A good goat, Luna trots directly to the stand and hops up. There she finds a bucked filled with oats, sunflower seeds and alfalfa pellets. She is very thin from making so much milk, so I drizzle a bit of molasses on there too, for added calories and some trace minerals. And because she loves the stuff!
She stands quietly and enjoys her meal. I wipe her udder off well, then gently squeeze the milk out of each teat. It takes me a while to do this, because Luna has small teats and narrow orifices, so getting two quarts of milk from the goat into the bucket costs me about 20 minutes. I rest my head against her hip and listen to her chew in the quiet. It is a spell of milking meditation for me. The sweet aroma of warm milk surrounds me as it hisses rhythmically into the bucket.
Once the little pail is filled and the goat is empty, I thank her and get the brush out. She loves to be brushed, and stands like a caprine statue while I run the wire bristles over her face, down her neck and chest, over her sides and down her back. Her eyes squinch shut in apparent ecstasy as I reach the itchy spots that she cannot scratch herself. When the session is over she nimbly hops down and heads obediently for the door where I release her to the pasture.
I make delicious, tangy yogurt from the milk, give milk to friends, freeze milk for future soap making ventures, and feed some milk to the two little doelings that we are keeping. I like milking season.
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