Do you Pasteurize your milk?
 

For those of you that milk, for your own use, do you pasteurize it or drink it raw?

Jenn

Drink it raw, our Somatic Cell Count is per DHIA 100-120,000 (had some fresh cows, and one high cow). The Bacteria count is 1,000. The milk I am producing is extremely sweet tasting and seems to keep for a LONG time if anyone does keep it. Had one person keep it in their fridge for 2 weeks, still is as fresh as they got it.


My SCC without those two that tested high, would be 75-80,000.



Jeff

I would NOT pasteurize, but do include 16 drops of grapeFRUITseed extract in each gallon. I had some cream keep for 3 weeks -- skimmed at 2 weeks -- that made some really good ice cream. My DH doesn't care for fresh butter or cheese. We keep the milk fridge between 32 and 34 degrees.

All raw here.

Never! That would defeat the whole purpose of having fresh milk.
Anyone that's interested, go to realmilk.com for info.

CMT tested high Is my milk safe
 

I CMT test my milk every week or so, we drink it raw. Last week was the first time I had gelling in the paddle. it wasslight gelling, but usually the milk remains liquid, no gelling at all. I threw out the milk. I milked her out for 3 days, and started drinking her milk yesterday. Last night her milk gelled again with the cmt. She is pasture with hay, and hand milked. I clean her with plain soap and water, spray bottle with dilute iodine, and I use pure coconut oil on my hands to ease the strip milking. I squirt the first 10 squirts of milk into a bowl for the cat. She has no clinical mastitis, ie the clotted milk, no hardness or hot udders, just this high cmt. she has been negative cmt, for over 2 years. She is due to freshen in 120 days. She was giving 1 gallon 2x day. it has been 2 years since she freshened last, now she gives a little over 2 qts per milking. Can i do something natural? No antibiotics? Is my milk safe to drink raw? She tested negative for Bruc, tb, jhnes, strep, staph, ecoli, just 3 months ago at her yearly physical. So she was not harboring any pathogens, I just don't know why all of a sudden she would have a high cell count. What would you do? THX

I use it raw. I've had raw milk my entire life.

TC, your cow is most likely fine. The problem is she has been milking for two years. SCCs go up with time, and cows near the end of the lactation start to show it more. This is probably due to the physiology of the udder more than pathogens.

I would not hesitate to drink the milk from her.

Jennifer

thx
 

thx

Raw,Pateurizing would defeat thr purpose of owning a milk cow.

is there a way to test somatic cell count at home?

We used to get milk from a farm and we drank it raw.. but they sold their cows this spring. :Bawling: We are hating store milk, but til we get a cow ourselves or find someone to buy it from, that is what we drink.

I was just wondering what most do. I LOVE raw milk. IF we get a cow this spring, I will be back here asking all sorts of questions! :)

Jenn

Michiganfarmer, yes, you can use a California Mastitis kit. It doesn't tell you a numerical answer, but it gives you a relative view of what your cows are doing, which is good enough for most purposes. I use it once month in my dairy to see who is doing what.

Jennifer

Have allways drank raw milk.Sold all the cows once and had to buy store milk--- that was just Nasty! Sure didnt take long to get a cow bought.

We drink our milk raw. It is so much better than store bought. Can't wait till October thats when Fruit Loop will freshen and we start getting all the milk we can use and then some!!

Raw Milk
 

Only raw milk...Nubian goat's milk...sorry could not help myself. WONDERFUL, sweet milk...Joan

Always raw... since we sold Corabelle, my youngest won't touch store milk. She has us buy soy milk.

Reply
 

Michiganfarmer if you really want individual somatic cell counts you COULD get a tester from DeLaval but it's pretty pricey (several hundred dollars), not worth it for someone with one or two cows. Better off going with CMT and once in a while send away a culture through your vet.

Christina,

Suggest you find someone with raw milk from goats or whatever, then; soy milk is probably not good for your child. I'm on several nationally well-known doctor's newsletter lists, and most say to avoid soy in any form BUT fermented. Most American soy is GMO, too. There are many other nutrients that milk has that soy doesn't that children need. Not to mention the phytoestrogens contained in soy that may speed up her "maturation." Soy's also being investigated for the possibility that it's feminizing our young boys, because it's so extant in our American diets these days as a source of protein.

From what I've read about it I've decided that humans were not meant consume eat it in any form.

Never!

