Redwood Hill Goat Farm: The Land Of Happy Goats!

A tour of the Certified Humane® farm where the dairy goats that produce the milk for great cheese, yogurt and kefir live.

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hi my name is Scott dice and I'm the
farm manager here at redwood Hill Farm
the first certified humane goat dairy in
the United States all of our dairy goats
called doze are milked twice a day in
the morning we start at six a.m. and in
the evening we started 5 30 the goat
enjoy bean milk and come running into
the ocean trailer
we pride ourselves on having very high
milk-producing dairy goats and a lot of
them are carrying two to four quarts of
delicious milk at milking time
once the votes are in the holding pen we
let in tendo's at a time to jump up onto
the stanchion put their heads through
and start eating the dairy grain mixture
from there the first thing we do is dip
each teeth with a teat sanitizer
then we take a squirt or strip of each
goat's milk to prime the orifice and to
look for any irregularities in the north
then we wipe each team dry with a
separate clean paper towel for each coat
we have the milking system which
simulates a person hand milking them so
the system milks one side than the other
alternating the soft rubber inflation's
that attach to the teeth gently squeezes
and releases similar to how a baby goat
with suckle we make it as natural as
possible for them
the milk from the goat goes into the
pipeline and continues on into our bulk
milk tanks to chill the milk the milk
comes out of the go at their body
temperature of a hundred 3 204 degrees
Fahrenheit and within five to seven
minutes
the milk is chilled to under 40 degrees
to ensure good tasting high quality milk
every few days we come with our milk
trailer to pick up the milk the milk is
loaded onto the milk trailer and then
brought to our creamery which is just a
few miles away the day the milk is
delivered it begins its transformation
into delicious yogurt kefir or artisan
cheese
after a few minutes in the milking
parlor the goats go back to the open air
Barnes where a feeder has been putting
out fresh hay and also clean bedding for
them
then they go about their daily business
of playing eating illuminating and
making milk
we have four of the major dairy goat
breeds my personal favorite is the all
white Sun and breed which has upright
years and an easygoing personality they
originated in the southern regions of
Switzerland saunas are known as the
holsteins of the dairy goat world as
they are often among the top milk
producers and also tend to be the
biggest of the dairy goats
the French Alpine breed which like the
saunas have up right here's come in a
variety of colors
alpines are also excellent milk
producers and are a very hardy breed
often milking well over the age of 10
then we have the beautiful Nubian with
their long pendulums floppy ears and
convex noses
the Nubian breed originated in asia and
africa and as a breed they tend to have
a very high butter fat in their milk
which is very important for cheese
making our fourth breed is the launch of
dairy goat known for their tiny ears
launches can hear just fine
they just don't have the external hard
allege like the other breeds the La
Mancha comes from Spanish descent but is
the one dairy goat brie that actually
was developed in the United States here
in California we had raised all of our
kids on goat milk yogurt and milk from
their mothers by bottle bucket feeders
we do this so that we can monitor the
kids and ensure optimum health of all of
our prized kids as well as making it an
easy transition for those who will be
going to new homes many of the young
buck and doe kids will be sold to show
hers throughout the country ham raising
the kids also helps in disease
prevention critical to ensure long happy
and productive life for the goats dairy
goats are often productive into their
later years and we have many goats that
are over 10 years old that are still
milking we do have a retirement program
for those older goats and when they go
down in their production
we'll just let them live out their days
hanging out in the bar
especially after all the years of
service we make sure to give them that
redwood Hill Farm has a commitment to
sustainability and we are proud that the
entire milking parlor and barn operation
is now solar-powered we compost our goat
manure and bedding and use it in our
organic fruit orchard and vegetable
gardens
we are growing more of the feed for our
goats now as well
our organic food orchard contains every
fruit that can be grown in this
wonderful Mediterranean climates
this includes tuscan varieties of Olives
which we press for delicious oil and
hope to incorporate into our cheese
eventually
although our family farm is evolving and
diversifying a few things will never
change
like our commitment of providing the
utmost care for the animals that call
redwood Hill Farm