I need a home milking "kit"

Dusky Beauty · #1 08/30/12, 08:25 PM

I posted in the dairy forum but didn't get a whole lot of info... thus far, I know I need to buy a couple of stainless steel buckets, some large wide mouth glass jars (and plastic lids), bleach for sanitizing, bag balm for the cow's udder, something sterile to wipe the teats down with, cheesecloth, and a stanchion setup.

Can anyone think of anything else I should get or a great place to buy the goods? I was able to find buckets and jars on amazon for what seems to be a pretty good price.

This is for a dexter cow, not a goat--if that makes a difference.

FarmboyBill · #2 08/30/12, 08:32 PM

You DONT need stainless buckets, IF you can keep regular metal galvanized ones clean. Mom did, and we milked around 6 cows a day. Lehmans have bag balm if you cant find it at a farm type store

FarmboyBill · #3 08/30/12, 08:33 PM

Your cows is going to give more than what you can put in jars.

julieq · #4 08/30/12, 08:35 PM

Try Hoegger's site and put a kit together. I think you can get everything except the stanchion, which would be easier to pick up locally anyway. We used the same milking supplies for our Jersey house cow and our goats in the past.

Goat Milking

MullersLaneFarm · #5 08/30/12, 08:39 PM

Don't go with cheesecloth you get in stores (wide gauze) to strain the milk. A lint free cotton dish towel, or old white t-shirt works better. Or get to a farm & fleet store and get regular milk filters.

For storing the milk, check with restaurants or even high school football stadium food stands for glass gallon jars.

julieq · #6 08/30/12, 08:41 PM

We use handkerchiefs for straining milk and just wash them.

FarmboyBill · #7 08/30/12, 08:42 PM

I hope you have enough grain so as as to replace the calcium shes depositing in your bucket. Hay wont do it with a heavy milker. Have you got a milking stool?

Miss Kay · #8 08/30/12, 08:44 PM

We use half gallon jars from the hardware store. Get a reusable coffee filter to pour the milk through. We put it right on top on the jar as we pour it in. Get a washable marker to put the date on the lid. We use baby wipes on the udder. We get them in huge boxes from Sam's etc. and keep cleaining until they come back spotless. We use a milking machine but not needed if you do it by hand. Might suggest a double boiler (big as you can get, I run two at a time) for making cheese, some cheese making bacteria and rennet, a little cheese cloth and some wax. Oh yes, a good cheese press comes in handy. While you are at it, get one of those wooden paddles for butter making. We use our mixer to churn that but you have to work the milk out. That's all I can think of. Oh wait a minute, you'll need a good cheese making book with lots of cool recipes inside. Ask for a yogurt maker for Christmas, those come in handy to.

Miss Kay · #9 08/30/12, 08:49 PM

For health, we give 2 tablespoons per feeding of powder dolomite to give her the calcium/magnizium in the right ratio's. Add a couple spoons of sea kelp, some DE, two spoons of raw apple cider, and some molasses for taste. We only feed one scoup of grain per feeding but then we have great pastures nearly year round (irrigated bermuda).

Alice In TX/MO · #10 08/30/12, 09:53 PM

Yes, you do need stainless steel seamless buckets. They are SO much easier to keep clean.

Grain doesn't provide a lot of calcium. It provides phosphorous. Alfalfa or dolomite provide calcium.

Zilli · #11 08/30/12, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by julieq

I think you can get everything except the stanchion, which would be easier to pick up locally anyway.

Craigslist?

Although I've never seen a cow stanchion on CL (maybe because I wasn't looking), I did find (and buy) two goat milking stands - one of the metal ones and a really nice homemade (all pressure treated) wooden one.

Since there are plenty of plans available on-line for homemade goat stands, it stands to reason that there must be something available for cow stanchions, too.

I bought my stainless steel pails at the feed store in the pet section. Much cheaper than anything labeled specifically for milking. I do want to invest (some day) in a pail with a lid.

Instead of buying the disposable filters, I use white men's handkerchiefs (a dozen, I think, at WalMart for something like $4.00 or $5.00). I wash them separately in hot water and give them an extra rinse with white vinegar added. A dozen of those last through many milkings and washings; I'm just now starting to notice a couple of them looking a little "worn" after more than a year.

I buy those plastic canning jar lids and use a dry erase marker to write the date and whether or not it was AM or PM milking for my half gallon jars. I'm not sure what your options are when you're getting several gallons of milk at a time - it's been my experience that those wonderful gallon glass jars that mayonnaise used to come in are now hard to come by (everything is plastic now). I snap them up whenever I come across them at thrift stores and garage sales for my dried beans, rice, etc.

mrs whodunit · #12 08/30/12, 10:42 PM

We buy ss buckets from Jeffers. Cheap.

Imo you need a filter with milk filters. I just don't think you can get cloth clean enough.

We use a clean rag in a ss bucket with light bleach water to wash with and a dry rag to dry.

We use half gallons and gallon jars.

