Goats for milking

[hoosierheightsfarm]

Has anyone done this? What breed would you suggest?

Also, can you explain the milking process (I know HOW to milk) just not what to do with it after I have it. As far as cooling, storage, separating the cream, etc.....
I saw a David Bradly milk pasteurizer on Ebay a couple of weeks ago, is that necessary?
I'm thinking just one, or two goats, just to keep the family in milk.

[flowerpower]

I do have "dairy" goats. I have Alpines, but they are a very lg breed. My does avg prob 140 lbs. A good sized buck can be close to 180. Toggenborgs are a smaller version of Alpine. And at the fair, I saw what is called "American Alpine". They were as small as Pygmy goats, which also give a decent amt of milk for their size.

[cff]

Nubian's are the most popular in our area, we have had a few and still have one. I don't pasteurize the milk from our Jersey cow but we handle it very carefully, back in the 1930's pasteurized milk was not allowed by law. It was considered a method for the sale of dirty milk.
Dirty milk will sour pretty quick with the rapid growth of bad bacteria, it takes about 14 days for pasteurized milk to go rancid (start to rot) scene both the good and bad bacteria have been killed with heat.

There is some great information in a book written by Douglass, William Campbell
The Milk Book - The Milk of Human Kindness Is Not Pasteurized
The book is available through www.alibris.com for about $13.00 (used)

We bring the cow into the barn and wash her utter (clean) with warm soapy water, then we rinse the utter with a mild disinfect and dry her. Clean is a must for raw milk. I milk her dry at each milking but I don't waste time doing it and I take the milk to the cooler as quick as possible. At the house I pour the milk through clean cheese cloth and into a storage container. The milk is set into the freezer for about an hour to cool it as quickly as possible. After an hour its placed into the cooler for use. I purchased a cooler just for the farm milk and the temp is set just above freezing.

My son likes goat milk, to me it has a smell that I dislike, the taste is fine but I much prefer the cows milk. I would suggest that you try some goats milk first (make sure its for you) then find someone who can give you some hands on advise about handling the milk.

Good luck