I mentioned earlier that from August through November, I was milking my Nigerian Dwarf goat, Dottie Belle, and making cheese, butter and best of all yogurt. Dottie Belle is the first animal that it has ever crossed my mind to milk. If fact, this whole goat, milking and cheese thing is way off path for me, unless one considers that I am always up for a new adventure.
The most milk I ever got in 1 milking was 34 ounces. Nigerian Dwarf goats give very rich and sweet milk, but not a large quantity. But they are very small animals compared to a cow. So I would have to save up to make a batch of cheese or yogurt.
A friend loaned me this book.
After I have acquired all that cheese making knowledge, I will have to wait until my doe, Honey Bunny, kids hopefully in early April, so I can have milk. When we left town for 3 days in November, I hired someone to milk Dottie Belle for me. When I returned she had decided she was not going to produce milk anymore. That was a big disappointment. Have any of you had an experience like that with your milk animal?
The most milk I ever got in 1 milking was 34 ounces. Nigerian Dwarf goats give very rich and sweet milk, but not a large quantity. But they are very small animals compared to a cow. So I would have to save up to make a batch of cheese or yogurt.
I bought 2 books.
It's great to have all this information along with many internet sites, but none of them exactly agreed. My first attempt was a failure, because this former 4th grade teacher forgot how many ounces were in a gallon and I only used 64. That was the "simple" recipe I got off the internet where you add apple cider vinegar.
Anyway, I did manage to be successful at making a strong traditional feta and ricotta. But I went crazy over the yogurt it was so good. I will share that in a post by itself.
For a combination Christmas/Birthday present, my children went in together and paid for me to attend 2 cheese making classes on February 8th and 9th. http://www.sustainlife.org/ On Friday, we learn to make soft cheeses and hard cheeses on Saturday. The classes are in Waco, TX a little more than 4 hours away. My husband is taking 4 vacation days to drive over there with me. He's not interested in taking the classes. But we will come back through Dallas and visit with his daughter and my son. So it's a long weekend that we both look forward to.
| Honey Bunny |