pictured: the sheep making their way to the barn in the morning - for milking and feeding
Done in a dim room swarming with flies (sounds really gross – it is), milking the sheep, goats, and cows takes about 2 hours. It’s the main business (they make and
sell butter and cheese in addition to fresh milks) so there’s even a special milking house -equipped with a long “treat trough” (my own term) filled with corn pellets and a seemingly medieval-inspired head-lock (like what they used to lock criminals heads and arms in to publicly embarrass at the town square) to keep the animals facing forward. it’s a very simplistic, yet efficient set up.
pictured: the cows at their designated milk stations
The animals know the routine (because they know what’s in the treat trough). Immediately they line up at the door – which when opened, creates a stampede of jumping, pushing, greedy animals (obviously stupid, since they will all eventually be fed and milked…funny enough, it’s just like some humans also possess the same pointless “rush” instinct – ie airplane boarding.)
pictured: where the magic happens - milk station // sheep awaiting their breast pump fitting
The actual milking is done primarily with pumps (just like a breast pump…I think), but you have to massage the utters and pull on the very long nipples to help stimulate milk flow. Sometimes there’s a special sheep/goat that must be milked by hand – so both alex and I have had that opportunity. It’s pretty fun, I guess, and we even thought we were pretty good at it – after all, milk was coming out in a nice stream. But when one of the apprentices (think big minnesota farmer girl/woman) took over, she showed us what was what – cause when she squeezed, that milk was pouring out – splashing even.
By the way, it;s amazing how warm (hot even) those sacks of milk are.
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