I've never had a pygmy goat, but I know quite a few people who have. The consensus seems to be that milking pygmies is a waste of time. Because of the tiny teats it takes much longer to get a cup of milk out of a pygmy than it takes to get a quart out of a standard dairy goat. The same is true of meat goats - 15 minutes to milk a Boer or Spanish goat, 5 minutes for a Nubian, Alpine, or Toggenberg. However, some people do milk pygmies and there's a link below with further information. I'd think it would be best to purchase stock from someone who'd been milking successfully, since their suitability for milking may be highly variable. Straining milk is standard procedure, even if you're feeding it to baby goats. You'd either want to have a stripping cup, which is a stainless steel cup with a built-in super-fine mesh screen, or a supply of milk filters, or both. When you're milking by hand, a hair or a bit of grass will invariably fall into the milk if you're not milking directly into a stripping cup. The Caprine Supply catalog (free) is a good resource for beginners. It has lots of informative articles to give you some idea of what you're getting into. You can request one here or call their toll-free number. http://www.caprinesupply.com/shop/ Here is a link that might be useful: Pygmy Goat Milk

You'd need a license to run a Grade A or Grade B dairy, and each state is different, so you'd start here: Dairy Services Dept. of Ag. & Consumer Serv. Box 1163 Richmond, VA 23218 (804) 786-8899 Div. of Food & Envm. Serv. State Health Dept. 1500 E. Main St. Station Suite 115 Richmond, VA 23218 (804) 225-4003 Generally speaking, you can't get a license until after your plans for facilities and equipment are approved and until after the completed facilities are inspected. Not being able to judge the quality of your product, packaging, etc... a retailer is unlikely to give you a commitment. Therefore, selling milk in bulk for further processing through a coop is an easier way to get started than to try establishing your own brand name with no experience in dairying whatsoever. The organization that could help with marketing questions and dairy goats in general would be the American Dairy Goat Association. Here is a link that might be useful: ADGA

Well, to be honest, M&P soaps are not the same as real, natural handmade soap. You don't know what is in it or if the glycerin has been removed, and chemicals added for hardening, sudsing, etc. I teach soap making and have receips and directions for making it from scratch, yourself, using a blender. It's not difficult but it does take weeks to set. To say a soap is made with goat's milk, you may have to actually make the soap with goat's milk. However, you can always say it's so and so soap with goat's milk added. As for how much to use, how big is the block of M&P soap that you are using for this?

Sure why not? What smells if not scented? The finished soap, or the soap base? I'd guess the finished soap would smell like the base, or little bit of the oil you add if it has a scent as well. Olive oil is a great skin oil.