Going away for a few days, While I still can before the goats.

Just used the last of the gardens garlic, making a huge glut of Hummus to take up to the cabin. Must plan more this year, much more.

So I need to ring the Rural Payments Agent to register for a Holding number, Before going any further with the goat plans.

I kept 2 Sannen goats for 4 years, I kidded and milked. So I'm not a total newbie. I don't have enough land here to get a large dairy breed but I'm not going to let that stop me. Lots of people in the states keep Pygmys for milking, although that doesn't seem to be the case here. I'm going to do a lot of research, speak to breeders and see if I can come up with a workible plan. Get 2 girls, then get them in kid, let the kids have all the milk for the first 8+ weeks, then start taking a little off twice a day (working hard to train the girls to getting used to being milked and maybe geting enough for the odd bowl of Alpen or 100ml for the odd batch of scones). The kids go to their new homes at 12 weeks and I would then take all the milk for butter, cheese and yogurt until its time to dry them off to repet the annual process. Great idea on paper at least.  With the freezing and storing I could have supplys for most of the year.

I'm just on my own so I don't need a huge amount but if I had it I could find uses, like Soap making!