A STRIP CUP is used to "waste" the first few squirts of milk and to look for any evidence of mastitis (look for off color milk, clots or stringy milk). The milk is never actually wasted since the cats and dogs have learned to hang around the porch during milking time. You can buy fancy strip cups with strainers, but just squirting against the side of a plastic food storage bowl works too.

then close the other fingers tightly against the heel of the hand,and direct the stream of milk into the bucket. Two hands make short work of the milking. It takes about 5 minutes to milk out a goat by hand.

I take the hot milk into the kitchen and strain it immediately through a special paper filter to remove any particulate matter. You can get larger strainers if desired, but I find this stainless steel "Busy Liz" works just fine for me.

Then I cool the milk in a bucket or sink of very cold water BEFORE putting in refrigerator. This step of rapid cooling preserves the delicate flavor of the milk. After the water bath cooling, I place the milk in a rapid chill compartment of my refrigerator.

Invest in a good stainless steel milk pail and strainer. Paper filters to fit your strainer can be purchased wherever caprine supplies are found. Large 2 quart canning jars (with lids) are hard to find, but make wonderful containers for rapid chilling milk.

The best part about milking your own dairy animal is that you never have to drink anything that is more than 12 hours old! You know the animal the milk came from is healthy because you see her up close and personal twice a day. "Old" milk (older than 12 hours) can be frozen for later use during the winter, or used for cheesemaking .

Beauty's Bunch Destiny - Three years old. black and white cou blanc. Disbudded. Twinned in 2006. Good mom. Very sweet disposition. We did hand milk her for awhile, but she is now dried off. Has smallish teats (two finger milker) which might be ok for a child, or a small handed adult; but her true value to my way of thinking is that she can nursemaid tiny goats like angoras who can't get ahold of those big four finger teats... and/or could be used as a field nanny and bred to a buck with the potential to thrown larger teats for superior offspring. She is a registered American Alpine $150 See the two unrelated bucks below that would be good matches for her.

Charlotte's Boy was born 2-4-06 to HMFF Charlotte (one of my preferred house milkers) and superbuck Beniesoit Tate Tristan. Twin. Disbudded. Great back legs like his sire! Smooth lines and flashy black and white cou blanc pattern. Registered French Alpine. Would be unrelated to the dairy doe featured this month. $200

Suzette's Boy - a great prospect out of a wonderful milker, HNF Suzette and superbuck, Beniesoit Tate Tristan.. Born 2-6-06. He is a single, so good growth. Disbudded. Flashy black and white, half-banded sundgau. Unrelated to the dairy doe above. Registered French Alpine. $200.

If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment to come and visit, just contact me at hmffarm@fidnet.com A 50% deposit will hold your choice for 30 days. Paypal accepted.

Congratulations and THANKS to the Rhoades family who purchased Ella and Henriette's Boy A from last months newsletter. They should make a lovely pair!

By popular request, I am posting the recipe for the Cheddar/Horseradish Cheese Spread that I had up at Heart of America Show. This is an EASY recipe using your homemade Chevre or any soft goat cheese. Are you ready?

Take 2 packets of powdered cheddar cheese out of the cheapest boxes of macaroni you can find (save the noodles for another meal). Place the cheese powder , plus 2 Tbsp. of prepared horseradish with the extra juice squeezed out, in about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of soft goatsmilk cheese (I suppose a deli cream cheese might work as well). Mix well. Press into a bowl and chill. Serve with crackers or a nice crusty bread. It takes about 2 minutes to make and is delicious!

If you have never made Chevre... its easy too. 1 gallon of goatsmilk. Heat to 80 degrees . Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and stir. Add 2 Tbsp. of diluted rennet mixture (3 drops of liquid rennet in about 1/4 cup water) . Mix. Let stand for 8-12 hours. Pour soft cheese into a collander lined with cheesecloth. When most of the whey is drained off, tie up the corners of the cheesecloth, then hang and allow the remaining whey to drain for a few more hours. Then put in a ziplock bag in the freezer for quickie cheese spreads all season long.

You can find this and LOTS of other wonderful recipes for goatsmilk in MaryJane Toth's The Udder Real Thing. Ms Toth is a wonderful lady with several books to her credit.