Claire Barker in Colorado

Claire Barker lives on a homestead near the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. She has been raising dairy goats since 1986 and she has contributed 2 articles for us – Yogurt Tips (in 2015) and How to Milk a Goat (recently).

In her yogurt article, she describes her experiences with using goat milk, which is comparatively uncommon on the Web. And, if you are thinking about getting dairy goats, you will want to read her milking article because, in our opinion, it is the best one online. Claire has “dug deep” and left no stone unturned on that subject.

Where are you from and how did you end up raising goats?

My mum had an intelligent mind and “itchy feet” and so we moved about every 18 months for the majority of my childhood – and most of it was around Colorado. I was born overseas. In one of our most cherished of places – there was a Dutch couple who became good friends with my mother – who was also Dutch.

They are now in their 90’s – and still as perky as ever – but one of their stints was on a little acreage outside of Reno, Nevada where “Tante B” had a batch of turkeys, chickens, a couple of pigs, a very large and beautiful garden (which was, and still remains, her true love), a couple of Toggenburg type milking goats, and a very soft and cuddly Weimeraner named “Kelly” who thought it was awesome that I loved to bike and walk around so much with him. I was about 10, I think, and spent almost a month in this calm, nurturing environment.

I suppose it was a bit odd – but I adored Kelly and the nannies and I don’t recall being attracted to the troublesome kids or anything else much …. which is how I still am!

Tante B. showed me how to milk – even though I privately thought the smell and taste were un-appetizing. I loved to milk, and Tante B is an awesome cook – so, I didn’t mind so much swilling it down under the guise that it was “good for me.” They were sweet, scruffy girls who were very happy to do their job and patient while I learned to milk. Animals have always had a “zen effect” on me – and a nice calm working milker is super for this … One can get anywhere one ounce at a time!

First Goat

Fast forward to the eighties, when I was nursing my own children and pretty suspect of commercial milking practices – especially with our family history of allergies … I also had (and still do) a strong sense of needing to be able to feed us SOMEHOW. We’d starve on my gardening skills – though I keep trying … but critters seem to come pretty easily to me. Cows were too large and foreign to me so, I gladly took on a cull – “carrot teated” mostly Alpine with a snatch of Nubian named “Halli” from my neighbor who, like a lot of goat people, find themselves with a lot of goats! “Halli” was a character. She wasn’t super productive, and had all bucks and a hermaphrodite female in her long and healthy life of 13 or so years …

Early on in this venture – with baby brains in full gear, I was needing some creamer for my coffee (my ongoing addiction) one morning – and that is a desperate situation:)

Halli’s milk had always smelled just fine and the children drank it right up … so, I tentatively milked some into my cup that morning and became a convert myself, as well.

I became a “born again goat maniac!!!” Read everything I could get my hands on – still do – and the same neighbor and I started investing in Alpines from Rose Snow’s “Rancho Snowfall” herd in Northern New Mexico. Her stock was really amazing – she had a sharp eye for what she liked and what would improve Alpines in both the looks and the milk pail. Her herd has been taken over by Dr. James Haught out of the front range, and he has kept that dedication to form and function that Rose started.

I think goats are the unsung domestic sustainable critters of the planet!! And YES! They DO stay in good fencing if they are happy and well fed.

First French Alpine

The start of that direction was my favorite all time goat “Miss Starry Belle”who was a ‘French Alpine” and rode home watching out the front window of the VW Vanagon – with “Petey” the kid she was going to help me raise that was going to be the start of my own herd of elegant Alpines. I had MANY grandiose dreams of selling home milking goats and pack goat kids … and a hubby who was very supportive of all this capriciousness.

Raw boned, long faced, and with a wicked sense of humor – Star (the “googly eye” as we called her) and I trudged around together irrigating, playing with the children and dogs and Pete in tow … she was the quintessential family milk goat. She never replicated her silly self in spirit – but her daughters were amazing milkers – just like her … 1 and a 1/2 to 2 gallons a day of just really good tasting milk that kept for a long time, with super long lactations. She herself was not a “beautiful” specimen, but she was very sturdy in her dairy, fine boned way.

Pete, the buckling nabbed on the same trip, became CAE positive at age 3 – literally out of the blue – as I was diligently testing every year and very careful about other goats. It was a hard and horrid lesson …What do you do with a buck that lets your children ride him – but has a transmittable disease … sigh.

