Go Goats!

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Where does milk come from? Well some kids say the store and other kids say from cows. But we found out somewhere else. It can come from goats!

 

We went to some visit some goats at farms on the San Mateo coast to learn more about it.

 

 

First, we went down to visit Sean from Vida Verde who knows a lot about goats including how to milk them.

 

He showed us how to milk a goat named Yin Yang. What you do is have Yin Yang come into the milking shed and stand in a wooden thing that has food on one side so that she can eat hay while she gets milked.

 

 

 To milk her, you sit on a stool behind her and talk to her quietly while you kind of squeeze and pull on her teat. This the part of her body attached to the udder where the milk is. The teat is where milk comes out.

 

We all milked her except for a couple kids who just watched. Sean that watching is a good way to learn too especially if you feel nervous. You can try again next time.

 

We got to drink the fresh goat milk. It was warm and sweet and different from regular milk. You can drink goat milk or make it into yogurt or cheese or even ice cream. It is very healthy with protein, vitamins and minerals. Also, some people who cannot drink milk from cows can drink milk from goats.

 

 

We also went to another farm called Harley Farms where they make goat cheese that people can buy. We walked around the fields and met the goats. Then we went into their milking barn where the farmers use special machines to get the milk out.

 

 

Then we learned how to make fresh goat cheese into shapes and decorate with flowers that are safe to eat. It was really fun!

 

 

We hope that you will go visit some goats and learn about all this for yourself.

Go Goats!