cow

[Sarah]

Ok, now we have a 40+ acre farm. Our horses are grazing on it now and it will be the site of our garden this year (moving on up from the backyard:-D). Anyway, we are going to purchase a dairy cow. Fortunately my relative was raised on a dairy farm as a child and knows about milking. I helped take care of beef cows as part of my rent while I was in graduate school. Now my question to those in the "cow know": We won't drink that much milk a day-recommendations for products to make that will keep for awhile and how to do that. This is all new territory for us.

[hunybee]

kefir, yogourt, milk soap, cheese, cottage cheese, butter, use it for bread


but why not get a goat instead?

[Sarah]

Husband very picky-he'll go with cow products. I need some good instructions on how to make that stuff-totally clueless. I am a long time gardener, bow hunter-but has never ventured into the cow and chicken realm (the chickens are next on the list)

[goatlady]

Just curious, if you don't drink much milk and have no clue about makeing cheese why are you getting a cow? You will be receiving GALLONS PER DAY, gal. Do you even have a spare refrigerator to store those gallons per day of milk? WIll you have the time to makes cheese EVERY DAY to preserve that milk? A gallon of milk = 1 pound of cheese plus all the work and time involved in the milking and cleaniing of the milk utinsels plus all those gallon jugs to store that milk and twice a day at tht! You really might want to re-think your current idea.

[Limner]

Just curious, if you don't drink much milk and have no clue about makeing cheese why are you getting a cow? You will be receiving GALLONS PER DAY, gal. Do you even have a spare refrigerator to store those gallons per day of milk? WIll you have the time to makes cheese EVERY DAY to preserve that milk? A gallon of milk = 1 pound of cheese plus all the work and time involved in the milking and cleaniing of the milk utinsels plus all those gallon jugs to store that milk and twice a day at tht! You really might want to re-think your current idea.

Ditto that. Maybe you need to take your Hubby to taste some FRESH goatmilk from a good clean farm. It's very good, very hard to tell from cow's milk. PLUS, if you are doing the chores, a goat is MUCH easier to manhandle, trim hooves, medicate, etc. than a cow. And I can face down a grumpy buck goat with a 2 by 4. Been there, done that. You can't do that with a grumpy bull, or a cow, for that matter.

The only big downside I can see from goats is that you have to buy a separator to make butter. Goat milk is naturally homogenized.

[dilligaf]

can always get a hog and slop the hog with the excess milk..

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,,milk fed pork... :)

cheese,butter,etc. is SIMPLE to make. a quick google search and you can find all the info you need..

[Kettle Farm]

miniature jersey cow? few feeder pigs to use up extra milk?

goat milk is the best! yes, will have to have separator for goats milk if want to make butter. ($$$)

how many times have i gotten an animal on impulse, before i had shelter/fencing/meds/knowledge on it?
too many to count!

[Sarah]

We actually go through alot of milk and cheese. I have three boys and probably some relatives that will be living with us soon so there's milk consumed everyday. I still don't think we will use all of it everyday and I hate wasting anything. As far as hubby-you can lead a hubby to goats milk but you can't make him drink:mrgreen:. He won't touch deer meat either. He did acknowledge if that's all we had to eat (deer meat) he would eat it rather than starve. He wasn't happy with the garden in the back yard-mostly because he doesn't like his vegetables (except potatoes). Hubby is a meat and potato guy-that is it.

[Sarah]

Ditto that. Maybe you need to take your Hubby to taste some FRESH goatmilk from a good clean farm. It's very good, very hard to tell from cow's milk. PLUS, if you are doing the chores, a goat is MUCH easier to manhandle, trim hooves, medicate, etc. than a cow. And I can face down a grumpy buck goat with a 2 by 4. Been there, done that. You can't do that with a grumpy bull, or a cow, for that matter.

The only big downside I can see from goats is that you have to buy a separator to make butter. Goat milk is naturally homogenized.