In hind sight – I did the wrong thing … I gave him away as a positive buck. I would butcher him today – though it would break my heart. No one else ever showed up with it – except a lovely little doe I traded out soon after that – for another. She, too, had been CAE negative for several years, and with the stress of the move to a new herd, she began showing symptoms … two months after a negative test. There is so much we do not know about dis-ease, isn’t there?

Maintaining the Herd

My learning curve on the livestock end was steep – it took me several years to actually figure out what to cull for and weigh my emotions against investments. I often would sell my best does so that people could have a good experience … In the end – I’ve figured out that for me – fewer freshenings, long lactations and occasional batches of kids from a meat buck keep my herd the size I need it to be for me – and keeps the decisions of where to go with kids to a minimum.

While one hates to put decisions in a financial perspective – it is a wise component of the enigmas surrounding our relationship to animals. I could spend money on feed/care components for less productive animals – or – I could afford to give my kids experiential opportunities. I see a LOT of pain around this point with animals and people – which is why I mention it.

Livestock and milking livestock isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, so, I try hard not to add to the numbers. I no longer chase an ‘ideal’ though I also never paid much attention to breeding purebreds – but often would pick a buck for other qualities … so – there is a smidgen of Nubian, Sable Saanen, Oberhasli, Boer and La Mancha in the mostly Alpine goat berries.

My base girls were always good and my main culling perimeters now are; 1) easy to milk by hand, 2) easy to handle, and 3) superior flavor of the milk with long lactations. People like to think that critters become lovey-dovey with loving care – which is partially true … However – I’ve found that some critters (of all types) are just more calm, forgiving and easy to be around – so, I just don’t bother with the suspicious ones any more … I like a sturdy, medium sized critter that holds her weight well, and is a good mother.

I also enjoy working a dog around livestock of all sorts – though I’m not good at it by any means. Herding dogs love to work and I get a kick out of watching the dynamics between all these critters, while pretending to “lead the band”… haha!… I hope it has made me more benevolent and humor-full of our struggles and follies as human beings! I guess I started in goats as a homesteading sort of project and can’t seem to part with or shut up about them!

What is your life like now?

My darlin’ hubby of 33+ years (Smoky) is retired from the USDA-NRCS (was the Soil Conservation Service at one time and became the Natural Resource Conservation Service). We pretty much get along and just enjoy hanging out together, not riding as much as we’d like this year, but enjoying our new “fur children”…

We have a mixed batch of chickens, some Barbados sheep, two horses in their mid twenties – one who is 36, and the “Feather darlin” who is ten. Three goat milk raised kitties, and a barn cat too. (I think I’ve raised about everything on goat milk! … foals, piglets, puppies, kittens, lambs … LOTS of lambs!, calves …)

And – of COURSE – my newest batch of young dogs … I have always got to have a dog … yep – one of THOSE people …

Our German Shepherd -“Miss Bindi”- who is smarter than any of us. She even got her own section of her breeder’s web page if anybody else is as besotted with dogs as I am… https://celsgsd.com/past-litters/bindi-mm-litter-herding/ and “Mr. Fezik” who like all Livestock Guardian types – is a benevolent, bumbling, bear of a big bundle! He’s the snuggly, buggly, wiggly sweetie pie, while Bindi is the serious worker, with insatiable curiosity, energy and desire to learn … I could write another WHOLE NOVELETTE on my pups!

… and now back to the two leggers …

Our amazing son Cori, is looking for himself at the moment. An electrical engineer morphed into a massage therapist, he’s been doing some Thai-Chi, traveling, works corporate meeting and various tourist venues, and is experimenting with a minimalist life style. He likes to cook – wish’d he’d come home and do that!

My “ever-ready bunny” daughter Kaity, is happily married to a terrific young man and works as an R.N. in both E.R. and a triage clinic at the ski area. In her spare time she, too, uses her massage therapy degree in a chiropractic office and rides her “go get’m” horse with her “go get’m” dog … Her hubby is finishing up a masters degree …

I can’t keep up with either of them – but we have a jolly good conversation to catch up whenever we feel like it, and try to get together – even for a few hours – when we can. They’re both cheery, positive and compassionate people in the world. See what goat milk creates? 🙂

Don’t know how I managed to get so lucky! We really enjoyed our children when they were home – and marvel at them now!

