Quarterly Herd Update: Fall 2024
Our milking season is slowly winding down and we have officially gone down to milking only once per day rather than our regular morning and afternoon milking schedule. During this once-daily-milking season, we are able to have more flexibility in the time of day at which we milk. Because of this, we have moved the daily milking time to 1:30 PM, which means it takes place on our afternoon tours through the fall! We have opened up a new tour in order to share this with our guests - it is called the “Fall Special” and it includes a viewing of our milking during which people get to see our milkers in action! Make sure you join a tour before the season is over - you can view our availability and reserve your tour on our website.
The shift to once-per-day milking is in preparation for the dry season, when the does are on their “maternity leave” and are not milked over the winter. The dry milking season ironically takes place during the wet winter season, which is great for the team as we do not relish the task of coaxing the normally eager-to-be-milked does up to the milking stand in the middle of a rain storm. They absolutely abhor getting wet and will charge down to their barns for shelter from even the most mild rainfall - we often joke that they believe they may melt in the rain!
We are planning on transitioning to the non-milking season in mid-December, at which point the does will spend the rest of winter relaxing and staying warm and dry in their barns over the rainy months. This season also gives our milking team a chance to take a break and reset in preparation for our busy kidding season, when the herd will begin birthing the plethora of babies we expect on the ranch in 2025!
This year we bred all 46 of our milking does and an additional 21 of this year’s “keeper doelings”, who will join their moms and sisters on the milking line next year. In order to prepare these ladies for their upcoming addition to the milking herd, we will begin the process of training them to get on and off the milking stand. Training the doelings consists of walking up onto the stand with them and patiently showing them where they can find their grain. Watch a short video here of what the 1st day of training looked like for Kimchi’s daughter, Piccalilli.
We usually spend a little bit of time petting and talking to them while they are up there so as to make this a pleasant and stress-free experience, which makes our jobs much easier come milking season when these girls will be milked for the first time!
Speaking of our keeper doelings, we have finally decided upon the names for the daughters of our sponsored does! Thank you to everyone who submitted ideas for their names - we love all the creative additions and are grateful for all the support you have offered our herd through the sponsorship program! Read on to view the names that we landed on for these sweet little ladies…
Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed this update! As always thank you for your support. We could not do this without you!
Michelle & Jack