Those are great ideas, but can't get hubby on board with the goat thing. We have always had large animals, currently have 12 horses and used to run a rescue operation for horses and had up to 45 at one time so we're used to big critters. We've had two sheep, baby sat two goats once for some friends and a wide variety of wild baby animals that we've nursed back to health-my nickname was ElliMae (I'm blonde, animal lover and from WV-name fits:-D)

[Saminmo@hotmail.com]

The average Jersey cow will give 5 gal or so if hand milked. If you leave the calf on her for a while during the day you will be lucky to get 2 Gal a day. It will hardly mount up very fast. Most milk cows that are culls don't give that much thats why they are for sale. Milk will freeze just fine unseperated and it's quicker to make butter that way. Learned that from my daughter. She can make butter in the jug in 20 min or less if we were out.

[Sarah]

Thanks for all the great info!

[Zarathustra]

We have always had large animals, currently have 12 horses and used to run a rescue operation for horses and had up to 45 at one time so we're used to big critters.

And I thought one horse was a lot of work, whew! My hat off to you for your rescue work I have friends that do this for horses and sometimes it can break your heart when you see some of the things people do to horses.

[obie123]

Kettle Farm....ditto that! My hubby and I love
animals....all animals! So one day, we saw an ad
in the paper for a pot bellied pig--we did a little
bit of research and decided that was a pet to add
to our family of many pets. We drove to the house
and spent a few hours there to learn about Sigmond
and how to properly care for him.

We fell in love with Sigmond! He was a great pig!
All of our animals loved him! Now, mind you, we got
him in the middle of winter, snow all around us here
in North Idaho.

The one thing we didn't know about pigs?

They can't climb stairs!

And when you pick them up?

they squeeeeeeel very very loud!

So....needless to say, we had to return Sigmond
to his previous parents with a curly tail between
our legs!

Oh, and by the way...they lived in a one level
ranch!!!

Good luck with the cow....!~~~

[251bravo]

Those are great ideas, but can't get hubby on board with the goat thing. We have always had large animals, currently have 12 horses and used to run a rescue operation for horses and had up to 45 at one time so we're used to big critters. We've had two sheep, baby sat two goats once for some friends and a wide variety of wild baby animals that we've nursed back to health-my nickname was ElliMae (I'm blonde, animal lover and from WV-name fits:-D)Sounds great Elimae..i mean sarah..griz has been hot on the blonde jokes lately..you sound like your both very prepped..good idea on cow and maybe one to fatten up for the freezer:-D

[Sarah]

Sounds great Elimae..i mean sarah..griz has been hot on the blonde jokes lately..you sound like your both very prepped..good idea on cow and maybe one to fatten up for the freezer:-D


Yes,its hard to be blonde and from WV:mrgreen:

[Freeholder]

Okay, I was going to suggest a couple of goats, too, but if you have that big of a family and more coming, you can probably use up what a cow will produce pretty easily.

I WOULDN'T go with a mini-Jersey -- they are VERY expensive. If I was getting a cow, I'd look for a Jersey-cross, but good milk cows can be difficult to find, so take whatever you can find that's healthy, LOL! I'd suggest milking your prospective purchase before you make an agreement to buy her, just to make sure she's gentle, and all parts are in working order.

As for using up surplus milk, in addition to what has already been mentioned, you can raise an extra calf or two on your surplus cow milk. Chickens (and other poultry) will also eat surplus milk, whey, cheese that didn't come out right, sour milk, and so on. (Chickens are good garbage disposals!)

