Saturday, May 7, 2011

Local Spotlight: Silver Moon Farm


Meet Gen! She's a fantastic alpine doe from Silver Moon Farm, a local goat dairy where I currently have a goat share. The really interesting thing about Gen is that she only has one fully functional udder. She unfortunately had mastitis as a dry yearling and as a result she has a large clump of scar tissue and a malformed left udder. No problem there, though. She is a very heavy milker, with great milk fat for cheese, and I can't wait to learn to milk her myself!

Renea over at Silver Moon has been very patient with me as I learn a bit about goats. With a goat share, I basically "own" Gen for a day and if I want, I can go out and pet and scratch her or bring her treats, I can watch her bully her way through the farmyard or I can learn to milk and handle her myself. As a bonus, I can ask Renea to milk her for me and thus I receive fresh goat's milk from my goat! Goat shares are very sticky business in some states, but Michigan has been nice to us so far. To be honest, I've been pasteurizing my milk anyway because I use it for cheese.

Anyway, Silver Moon Farm is a wonderful small dairy and as far as I know they still have a couple of shares open! Are you local-ish to Pinckney? Check out Renea's web site!

3 comments:

  1. Why not use it raw for cheese?

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  2. @Laura So far I have only used it for softer cheeses which, from what I've been told, should be pasteurized in the cheese making process because of the way they're processed at bacteria-friendly temperatures. I'm not sure if this is correct but I do know it means the softer cheeses keep for longer in the fridge :)

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  3. Aghgh!!! I am so jealous and wish we had something like this near me!

    How utterly (no pun intended, I swear!) wonderful that you can do this - it sounds like a really great deal for you, for the goat, for the farm...

    I hope you'll post more about Gen and about making cheese! I can't wait for you to learn to milk her too!!!

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