Little Stupid

All right, I've finally caved in and my ds was so pleased to hear that I've picked up on his nickname for our newest milker. She is really a sad little thing because she's so bonded to people that she screams bloody murder when she sees us. I mean, LOUD, obnoxious screaming.

Oh, the nickname is "Little Stupid". Calling someone stupid around here is an inside joke. Based on our son that has Down Syndrome calling his father stupid because he couldn't figure out how to get the VCR working. Dh is incredibly skilled at mechanical things, but balks at anything technical. So my ds said, "You stupid. Get mom." And so it started, calling each other stupid and then cracking up over it.

Anyway, my other ds has always said the goats were stupid. Drinking their milk will make us stupid, etc. And one of our goats is stupid. I guess she's "Big Stupid" ;-)

My reason for writing is that "Little Stupid" gave us 1.7 pounds yesterday morning. Her most at once before this was 1.3#.

We didn't milk last night, so it will be interesting to see what she gives this morning. We were SUPPOSED to milk when we got home. Ds did all the chores, cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom (including removing things from cupboards and vacuuming them out!) and he was worn out and didn't want to milk. But then it was 8pm by the time we got home, and I didn't feel like milking either. It was dark out, and chilly and I was VERY hungry and we'd broken down and bought our first pizza since we've been out here (nearly 4 years). And it smelled good, but it was nowhere near as good as ours. Fresh from the oven, this store's pizzas are fantastic, but not 25 minutes cooled down.

With regards to LS, not milking her last night could either help, or hinder her. Sometimes it is good for them to go longer to help their bag stretch so it will hold more milk. On the other hand, when they don't get milked for that long, the body automatically thinks the baby has weaned and it's time to dry off. The body absorbs the extra milk.

Our other milker, our best milker, is due April 26th and she is starting to give us fits when it comes to milking her. Many people dry off their does 8 weeks due to their due date, so technically we should be drying her off. But in other countries (like Australia and New Zealand), goat owners do not force dry their does. I am scared that it is will cause mastitis, so I don't force dry either. But we are going to start milking our best milker once each day. She is okay with benig milked in the morning, but not in the afternoon. She is still a little skittish about the new milking parlor... and I'm sure that doesn't help matters. But we don't want to deplete her body by forcing her to be milked, so we will go with once a day milking as she dries herself off.

Now, off to other things.