "milking" goats, is to get to milk them.  She's now producing a quart at a time, too.

  All of this, yes, for cheese making.