Milking Time

I have had the new group of goats here for a couple of weeks now and every day things get a little easier with them.  Goats are very skittish by nature.  They think I want to eat them.  It's taken a year for my first two does to feel at ease with me.  My two black does are learning slowly but surely that I'm not a threat.  I'm finding you can't rush things with them, slow and steady will win this race.  

Milking time takes about 20 minutes for me.  I know it can be done more quickly, but it's not a wham bam thank you ma'am activity.  Erudite, my milk doe, now walks nicely on a leash to the milk stand, this used to be more of a tug of war.  She dives into her grain instead of calling out to her herd mates.  Even her herd mates now ignore our twice daily excursion.  I brush her before I milk and talk softly, this calms her and teaches her that I won't eat her.  Erudite now stands calmly munching her grain as I milk her.  The 2 pounds of daily grain are putting weight back onto her slight frame, having nursed twins before she came to live at Big Buck Ranch.  This is a peaceful time for me, a time when I can focus solely on the bond between my goats and myself.