Surprisingly, the weather forecasters were wrong today, the sun was breaking through the clouds and the air seemed to carry thoughts of spring with a faint aroma of young blossoms in it.  It was just the right morning to go and pick up their new family member, Mariah!

Mariah was the name of a dairy goat.  She was not just any goat, but a goat with excellent milk.  As well, this lovely goat resided just down the hill at Pickleberry Farms, which made picking her up that much easier and saved gas.

As Charlie had been having some issues digesting cows’ milk, Mrs. Tucker needed to find another option, and the best one she could find was goats’ milk, as it was easier to digest.

“Come on, Charlie, I think we can pick Mariah up today, and your dad has built her a big shelter so she will be out of the rain and cold,” Mrs. Tucker said while walking outside to her car with Charlie not far behind her.

When they arrived at the farm, Mr. Pickleberry was out milking Mariah, and what a sight it was.

“Mom, is that Mariah?” Charlie asked, looking through his two small hands that were plastered to the car’s window.

“Yes, that is Mariah, but she does seem bigger than I remember,” Mrs. Tucker said with an ounce of concern.

“Wow, she’s huge, mom. Maybe I could ride her like a horse,” he said with glee.

“No, no, you mustn’t ride Mariah as she is not that strong, and the way you keep growing, nope,” she replied while turning the car’s engine off.

Feeling a little disappointed, Charlie then asked, “Well, could I help milk her and brush her?”

“Oh yes, Charlie, your dad and I would love you to help, and you could even feed her sweet feed and hay,” Mrs. Tucker responded encouragingly.

“Really, I could do all of that? That’s so, so amazing,” he replied, while hurrying to undo his seat belt now that they were parked.

“Hello, Mr. Pickleberry, thank you for having us to your farm today,” Mrs. Tucker greeted him while walking up to him with Charlie by her side.

Mr. Pickleberry paused, and then looked up at Mrs. Tucker, “No problem, my dear. You two better get on down here and watch how I milk Ms. Mariah.”

Once they were kneeling down to inspect the milking of Mariah, he continued, “You’d always better have a good amount of grain in the feeder waiting for Mariah, or she isn’t going to want to get up on the milk stand and put her head through the slats of wood.  Never make the wood stanchion to tight, but not loose enough for her to slip her head out.  She’s used to the routine,” he said, while brushing her side with his hand.

“Now a very important thing to do is to wash down the udder and teats with the sterilized cloth and warm water.  Now make sure you have warm water on the cloth as it will help to relax Mariah, and she will then let her milk down. Place your clean bucket under her and slightly ahead of the udders.  Now, here’s the hard part–see how my thumb and forefinger are wrapped around the base of the teat, just tight enough to trap the milk in the teat, you must always keep your grip tight on the base of the teat or else the milk will go up possibly into the udder and could cause Mariah an infection, and we don’t want that.  So squeeze with your middle finger, ring finger and then your little pinky in a smooth rhythm.”

“Ah, I see how you are doing it,” Mrs. Tucker said.

“Now, don’t let your first squeeze of milk go into your bucket, but squeeze the milk outside of it, because you don’t need any dirt or bacteria in your milk, got it? he said.

“Got it,” Charlie and Mrs. Tucker said in unison.

“Oh, and don’t pull on the teat as this could really hurt her, just squeeze and then relax your grip on the base of the teat and repeat, till there isn’t much milk left.  Finally, clean the udder and teats again with some disinfectant solution like Hibitane to ward off bacteria,” he said, now standing up and moving the milk bucket out from under Mariah.

“All right, I think we can do that,” Mrs. Tucker said, while watching Mr. Pickleberry as he removed Mariah from the milk stand.

“Here, you go,” he gave Charlie’s mom the lead while motioning her to take Mariah.

“Can I sit with Mariah in the backseat, mom?” Charlie asked excitedly.

“Sure, if you would like, just put the blanket down for her so she doesn’t get her hooves all over the seats,” she replied.

“Thank you, Mr. Pickleberry,” Mrs. Tucker said as Charlie patted Mariah, smiling all the while.

And so it was, Charlie and Mariah shared the backseat on the way home, and at times, Charlie became a seat for Mariah when the road became too curved. All you could hear then was laughter.

You can also check out, how to milk a goat and how to Pasteurize milk.

© 2011 Crystal Buchan