Dusky Beauty · #13 08/30/12, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MullersLaneFarm

Don't go with cheesecloth you get in stores (wide gauze) to strain the milk. A lint free cotton dish towel, or old white t-shirt works better. Or get to a farm & fleet store and get regular milk filters.

For storing the milk, check with restaurants or even high school football stadium food stands for glass gallon jars.

I was reading in a thread that folks were recommending sheer gauze curtain material from thrift stores for use as cheesecloth, and that seemed like a great idea for making cheese, however I DO have an extra rinse and reuse coffee filter just sitting around.

For feed, one of my neighbors has a hay farm that grows dairy alfalfa, so thats what I was going to feed her, but a dexter is not supposed to be nearly as heavy a milker as most dairy breeds.

I did pick up a great milking stool (that's the one thing I knew for sure I needed!)

I definitely need some input on cheese and dairy product supplies-- I was going to start slow with soft cheese, some mozz and turning the rest into butter and yogurt.

I have been making yogurt for a while though, and don't need a yogurt machine. Maybe an ice cream machine though!

sammyd · #14 08/31/12, 02:08 AM

alafalfa is an ideal hay for any lactating cow. It contains lots of calcium which they need.
We tried coffee filters, cloths, and so forth for straining milk when we had goats but ended up with a real SS strainer and bought pads. Wouldn't do it any other way now.
I milked organic grass fed dairy cattle and we only fed corn in the depths of winter if the temps dropped below -20 or so.
Fed pasture or good quality hay. Kelp and a loose mineral was fed in the parlor and we also had mineral blocks out in the pastures.
The cows didn't milk heavy but they didn't cost much to feed. A smaller animal on such a diet would be good for a family. We intend to keep a Milking Shorthorn for a family cow when she freshens later this year.

grain is fine for cows and I have nothing against it. But be aware that plain grains such as corn, oats, and barley are considered very poor sources of calcium. Only when mixed with a calcium supplement is grain a good source of calcium.

As far as teat dips and so forth we used single use paper towels and an iodine wash then pre dipped with iodine wiped that off and post dipped with iodine.
I have also used just a dipper with hexochloridine and didn't wash (unless of course whe was a total mess) dip wait a minute and wipe off. milk, then redip. Wipe dry if temps are below 30F or so.

Old John · #15 08/31/12, 07:03 AM

Both my brothers have always used regular milk Strainers, that the filters fit into the bottom over a seive with a spring clip. It's about the easiest way to filter your milk.
They use stainless steel, seamless buckets too. Each one of them has a couple or three cows though. They make all their own butter & cheese too. I think they use rennet for the cheese making. It's some pretty good cheese, made at Home.

cathleenc · #16 08/31/12, 07:17 AM

I loved my ss milk filter witih disposable milk filters - it was awesome. Yes, you do need ss buckets.

I bought a ton of used hospital washclothes, 10 dz, and then used these for wiping her down. I kept her bedding really, really clean and it never was an issue. Just used plain water for wiping, did use a teat dip after cleaning at first but then stopped with no ill consequences.

Simple is almost always better than complicated for home use. You are more likely to stick with a good simple routine!

No one ever mentions this but hand milking usually means leaning against the side of your cow with your head on their side - my long hair immediately picked up the sweet cow smell and I'd smell like a cow for the rest of the day. So one of my favorite items for milking was a good hat that covered my hair.

brosil · #17 08/31/12, 07:33 AM

One of the vet catalogs we get had a battery powered surge milker in it. I can't remember which one but I remember thinking it was a cool toy.

Callieslamb · #18 08/31/12, 07:46 AM

YOu need a good farm store like Tractor Supply or Rural King. Everything on your list is there. TS can order it. You can get milk filters 100/$5. I used two funnels with the filter between the funnels.

geo in mi · #19 08/31/12, 08:02 AM

It's been years, but........ Mom called it milkstone, but it is actually milk protein that collects on buckets, containers, inflators, etc, and is the breeding place for bacteria. Sort of like plaque on teeth. This product is basically what we used in a soak to eliminate that. Actually, this site has just about everything you will need for a home milking system. Hamby Dairy Supply :: Bucket Milker Cleaning Products & Equipment :: Cleaning Products :: PFANZITE POWDER DAIRY DETERGENT

If your cow is pretty tame and trained, you may not need a stanchion--just a halter and an attaching ring in your barn or milking location may do okay. You can hook her up next to a wall to keep her steady.

You may eventually want to invest in a good set of udder hair clippers, too.

Hope this helps.

geo

Cliff · #20 08/31/12, 08:12 AM

You don't need sterile wipes for the udder. Just something clean and damp to knock any crud off. Then squirt the first couple of squirts from each teat onto the ground, that cleans out the canal of any bacteria. Milk has natural components in it that kill bacteria. Think how many billions of calves have nursed mother cows without the calf getting sick or the cow getting mastitis.

We don't like pouring our milk through the chemicalized paper milk filters. We prefer to use handkerchiefs and wash them.