Dairy Goat: How to make Goat Cheese & Goat Soap

 

This Dairy Goat Produce section includes recipes and methods of making home made goat cheeses and soaps.

 

Most goatkeepers operate on a domestic scale, using their kitchens as a dairy.

It is only the larger, more specialized enterprise which has a separate diary. Where milk or milk products are to be sold, then it is advisable to have such a facility.

Whatever the scale of operations, absolute cleanliness and sterilization of equipment are essential.

 

Goat milk is delicious and healthier. Dairy goat milk is more beneficial to health unlike the cow milk as it helps in metabolic as well as digestive utilization of the minerals.
 

Goat milk can prevent bone demineralization as well as anaemia. There will not be clustering of fat globules in goat milk, as there is no agglutinin in it.
 

Goat milk contains linoleic acids, arachnodonic acids, and l fatty acids that are essential. Goat milk contains different proteins, which are easily digestible.
 

Dairy goat milk has higher content of calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12 potassium, niacin, copper, antioxidant selenium, folic acid than the cows’ milk. More over there will not be any allergy if one consumes goat milk.
 

 Now that people are coming in terms with the benefits of the goat milk, more and more people are turning towards goat milk. Hence, the demand for the goat milk has increased rapidly over the years. This is the main reason for the rise in potential of goat diary farms.

These farms raise special breed of goats called diary goats, which is for milk production. Saanens, Alpines, Toggenburgs, Nubians, Oberhaslis, LaManchas etc are some of the diary goats. In many countries, dairy goats are leading producers of milk, as they can adapt well to limited space and do not need specialised feed in big quantity like the cattle.
 

Another good thing about diary goats is that they live comfortably in the mountainous areas thriving on grass as well as browsing.
 

Saanen is the largest diary goat breed with Swiss origin. When fed with high quality feeds, they tend to produce huge volumes of milk. They can produce amazingly 10 litres a day over a long lactation period, with three litres as minimum. Moreover, world record in the milk production category is in the name of Sanen, 3028 kilograms of milk in stunning 305 days.
 

Alpines has its origin in the alpine ranges of Switzerland and France. Does’ can produce more or less three litres of milk a day during a lactation period of ten months. They adapt well to various climatic conditions easily. Toggenburg is the purest as well as the oldest Swiss diary breed.
 

Does’ have a long lactation period with average output of more than 3 litres of milk a day. During peak period of lactation, they will produce up to six litres of milk. Nubian is a cross breed between English, Swiss type of does’ with bucks from Ethiopia, India, Egypt etc.
 

Nubian is not just for milk, but also for meat. Does’ can produce 2.5litres a day over the ten-month lactation period. Their meat has demand due to meatier carcass of theirs.
 

Oberhasli is a medium sized diary goat with Swiss origin. LaManchas have Spanish origin. Its medium sized animal produces comparatively lesser amount of milk to the above breeds.
 

Not just the goat milk is making waves in the market but the products based on it, like goat milk soap, goat milk cheese etc are in good demand. Goat milk soap contains more protein, minerals, lactic acid, moisture, nutrition etc that it helps in softening of skin, removal of dead cells etc. More over it is more natural and one can make it at home.

Making Goat Milk Soap

Goats’ milk is rich with nutrients like proteins, vitamin A, B12, B6, E, beta casein, and minerals. Skin absorbs beta caseins easily and helps in rapid hydration of the dry skins. Goats’ milk helps in moisturizing and soothing the skin as it is natural emollient.
 

 

 It can make soap creamy, moisturizing, as well as lovely. More over goats’ milk will lower the Ph value of soaps, so that it becomes skin friendly. Goats’ milk soaps are effective for acne treatment as well as other problems of skins.

With these qualities, goat milk soaps have positives for regular use. One can easily make goat milk soap at home.
 

For soap making goats’ milk soaps, milk is used as either liquid milk or powdered milk. It is easier to buy powdered goat milk from food stores.
 

Use either pure milk or equal quantity of water and milk. There is hot process and cold process for making soap with liquid milk.
 

• Two ounces of glycerine,
• three cups of goats milk,
• two teaspoon of borax,
• six and half ounces of lye,
• one and half pounds of fat etc
 

makes a simple recipe for goats milk soap.
 

Like this, various recipes are there for making goat soaps. One recipe is below
 

Melt and pour method is widely used for making goat milk soaps. You can buy both bases of pour soap as well as goats milk melt. Decide the recipe for the soap. Decide the type of molds for using.
 

Decide the shape of the soap that you want to make. Once you stock the goats melt milk as well as base for pour soap, you can look for colours and fragrances for the soap.
 

It is important that you follow the recipe for goat soap making.
 

Using Vaseline, grease the molds properly so that soap does not stick after it sets.
 

Melt the fat and cool it up to temperature range of eighty-five and ninety-degree Celsius.
 

Pour lye into the paper cup, and then add goat milk.
 

Slowly keep adding the lye. Mix the solution with hand mixer. Chemical reaction will change the colour of milk to golden one, and the mixture becomes hot.
 

So let the mixture to cool up to eighty-five degrees.
 

To this mixture add glycerine, oatmeal, borax and mix well with the hand mixture for at least fifteen minutes.
 

Then keep it to rest and then mix at regular intervals of five minutes.
 

Until noticeable changes takes place in consistency keep continuing the above process.
 

Pour the mixture of soap into the molds and allow it to set. Cover the top part of the molds with cheesecloth.
 

For 24 hours, keep this soap at room temperature, which must be constant. Remove the cloth off the top of molds and then take the soaps out of it.
 

If the molds used is larger one, cut the soap into equal sized bars. It is better to cure the soap by the air-drying method for a period of four to six weeks before using.
 

 

Goat Soap Recipe:

¾ of a pound of grated soap (homemade or store bought) soften over low heat.
 

Gradually add in 9 oz of goat milk. When soap is completely melted, add 2 tsp. powdered benzoin and several drops of fragrance (optional).
 

Pour into mold and allow to dry completely.