Learning to stand

So just a little background to understand where I'm coming from...this homesteading is new to us. A second season, a take two. It's not that it's a new dream, it's just one that everyone is now on the same page and we are committed to moving forward.

So, without a family heritage of farming and limited hands-on, a lot of our learning is trial and error. Thank goodness we are blessed with a pretty good herd!

But one of the more difficult challenges was getting my new mama goat to stand to be milked. Thinking back, I think I was warned, but I had no idea! My first milker came to me already a pro at the routine. She and I just needed to learn each other's touches and movements.

But MaryAnn...

She was a baby when she arrived and the next year was her turn to become our first mama in the garden. And she did wonderful! No issues. She had a little girl...Willow.

I was waiting for a few weeks to allow her milk to come in but within a few days, I realized Willow was only nursing on one side. We had a potential castrophic situation developing.

I had to get her on the stand and milk her before there was irreversible damage.

We had done some dry run throughs but when it was a crisis mode situation and she was obviously hurting...that first time created a comic routine where I was definitely the looser in the fight! Literally covered from head to toe with colostrum, I defeatedly walked into the house and took a shower.

But I didn't quit.

I kept moving forward, everyday, earning her trust a little bit more.

It was such a blessing, those first few weeks, the neighbor had some orphaned baby goats that got some good mama milk.

Now, after nearly a year and a half, she has become my best milker, eagerly waiting for me at the gate. She jumps on the stand and patiently waits, even when she has finished all her food.

Every now and then she gives me a backwards glance from the front of the stand. I often wonder how much a goat 'gets it'. But I like to think she does. Together we diverted a catastrophe.