Butter is easy to make. If you store the milk in the frig in gallon jars for a couple of days, you'll be able to skim the cream off with a shallow ladle. Put it in a quart or half-gallon jar (fill the jar no more than half-way), let it come to room temperature, and then shake the jar until it turns into butter. You'll first see little grains of butter, then within minutes it will all clump up. At that point, there's no point in shaking any more. Pour it out into a collander and let the buttermilk drain (this is just fat-free milk; you can drink it or use it in the cooking, if you want). Put the lump(s) of butter into a bowl, and add ice-cold water, then squish the butter lump around with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Get as much of the buttermilk out of the butter as you can. Change the water and repeat several times until the wash water stays clean (any buttermilk retained in the butter will sour quickly, spoiling your delicious butter). Once the butter is clean, you can add salt to taste, and store it in the frig in a glass bowl with a tight cover on it. Or get a butter keeper, for keeping it at room temp.

Kefir is easier to make, but an acquired taste. You need kefir grains (look like cauliflower curds, but rubbery -- if you decide you want to try this, let me know and I'll send you some grains). You just add the kefir grains to the warm milk (after it's been filtered), and let sit in a loosely covered jar out on the counter for 24-48 hours. It will thicken a little and get somewhat tart -- the longer you leave it out, the more tart it will get. It may separate if you leave it long enough, and in fact if you leave it long enough you can drain the whey off (the yellowish liquid) and get cheese, but you have to take the kefir grains out first. (They are indefinitely re-usable; they are, in fact, alive, and will grow.) My daughter and I have finally gotten to where we like kefir; we sweeten it with one of the sugar-free coffee syrups, but honey would work, or regular sugar and some vanilla (I have diabetes, so avoid sugar). It's along the lines of yogurt, but you drink it. I strain the kefir grains out with a colander, putting them directly into the next batch of milk. Then refrigerate the kefir. It will keep for a long time at room temperature (a lot longer than milk), but will keep getting more sour and eventually will make a solid curd (cheese). Refrigeration stops this process. It keeps nearly forever in the frig.

Yogurt is a little trickier to make, as it requires precise temperatures for a certain length of time. I've made it, but had as many failures as successes, which is why I switched to the much easier kefir. Home-made yogurt is usually runnier than store-bought, which almost always has gelatin added to it to make it more pudding-like. You may end up drinking your home-made yogurt!

Cheese is really not all that hard to make, but also requires extreme care with cleanliness, temperatures, and times. There are several books that have good directions for making cheese (and yogurt); I recommend Goats Produce Too!, even for people with a cow. It's not very expensive, and has better directions, IMO, than the book by Ricky Carroll.

Kathleen

[Sarah]

Okay, I was going to suggest a couple of goats, too, but if you have that big of a family and more coming, you can probably use up what a cow will produce pretty easily.

I WOULDN'T go with a mini-Jersey -- they are VERY expensive. If I was getting a cow, I'd look for a Jersey-cross, but good milk cows can be difficult to find, so take whatever you can find that's healthy, LOL! I'd suggest milking your prospective purchase before you make an agreement to buy her, just to make sure she's gentle, and all parts are in working order.

As for using up surplus milk, in addition to what has already been mentioned, you can raise an extra calf or two on your surplus cow milk. Chickens (and other poultry) will also eat surplus milk, whey, cheese that didn't come out right, sour milk, and so on. (Chickens are good garbage disposals!)

Butter is easy to make. If you store the milk in the frig in gallon jars for a couple of days, you'll be able to skim the cream off with a shallow ladle. Put it in a quart or half-gallon jar (fill the jar no more than half-way), let it come to room temperature, and then shake the jar until it turns into butter. You'll first see little grains of butter, then within minutes it will all clump up. At that point, there's no point in shaking any more. Pour it out into a collander and let the buttermilk drain (this is just fat-free milk; you can drink it or use it in the cooking, if you want). Put the lump(s) of butter into a bowl, and add ice-cold water, then squish the butter lump around with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Get as much of the buttermilk out of the butter as you can. Change the water and repeat several times until the wash water stays clean (any buttermilk retained in the butter will sour quickly, spoiling your delicious butter). Once the butter is clean, you can add salt to taste, and store it in the frig in a glass bowl with a tight cover on it. Or get a butter keeper, for keeping it at room temp.

