Milk Test....

Everything's been fine, I guess I've just been distracted with stuff and haven't blogged much...

I want to go on a milk test this year ... what in THE heck is a milk test? Well... that is what I'm finding out.

Basically someone comes to your place and takes a sample of milk from each doe, verifies the weight of milk she gave from a certified scale and sends the milk sample into a lab. This happens every month.

The lab gives the composition of protien/butterfat etc. in each doe's milk. Purty nifty! The weights and percentages of stuff in the milk is sent in to the American Dairy Goat Assoc. (ADGA) for official recording.

For a tiny and I do mean TINY operation like mine, it's mostly to show prospective buyers what my does produce and what they might expect from my doe's progeny. I think it'll be interesting to see just what each doe is producing and how their milk composition breaks out.

It's best to go on test within the first 45 days after kidding and the does hit their peak at 60 days. I have my packets o' information from ADGA and from the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) testing association I'll use in Carpenter, WY called Meadowlark Testing Assoc. (MTA)

Acronyms = fun!

I'm filling out ppwk and my buddy Karen agreed to come test my milk once a month.... o.k. not MY milk cuz I ain't lactatin', but my does' milk. We watch a CD with testing info, take a short T/F test and mail it in, along with my membership application and lab testing fees to Meadowlark.

Meadowlark assigns me a herd ID number and I fill out more ppwk to mail into ADGA so my info will be recorded "officially".

Fun times...

More baby pix to follow! Ol' Doc Wheeler is coming out tomorrow at 7am to disbud them. (stop their horns from growing in)