On the update, today I got:
6am milking – 350 ml
11:30am milking – 145 ml
5pm milking – 160 ml
That was not quite enough for the 3 baby goats, so we had to supplement with some 100-200 ml of cow’s milk. I tasted the goat’s milk, it was horrible. It had a really strong fruity taste to it. But that is to be expected I guess, it’s still colostrum likely. It also was a snowstorm so I did not put a baby with the mother goat.
I looked up milk production rates. The best graph I could find was this, showing that milk production is at a peak 2-3 weeks postpartum. So I will continue milking until then to see what the max yield is. I still stand by my bad genetics hypothesis.
I also worked on year-end taxes and accounting today which was boring as usual.
The fast electric fence I also tested, worked ok after I modified the bottom dock to have larger holes – 10 mm holes for 8 mm posts make it easier to slide in. Someday I’ll have a video of this fence which will explain better how to use it. I had a tangle but I think it just needs a few more wire guides. I also made a new design for the handle so that it’s easy to adjust the belt tension with a turn screw. This I don’t think is strictly necessary, I like to leave the tension always high, but it’s a matter of preference and good to give the user an option.
Sun Aquasystems 