babsbag
Herd Master
About 7 years ago I bought 3 goats, one of them is named Moonpie and this is all her fault. I knew nothing about goats, I was actually a little intimidated by them, and the rest they say is history. I now own over 40 goats counting kids. 
I decided that I needed my ladies to support themselves and I needed a reason to own more goats so a dairy is the making. I live in probably the most regulated state in the USA and we are in the middle of a severe drought and I am building a Grade A dairy. Am I nuts ??? Let me hear a resounding "YES". I will be bottling fluid milk and making fresh cheese. I will add yogurt, keifer, ice cream, and feta as the time and the market allows. Hope to be getting the first inspection this summer. I will milking 20-30 goats max with the ultimate goal of 20 gallons of milk a day. I have primarily Alpine goats and a few LMs and one Togg. I have more does than I need that is for sure. Ever since I have started this planning the Lord has blessed me with doelings.
I have purchased a 30' trailer and all the equipment that was a Grade A facility for pasteurizing and bottling milk. We are converting the office in the trailer to a place to make cheese and enclosing the porch on the trailer and making it a wash room for equipment.
On another trailer we are building the milking parlor and the milk house. I will be milking 4-6 goats at time and then transporting milk to the bulk tank in the milk house where it will begin chilling. At the end of milking the milk will either continue to be chilled to the required 40° and then held in the tank until being pumped to the pasteurizer or it will so straight to the pasteurizer and then chilled and bottled. I am also using the pasteurizer as the cheese vat for the chevre so I will have some coordination of milking and equipment to figure out.
I am building on trailers so I can sell when I retire, I am already retired from a "real" job, and also no building permits required. Our county does not inspect dairies, the state does, so by building these portable it leaves the county out of the picture and it allows me an out when the time comes without having to sell our home.
I know there are a lot of nay sayers out there that say this can't be done and that I won't make any money with 20 gallons of milk a day. That's ok, they can continue to think that if they want; I just don't invite people into my garden that trample on my flowers, but I can't control what they think or say. I don't need to get rich and I don't need the goats to support a family; they only need to pay for their feed and upkeep and to let me enjoy a new chapter in my life. As far as saying it can't be done...a little late for that...I am well past the planning stages and I have no doubt that this will be done.
I will be posting pictures as we build. Here's to a new adventure in my life.
I decided that I needed my ladies to support themselves and I needed a reason to own more goats so a dairy is the making.
I live in probably the most regulated state in the USA and we are in the middle of a severe drought and I am building a Grade A dairy. Am I nuts ??? Let me hear a resounding "YES". I will be bottling fluid milk and making fresh cheese. I will add yogurt, keifer, ice cream, and feta as the time and the market allows. Hope to be getting the first inspection this summer. I will milking 20-30 goats max with the ultimate goal of 20 gallons of milk a day. I have primarily Alpine goats and a few LMs and one Togg. I have more does than I need that is for sure. Ever since I have started this planning the Lord has blessed me with doelings.I have purchased a 30' trailer and all the equipment that was a Grade A facility for pasteurizing and bottling milk. We are converting the office in the trailer to a place to make cheese and enclosing the porch on the trailer and making it a wash room for equipment.
On another trailer we are building the milking parlor and the milk house. I will be milking 4-6 goats at time and then transporting milk to the bulk tank in the milk house where it will begin chilling. At the end of milking the milk will either continue to be chilled to the required 40° and then held in the tank until being pumped to the pasteurizer or it will so straight to the pasteurizer and then chilled and bottled. I am also using the pasteurizer as the cheese vat for the chevre so I will have some coordination of milking and equipment to figure out.
I am building on trailers so I can sell when I retire, I am already retired from a "real" job, and also no building permits required. Our county does not inspect dairies, the state does, so by building these portable it leaves the county out of the picture and it allows me an out when the time comes without having to sell our home.
I know there are a lot of nay sayers out there that say this can't be done and that I won't make any money with 20 gallons of milk a day. That's ok, they can continue to think that if they want; I just don't invite people into my garden that trample on my flowers, but I can't control what they think or say. I don't need to get rich and I don't need the goats to support a family; they only need to pay for their feed and upkeep and to let me enjoy a new chapter in my life. As far as saying it can't be done...a little late for that...I am well past the planning stages and I have no doubt that this will be done.
I will be posting pictures as we build. Here's to a new adventure in my life.
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