They never cease to amaze me with their insight, their articulate debates, and their compassionate struggles with all that goes into being a young person – and a young person in this day and age. It takes a lot of courage sometimes. So many seemingly innocuous, culturally supported ways to get into deep, deep trouble in a great big hurry! I think their navigation skills are enviable.

What dairy products have you made and what are you making now?

I love yogurt! I actually started making yogurt when I was about 14. We had moved to New Mexico – and it was hard to find. My sister brought some from their cooperative in Northern California and showed me how to make it by heating the commercial regular milk, adding some of their yogurt, stirring it up and putting it in a box wrapped in a sleeping bag …

I’ve tried NE Cheese Making Supplies’ creme fraiche, buttermilk, chevre, sour cream and kefir starters – all with good luck. (cheesemaking.com).

I do find kefir a bit tedious – so I stopped … I’ve almost always got yogurt on hand. I freeze whey and put it in soups or around some struggling tree, or to the critters. At one time – I tried to glean the “ricotta” out of it – but it wasn’t enough to really bother. I’ve done a “quick” mozzarella recipe (on their website) a few times when the children were around – I think the directions are also in Ricki’s original book (Home Cheese Making).

For a while – I did soap like a mad-woman … had a lot of fun – but that was a cooperative effort with some friends who moved – and the spirit hasn’t moved me since … story of my life!

Haven’t ever tried the more complicated cheese recipes … I get a lot of fun out of reading your website on the more dedicated people out there though! I would like to do cheeses, etc. more – if I didn’t have the problem of eating it all in a mad gobble!

Do you have any advice for beginner cheese makers?

Ok – I don’t know if this is “advice” or not. I have always lucked out in that I have had oodles of milk – and if it was “not successful” the chickens or dogs got it and we just went on. The economics never gave me much pause … but I’m sure it is kind of scary to be piddling around with really expensive good milk … So – go forth and be brave – as soft cheeses, in particular, are really easy peasy.

Start off with the soft cheeses. They really are a no brainer … chevre, creme fraiche, feta, even that “quark” on your website. I am not an enthusiastic cook – and I can make a bang up job of any of those that is gone in a hot second when I bring it in. Love any of them with “Herbs de Provence“… but salt and pepper, or any other combination is good, too … Great in lasagna or other casseroles – depending on how you spice it.

You can go in a “dessert” or a cheese direction – depending on any extra flavoring or additions you make.

You won’t need any real “equipment”… just a “whey” to hang it – and that can be a clean pillow case if you’re really desperate! In particular – it is helpful to remember – especially if you are milking your own milk – that you are dealing with a fresh product and you are exposed to whatever is in there anyway… It will let you know if it needs to go to the plants, pigs or chickens! Don’t get freaked out about potential dangers that are rarely there.

You can use the whey for soups (great for bone broth!), some people drink it – or acid loving plants (if it hasn’t been salted!), and I actually have some goats who will drink it as well … pigs, chickens …

You will probably gain a newfound appreciation for the cost of cheese – as a gallon of my milk yields approximately a pint (to a bit more) of soft cheese – depending on how long I let it hang – or if I decide to press it, or drain it in a mold.

With soft cheeses, there isn’t a whole lot of having to watch and worry and tweak things – though you are welcome to do that if that is your thing.

Like any other skill – you’ll know if you are ready or wanting to challenge yourself to do the more complex recipes … If I was into it at that stage – I’d go take a class or two at least … I learn well by doing with a person who knows what they’re doing. Inspiration on my part – is usually more impulsiveness – so, taking a class can bring a reality check to the experience.

Some people are smart enough to read a recipe and actually follow it … or they like the chemistry of the moisture, temperature, cultures, and care for the cheeses … Thank goodness the world is full of these sorts – or the burger and pizza industry would fold up and die!

There are so many ways to “recipe” with milk … I can highly recommend Mary Jane Toth’s book “Goat’s Produce Too” which covers just about everything you can do with goat milk and meat in a home based kitchen. I would be a schmuck if I forgot to mention this little gem as well as all the help – and books available on NECMS (cheesemaking.com).