Family Owned

and Operated

since February 2006

goats@greenacresgoatsfarm.com

713-240-4351

MILKING INFORMATION: At this time I am hand-milking; I am not using the machine. In the below description, disregard the instructions given for machine milking. Hand-milking is faster and more personal. The machine is alot of trouble to clean up and maintain, due to problems I have been having with my pulsator. My children help me do the milking and I am there to help supervise and we alternate, one goat per stand, 2 stands, 3 people milking. Using the machine takes longer and you end up having to finish hand milking at the end anyways. I am working on revising this page and will do so when I have more time.

I run all my buckets and water jugs through the dishwasher every other day to insure sanitation and cleanliness. For those concerned about diseases from raw milk, if it is handled properly with sanitation, there will be no reason for concern.  I handle the milk and goats with the utmost care, cleanliness, and sanitation, and I make sure there are  no concerns of getting sick or getting diseases from bacteria or bad milk. If you buy raw milk from someone besides me, ask question about how they milk and handle it and make sure they answer your questions to your satisfaction!

First off, I will describe my milk room. It is indoors and has running water, electricity, a freezer, and a milk machine. I have recently tiled the floor for easier sanitation and cleaning and will post updated photos as soon as I can. I will now outline my milking procedures from start to finish.

My milking procedures start with washing my hands with anti-bacterial soap. I then get the feed for the goats. I feed them 14% horse & mule with alfalfa pellets, Beep pulp, sunflower seeds, and calf manna. I fill the feeders. Then I wash my hands again.

I then use Anti-bacterial wipes to clean the sink, counter top, and top of freezer, as I use the freezer to put buckets on.

Now it is time to get the wash cloths ready for cleaning the goats. I use white wash clothes that have been run through the washing machine and bleached. After they are dried in the dryer, I put them in a seal tight storage tote and store them under the sink in my milk room. I then run a sink full of water and add anti-bacterial soap and a little bleach for disinfecting and washing each goat’s udders. I use separate rags for each goat. I put the wet rags in one of my stainless steel milk buckets.

Then I rinse all my milking equipment buckets, including the one for my milk machine. I get 6 frozen water bottles (quart size) from the freezer and put them in the bottom of the milk machine bucket. The bottles have been run through the dishwasher and checked after each use for leaks or bad lids that are stripped and won’t screw on tight.

Then I put the lid on the milk machine, hook up the vacuum hose and get it started running.

 Now it is time to go get the goats! I bring in 2 at a time. They know what order to come into the milk room and which milk stand is theirs. I get my first 2 goats and bring them in.

I lock them into the head lock on the milk stand. I pet them and call their names and even sing to them. Then I wash my hands again and get two rags and two paper towels. I wash the first goat’s udders and then dry them. I squirt one squirt of milk into a strip cup to make sure it looks fine. Then I hook the machine onto the first goat. Then I move onto the second goat and do the same with her. When I am done milking each one of them, I remove the suction cups and dip their teats with Foaming Teat Dip (contains Iodine and is used to prevent mastitis).  I then take those two goats out and bring in the next 2. I wash my hands between each trip out to get the goats. When I am done milking all the goats, I wipe down the milk stands, and then wash my hands again.

Then I take the milk and with clean hands, I remove all the frozen water bottles. I clean them thoroughly and put them back in the freezer. Then I take my biggest stainless steel milk bucket, which has a moon shaped lid.     I put a 12.5” filter in it and pour the milk into it. Then I pour it into my 3^rd stainless steel milk container   and then re-strain it through the filter again.  

The next step is bottling it. I use a funnel and put it into ½ gallon milk jugs, purchased from the Borden milk company.

After I have filled the jugs, I put sealed lids on them and put them in the freezer.

(I DO HAVE A LID FOR THIS BOWL AND I KEEP IT COVERED. I JUST REMOVED  THE LID FOR THE PICTURE.)

Now it is time to clean up. I rinse all my stainless steel milk containers, and then I run a sink of water and add a little bleach to sterilize and clean the stainless steel milk pails better. Then I wash the equipment in the bleach water, and then I rinse it thoroughly with clean water. Now time to clean the milk machine hoses. I fill up 2 buckets with water. I add a little bleach to one and flush the hoses, then rinse the hoses completely with the other bucket.  I wash the lid to the milk machine with a clean wash rag and water. Then I clean the machine bucket by rinsing it with water and a little bleach, then rinse it thoroughly with water. I then hang the lid up by a hook that is in the ceiling and open the valves to the hoses and put them in a storage tote with a clean towel in the bottom to absorb the water that may be left in the hoses. I turn the bucket upside down and put it in the same container.

Then I have to sweep and clean up the milk room. I use anti-bacterial wipes to re-clean the counter top, sink, and freezer. NOW I AM DONE!!!

The whole procedure, milking 7 goats, takes about 1 ½ hours from start to finish. I do run my equipment and water bottles through the dishwasher every 2-3 days for extra sterilization.

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Want to know more about my Cow??? She is a Jersey/Angus mix who is 3 years old. We bought her from Sandia Texas from a dairy.

She calved in January 2009. She is milked with a milk machine after I scrub her udders down and make sure they are really clean. I also rapidly chill the milk using the same method as I do with the goats milk. I will upload pictures this evening of me milking her so you will see just what it looks like.

After I milk her, I put the milk in the fridge in a covered container for about 12 hours. I then skim off a little cream, but I still leave a lot of cream in the milk. I use this for making butter! After I get the cream, I pour the milk into 1/2 gallon jugs (the same kind I use for the goats) and label the jugs with the letter "C" so they won't get mixed in with the goats milk jugs and put it into the freezer.

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Green Acres Goat Farm © pictures and logos are mine, please use any info from this website if you would like, but please add my link somewhere on your site. If you would like, I would put a link to your site on mine also. Please email me at webmaster@greenacresgoatsfarm.com  if interested.