Since more and more of our egg customers have been looking for goat milk as well, we started discussing as a family what we could do to ensure that we had enough milk for everyone. We came to the decision that we would change over to standard size dairy goats instead of the Nigerian Dwarfs.
Our first standard size girls came from Meadowstone Farm(a relatively local dairy) in Bethlehem, NH and are Nubian x Alpine. They are beautiful, with wonderful temperaments, and so affectionate. We then searched around for some Saanens to add to our farm, and were blessed to come across an ad for some does in milk, and some doelings. Upon discussions with the seller, we discovered there were 4 does in milk, 4 doelings, a buck and a couple of bucklings. We decided that this would work nicely to give us a great little "starter" herd.
We also discovered that they had 2 metal stanchions and a 2 yr old barely used milk machine, with bucket holder & vacuum pump even! So, we bought the whole kit & kaboodle.
We have scheduled with the State Vet, in conjunction with the NHVDL, to have the new herd tested for CL, CAE, TB, Brucellosis, and Johne's. Even though this was a closed herd that had tested negative previously, we want to have our own recent test results, for our & our customers' peace of mind.
Our first standard size girls came from Meadowstone Farm(a relatively local dairy) in Bethlehem, NH and are Nubian x Alpine. They are beautiful, with wonderful temperaments, and so affectionate. We then searched around for some Saanens to add to our farm, and were blessed to come across an ad for some does in milk, and some doelings. Upon discussions with the seller, we discovered there were 4 does in milk, 4 doelings, a buck and a couple of bucklings. We decided that this would work nicely to give us a great little "starter" herd.
We also discovered that they had 2 metal stanchions and a 2 yr old barely used milk machine, with bucket holder & vacuum pump even! So, we bought the whole kit & kaboodle.
We have scheduled with the State Vet, in conjunction with the NHVDL, to have the new herd tested for CL, CAE, TB, Brucellosis, and Johne's. Even though this was a closed herd that had tested negative previously, we want to have our own recent test results, for our & our customers' peace of mind.