Torah Observant Agriculture

Being awash in goat's milk has been a real blessing while I'm bottle feeding calves.  Years ago, I established a plan to not have to milk on Shabbat, and it worked, until I started raising bottle calves.  I don't think it's sinful to be the middle man Shabbat morning in getting it from the goat to the bottle to the hungry calf, but, the calves are now weaning age, and although I'm a big softy when it comes to the evening bottle, the morning Shabbat bottle is no longer a necessity, therefore it needs to stop.  The deal is, I can't just stop a single morning bottle or one morning milking, this has to be consistent.

For years I was blessed to just separate mamas from babies six days a week, have them together evenings and nights, and mamas and babies celebrate Sabbath together, but this year I bought four milkers without their babies.  Let me tell you about breaking in milkers.  When purchasing goats in milk that have never been milked, it means the babies keep them drained 24/7.   I couldn't let them go an entire 24 hours without them becoming engorged, which would have resulted in my being kicked in the head, rather than their training.  So, we went with two milkings a day, and the progress was truly blessed beyond anything I would have asked or dared imagined.  By the fourth milking, they had it down pat!  Literally in three sessions, they got it and demonstrated their cooperation immediately and consistently.

Now that it's time to wean the calves, I have faced a Torah reality.  If I don't cook and I use the grain or lettuce or milk or whatever that day for food, that's what Messiah did.  The fact that I do not like warm milk and will not willingly choose to drink warm milk means I have to adjust the milking schedule back to once a day.  I've already moved morning milking and bottles back a couple of hours and I'm not draining the girls in the morning milking and the calves don't even look for their "morning bottle" til nearly noon.  I know it will be a smooth transition, because YHWH has blessed this so abundantly, and the gradual transition leaves none of the goats in discomfort.  This is, I believe, the final transition week.

What a blessing it is, to see so many Torah Observant homesteads popping up.  Nine years ago, I was clueless and didn't know who to ask.  Now, by the grace of Elohim, some trials and errors, I can even be a resource for others.  In some areas I can be great encouragement, even offer some useful advice, and in others I can certainly offer a horrible warning!

  And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household . . . a Proverb of Holy Scripture