Surprise...Milk!

I am a goat 'newbie'.  Several months ago, out of the blue, my husband called and asked if I wanted some goats.  I thought to myself, "Yes, next spring...", but strangely I found myself asking 'why?'.  He said he had a patient who bought these three goats and now didn't want them.  There mother was supposedly a great milker.  They were a great price so I (surprisingly) said sure.  We had our 3 Nubian-Alpine girls (Jewels, Heather and Elizabeth) delivered to our home in May.  The gentleman told me their mother and grandmother "always" had triplets.  He said our girls were, in fact, a group of triplets.  I have to admit, I was excited. 

We took the water hose and gave them a good bath the first day.  The light brown color I thought they were changed to the purest white I have ever seen.   They were lovely in every way you can imagine.   All my fears about their temperament were quickly set aside.  We discovered they had the sweetest personalities. They were loving and social.   They seem like they were made to come and live with us.  It has been a fun summer watching them grow and play together.

A couple of weeks ago I had our youngest girl, our future veterinarian, take the ladies out of the field to get them use to being walked.  I was starting to think about the spring, when we would be having babies and start milking the goats.  I knew the goats would need to be able to walk on a leash to be milked everyday.  Our daughter noticed Jewels udder was getting bigger.  I looked at her, pushed on the teat and out squirts milk.  I was shocked.

I did some research and found out that Jewels is a "precocious" milker.  Even though she has never had a kid, she is in milk.  This is a great opportunity for me to practice milking and to see if I even want milk goats before we breed our girls.  We milked for the first time this morning.  I had about 1 cup of milk once we finished straining it.  And yes, it tastes just like 'real' milk!