Crying Over Spilled Milk

I think it's fun to learn the origin of certain sayings, and what is really interesting is to actually be in a position to totally and completely understand the saying.

"Crying over spilled milk" is an example. My take on it, all my life was... if your glass of milk spills on the table, don't cry over that. It's not that big of a deal.

But I'm sure the origin must come from the time when milkmaids did all the milking.

Sometimes when we milk, the does will kick the bucket and there goes the milk. When we milk in the milking "shed" (which hopefully someday will be a real milking PARLOR) it makes a horrific mess. The milkstand is wooden, and gets covered with milk which turns it into a slick surface. The milk runs off the stand, onto the wooden floor which is not sealed or protected against liquid. We clean up as well as we can, but then the flies come, anxious to clean up every little smidgen of milk they can find.

Then there's the issue of having lost that milk. How much milk did you lose? Was it a pound? Were you almost done milking that doe and she gives 3 pounds? Do you milk all the does into the same pail and you were on the last doe?

Milking outside of the shed, on the metal milking stand, is less tramatic. The milk spills onto the metal grates, down into the dirt below. But the flies still come.

I prefer to milk each doe's milk into an empty bucket. I bring a half gallon jar, two buckets and the bottles for the orphans. This way I can rotate the milk from the main bucket, into other containers.

Another thing that can happen is the doe might not kick... but she'll just raise her foot up and slam it into the milk bucket. Well, now all that milk is contaminated with goat foot germs.

I decided to time how long it takes to get the milk from each doe. I separated L from her kid last night for the first time, as he was 14 days old. So this is the morning's stats on milk:

L 3.0 pounds 2 minutes, 24 seconds
D 1.5 pounds 1 minute, 2 seconds
N 1.7 pounds 7 minutes, 51 seconds
Z 2.2 pounds 2 minutes, 41 seconds

These are exact times milking ONLY. There is a bit of time before milking when I wash the udder and teats, and strip the first few squirts of milk to eliminate any bacteria harbored at the orifice of the teat. Then after milking, I spray each teat with Fight-Bac teat spray.

I knew that N took a long time to milk. She has these tiny, teeny teats that I can barely grasp with my hand, and I had to learn to milk her with my fingers in order to get her milked.

This morning's milk yield was 8 and 4/10ths of a pound.

The total time spent on actual milking four does is 13 minutes, 58 seconds. Total chore time for the goats: 45 minutes.

Until next time.

Categories: goats