When Dr. Lynn Palmer and her husband, Dr. Marshall Hawkins, first started raising goats on their farm near Liberty Road, they didn’t intend to milk them. They just thought it would be more practical than a lawn mower.

&uot;When we moved here 10 years ago, the pasture was not in good shape,&uot;&160;Palmer said, looking up from milking Bambi, a Nubian goat.

They soon began raising goats to eat their pastures’ overgrown vegetation.

But Palmer started milking the goats a little more than one year ago, when she noticed that one of the goats was only nursing her young from one side. To prevent mastitis, Palmer milked the other side.

She then began to milk the other goats, reasoning that &uot;these goats should be earning their living.&uot;

It takes Palmer – who also practices medicine in Vidalia, La., when she’s not with the goats – up to one and a half hours each morning and each evening to milk the goats. But it’s not an unwelcome chore. In fact, she seems to find it relaxing.

&uot;Goats are sweet, and they each have their own personality,&uot; said Palmer, whose family now owns five goats. &uot;They each act and react differently to things. I&160;enjoy them.&uot;

And it’s a good thing that she enjoys work, because she is doing more of it now than ever before.

About two months ago, she also began making cheese from her goats’ milk and is working to market it on the Internet.

It is painstaking work. Palmer collects four gallons of milk a day from her goats, filters it and stores it in a refrigerator in a kitchen Palmer devotes to cheesemaking.

When Palmer has stored eight gallons of milk, she begins the cheesemaking process.

The milk must be cooled to 45 degrees in an &uot;ice bath&uot; and kept at that temperature for at least two hours in order to be safe to use.

&uot;The federal and state regulations of the cheesemaking process are very strict, very detailed,&uot; Palmer said.

Two gallons at a time can then be pasteurized in a small pasteurizer Palmer bought from England, where small family-run dairies are the mainstay of the industry.

The pasteurizer is what Palmer calls a &uot;double vat&uot; – a vat that is heated by pumping hot water into another, larger vat around it. In it, the milk is heated at 145 degrees or higher for 30 minutes to kill any harmful bacteria.

Other steps include:

Adding a &uot;starter culture&uot; to the milk.

Adding rennet, if necessary, to firm cheeses such as feta.

Separating the curds, or solids, from the whey.

Filtering the curds through cheesecloth.

Adding color to the cheese.

Pressing the cheese into molds for 24 hours or more.

Coating the outside of the cheese with a wax rind.

Aging the cheese in a cooler for one to two months.

Palmer gets her supplies from several cheesemaking supply companies throughout the United States.

And to learn the process itself, she and Hawkins visited goat dairy farms, including one in Moselle.

&uot;It’s like chemistry, only more fun,&uot;&160;Palmer said, standing by as the pasteurizer did its work.

Goat’s milk and milk products have several advantages over cow’s milk, Palmer said. For instance, goat’s milk has an enzyme that could prevent hardening of the arteries.

It can be tolerated better by lactose-intolerant people. And it is low in fat. &uot;It doesn’t even have enough fat for you to make butter out of it,&uot; Palmer said.

Goat’s milk does have less calcium than its cow counterpart, but calcium must often be added to make the cheese firmer.

And goat’s milk is also a versatile addition to recipes.

&uot;We have some Hispanic and Lebanese friends who have some recipes we can’t wait to try,&uot;&160;Palmer said. &uot;There are a lot of possibilities.&uot;