How to milk goats

At the farm, we spend the majority of our time milking the goats. Once in the morning and once at night, we have to empty the udders of 70 mamas. Some have big udders and others have small ones, but either way, the milk has got to go.

We made an instructional video this morning to give you a visual aid (below). The key is to hook up the machine, drain the milk, feel the udder, make sure there is no milk left in there, and sometimes manually squeeze out what the machine doesn't get.

Sometimes, if there is milk in the udder but no milk is coming through the machine, it means there is a blockage. You have to manually squeeze out the end of the udder and a hardened piece of milk or puss will shoot out. Then the passage is cleared and the udder can be milked (it's basically like popping a giant pimple if that helps you create an image).

The more milk you get out, the more the goat will continue to produce.

Hope you enjoy the video!

How to Milk a Goat from Renee Orenstein on Vimeo.