Kefir is easier to make, but an acquired taste. You need kefir grains (look like cauliflower curds, but rubbery -- if you decide you want to try this, let me know and I'll send you some grains). You just add the kefir grains to the warm milk (after it's been filtered), and let sit in a loosely covered jar out on the counter for 24-48 hours. It will thicken a little and get somewhat tart -- the longer you leave it out, the more tart it will get. It may separate if you leave it long enough, and in fact if you leave it long enough you can drain the whey off (the yellowish liquid) and get cheese, but you have to take the kefir grains out first. (They are indefinitely re-usable; they are, in fact, alive, and will grow.) My daughter and I have finally gotten to where we like kefir; we sweeten it with one of the sugar-free coffee syrups, but honey would work, or regular sugar and some vanilla (I have diabetes, so avoid sugar). It's along the lines of yogurt, but you drink it. I strain the kefir grains out with a colander, putting them directly into the next batch of milk. Then refrigerate the kefir. It will keep for a long time at room temperature (a lot longer than milk), but will keep getting more sour and eventually will make a solid curd (cheese). Refrigeration stops this process. It keeps nearly forever in the frig.

Yogurt is a little trickier to make, as it requires precise temperatures for a certain length of time. I've made it, but had as many failures as successes, which is why I switched to the much easier kefir. Home-made yogurt is usually runnier than store-bought, which almost always has gelatin added to it to make it more pudding-like. You may end up drinking your home-made yogurt!

Cheese is really not all that hard to make, but also requires extreme care with cleanliness, temperatures, and times. There are several books that have good directions for making cheese (and yogurt); I recommend Goats Produce Too!, even for people with a cow. It's not very expensive, and has better directions, IMO, than the book by Ricky Carroll.

Kathleen


Sounds great! Our neighbors have "fainting goats" but that's about as close as my husband will deal with goats or their milk. We babysat a couple of goats for some friends and our horses delighted in chasing them-needless to say that the goats were not delighted with being chased! I am printing off this info and putting it in my cow file. Right now we have been checking with the mennonites that we buy butter from for a cow. Thanks for everything!

[beelbill]

Butter is easy to make. If you store the milk in the frig in gallon jars for a couple of days, you'll be able to skim the cream off with a shallow ladle. Put it in a quart or half-gallon jar (fill the jar no more than half-way), let it come to room temperature, and then shake the jar until it turns into butter. You'll first see little grains of butter, then within minutes it will all clump up. At that point, there's no point in shaking any more. Pour it out into a collander and let the buttermilk drain (this is just fat-free milk; you can drink it or use it in the cooking, if you want). Put the lump(s) of butter into a bowl, and add ice-cold water, then squish the butter lump around with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Get as much of the buttermilk out of the butter as you can. Change the water and repeat several times until the wash water stays clean (any buttermilk retained in the butter will sour quickly, spoiling your delicious butter). Once the butter is clean, you can add salt to taste, and store it in the frig in a glass bowl with a tight cover on it. Or get a butter keeper, for keeping it at room temp.


Will this work for goats milk butter?

[Summerthyme]

Beelbill... the "churning" part will work for any cream...goat or cow. BUT... goats milk doesn't separate well... it just doesn't rise to the top like cow's milk does. If you want to make much in the way of butter, ice cream, etc from goat's milk, you'll need a cream separator.

They tend to be expensive, fiddly, a royal PITA to get clean (about 35 small parts!)... but worth their weight in gold if you have much milk to separate.

I have one, but rarely use it... cows milk does separate fairly easily. The only time I use the separator is if I end up with a tank of milk we can't ship (doesn't happen often- once in the past 6 years, because the hired kid milked a cow into the tank who we hadn't tested her milk after antibiotic treatment yet. It was probably fine, but it was the weekend, and we weren't having very good luck getting the milk tester or someone to test the milk. And it was better to dump a couple thousand pounds of milk than contaminate (and end up paying for) a silo of 60,000 pounds!

Summerthyme