Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Spring Cleaning the Goat Milk Room








It is amazing how much work I can now do while each doe is on the milk stand during the morning feeding.

The evening milkings go very fast. When milking a dairy animal it is imperative that you milk on a regular schedule, or else the good old hormones silently step forward and say, "Hey, time to dry that udder up!" As long as the animal is milked on a regular basis, it does not matter if the spacing is 8 hours, or 12 hours apart. I milk twice a day and generally it falls within a 1/2 hour of 9:30 AM and 4:30 PM. The girls milk out more in the AM, less in the PM. But is a regular, steady pattern.

Back to the topic...my milk/feed room is a mess. It demands a good spring cleaning. A few days ago I gathered the used syringes and began the antibacterial soaking of them, the hot water treatment, the (mild) bleach water treatment, and the final drying and putting the syringes back together. This ends up being a crazy job. 3CC's, 6CC's, different manufacturers. But in the end I have wonderful sterile baggies of like-new syringes, all sorted, and ready to use again.



Today, while the girls were on the milk stand I began reorganizing the shelves of one of my supply cabinets. The top shelf is mainly needles, syringes, banding and ear tagging supplies. No, I do not use this many needles. Years ago I thought I had to have a needle size for everything. I had 1/2", 3/4", 1"...and then diameter sizes 22, 20, 19. Oh boy. I pretty much stick with one size now, except for the tiny 1/2" needles for the kids. It feels good to have 2 shelves back in shape. The 2nd shelf is common meds (non-refrigerated, non-biological type), notes, calendars, wormers. Tommorrow perhaps I will get into shelves 3 and 4. And I barely use any of this stuff anymore. I am more into the natural care of the animals. When they need treatment, they get it, but I think both animals and people are very much over-medicated in this day and age.



The rest of the room. If you could just see it, and you won't, yikes!! I am starting at one end and spring cleaning until acceptable. Kidding season does this to me, I begin the season totally organized. Everything in order, you name it. After kidding season, when the kids are weaned from bottles, etc..., I began to feel the lessening of time constraints and I begin to work towards reorganizing. And believe me, it needs it!

Off topic...today was a zoo. We woke up to no water. The well pump went out during a late night thunderstorm. And boy did we have the storms last night! More than once I put my hands on my phone and looked at the weather warnings in the dark. We lost electricity for a couple of hours again. I am hoping for a calm night tonight. And tomorrow, no water troubles. I fed rather late tonight, and I am praying that the girl's milking schedules do not suffer from the lateness!!

Wish me luck...I am heading back to the soap shop tomorrow. I hope to post pictures in a few days of a LOT more progress! Today was a tiny set back. We were plumbers, not soapers!


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It sure can build up fast while raising any critter, LOL! I kind of miss milking in a way but not really in a way too though since it seems like we're always on the go as of lately though especially this month is hectic (June that is).

KathyB. said...

Wow! I miss reading a post or two and you've got your spring cleaning almost done, and things look pretty spiffy too.

I like your soap room.

I sure do know how things pile up, and for me it is cleaning things up and clearing out time too.

Twisted Fencepost said...

I've got some spring cleaning to do myself. And a lot of it. My whole house to be exact.
I was having some plumbing problems yesterday, so I can relate to not getting things done.
Good luck!!!!

Unknown said...

I hope your well is back in working order.
I think everybody is over medicated too.
Some vets want to sell you gobs of meds for everything. We keep antiboitic on hand but only use it if there is a problem.
I'm afraid someday they arn't going to work for people or animals.

Mary said...

Hello!

Yes, it is good to have water and pressure again.

I agree, always seem to need a new med when meds out there no longer work. Talked with a nurse last week that said this is a regular topic at the hospital!