The milking of the goats, the most clever animals of the Cretan mountains has been done in the same way for centuries.
One of the oldest professions in Crete is that of the shepherd, animal husbandry remains till today one of the main sources of wealth of the island. However, despite the advancement of technology, the methods used by local shepherds remain the traditional ones they know and trust and let this mean a great waste of time. So not many people trust modern milking machines, so they milk their large -usually- flocks by hand.
How is this done? The goat is inserted between the legs of the breeder who immobilizes it with his knees for as long as he is milking it, leaning on it. But because the process is time consuming, as we said, and their waists are suffering, they have found a way not to burden it. Wide fabric belts attached to a high point form a loop on which they support their chest, leaving all the weight of their body on them. This way, the work is done as relaxed as possible.
All this happens in the summer in the mountainous mitata (stone rooms), where it is still relatively cool, on the slopes and plateaus of the Leyka Ori and Psiloritis, but also in the Lasithi plateau.
