Got Milk?

My #2 reason for owning a goat is for the excellent milk production. (My #1 reason, of course, is to enjoy the goat adventure!)  Goats produce more milk for their body weight than cows (from what I have read).  The entrepreneur in me understands that that is a better return on my investment.  I have "milky" dreams of drinking cool glasses of yummy milk and even trying to make soft cheeses.  

The ironic aspect of raising a "bottle-baby," is that I first have to put milk "in" to one day make milk come "out!"  Edna doesn't seem to be gaining as much weight as I would like her too (she is maybe a pound or two under weight).  So, I have started adding a little bit more fat to her diet.  There is a common bottle-feeding recipe circulating using whole milk, buttermilk, and evaporated milk.  I poured out about 1/3 of the whole gallon, then added the can of evaporated milk and a cup of buttermilk.  I refilled the gallon with the milk I had poured out, shook it up, heated it up, and fed it to the goat!  Hopefully, it will help her gain weight at a steady pace now!

 Poor Edna!  She had to wait to be fed until I took this picture for the blog!

 Got Milk?  Yum! Yum!

The other excitement of the day consisted of getting a new collar!  Edna now has a sporty pink collar which is a lot stronger than her previous ribbon around her neck.  She is getting quite zippy when I open the gate and sometimes needs to be puuuuullllled back into safety!

 Edna happened to be munching on a flower in this picture!

The permanent shelter in the goat pen isn't up yet, so she is still sleeping in a dog crate filled with hay on the front porch!  I still have a heat lamp on her, not because it gets that cold at night, but because I like the warm, comforting glow as a night light shining in the window!

Edna is ready for bed!