Thanks, Julie Lou. I'll pass what you said onto my daughter. I guess I should clarify, my youngest turns 18 in 2 months (a senior in high school). She's only drank soy since last spring when we sold our sweetheart. My daughter's bottom line is not wanting to consume antibiotics and added hormones in her milk (and knowing the milk may have had something in it that needed to be pastuerized out of it in order to be sold in the store). Thanks again for the input.

Only raw milk at our house. Can't drink that store bought stuff.

It's defeats the purpose of having my own cow. Fresh, fresh, vitamin rich, additive free... MILK.
A way to think of it is: Drinking it raw requires you to ALWAYS use careful and clean milking techniques and handling. No if, no buts, no dirt, no sloppy work. Clean, clean, clean, clean.
Soy milk and soy products are some of the most overprocessed items you can buy. Soy is also being linked to abnormal hormone activity. ex. very early puberty in females and altered hormonal activity in females. Not too mention possible cancer links. (weston price foundation has lots of info.)
I just can't figure how I would go out to the field to milk a soy bean.

Raw Nubian milk here too! Wed be swimming in milk if we had a cow
I'd rather pass than drink cow milk from the store- tastes like I'm licking a cow.
Has anyone else tried the Grapefruit seed extract? We just started keeping our milk ina fridge in the garage- it stays colder and fresher, but curious about the GSE, doesn't it clot the milk?

Susie

We buy raw milk when I can get it. The kids won't drink store milk. The ultra-pastuerized stuff tastes the worst. I grew up on a dairy and we drank our milk raw.

(I give the kids almond or rice milk if we don't get raw milk)

I use the GSE regularly, at a rate of a teaspoonful per cup...16 to the gallon. Put it in before filling with milk. Yes you may see a little bit of coagulation stuck to the bottom of the jar/bottle, but it's negligible, not worrisome, compared to the alternative of time and work [equals $] involved in home pasteurization. Putting it into your jar/bottle before milk stirs it up better.

RAW!!!!!! :dance:

I guess I'm the exception; I always pasteurized my milk, and was glad I did so when I lost my first family cow to Johne's.

The same organism that causes Johne's in cows (and is excreted in milk) has been found in people with Crohn's disease, although it's not known whether interspecies transmission is possible, and there is some controversy as to whether it is reliably destroyed via pasteurization.

I always figured it was better to be safe than sorry, though!

I always pasteurize too, though my husband will drink it raw sometimes. I don't want to take chances with Johne's either, though we always monitor our dairy cows closely.

We don't drink that much milk so it's not a lot of work to pasteurize and doesn't cost any extra money. Just use a double boiler. Simple.

RAW. We keep udder, teats, hands and glass containers very clean and check filters very closely and end up with wonderful tasty/healthy milk.

I guess I am still contemplating. Right now I have one Holstein cow due to freshen in December. Of course a holstein produces more milk than we can use ourselves, I hope to make butter, simple cheeses, as well.

I also have people interested in milk and dairy products. We live in Illinois, and the law is raw milk is legal to sell provided you use the customer's container and you sell it off the farm and don't advertise. (word of mouth only)

However, that only applies to milk. Cream and other dairy products must be pasturized.

For those of you in states where it is legal to sell dairy products and milk-how would you handle this?

There is a farmer nearby who leaves his eggs, milk, cream and butter in an open garage, or rather carport, in the fridge, with a tin can inside it in which to put money. There's a sign on the fridge that says "Honor System" and lists the prices. There are no dates on anything, so you pays your money and takes your chances...but that means that there's nothing left over, either, because people would leave the milk that's more than a few days old. It's probably 34 degrees in his fridge, which should keep it fresh for about 10 days, depending upon how quickly he got it cooled down. The butter is kept in the freezer. Says he's been doing this for 20 years. Trouble is, it's Holstein cows he has and the milk isn't as good as my Ginger's, or the local Brown Swiss that I've had.

Then, there's the story of the dairywoman who just does it the same way as does this farmer with no prices posted, and allows people "steal" her milk, which "cannot be helped." Gov't cannot tell her how or where to keep it safe!

Then, there are those like me who use a simple cowshare agreement, so that the cowshare owner is paying for the maintenance of a cow that's partly theirs, so, by law, they have a right to her milk.

Those are great suggestions. I have also in the past kept eggs in the refrigerator on my back porch and chickens in the freezer, and working on the 'honor system' mentioning I accept the following forms of payment
cash, check
barter, IOU (provided it is signed and dated)
And my collection vessel is an antique stoneware crock that says 'BUTTER'.

People can make change as needed as well.

:)

I like the 'stealing' idea. I might use that! :dance:

Raw Jersey Milk from my own beloved Jersey :) and I'm from a family of pasteurizers.