What to do with all the milk!

**mygoat** · #21 12/11/12, 09:47 PM

I've canned it many times with a stovetop canner - not pressure cooker. Boil in canning jars for 1 hr... Comes out tasting cooked (NOT goaty) but does just fine for goat kids. Also fine for cooking, adding to coffee etc. Helps get me through the first few days of milking and feeding kids, when I'm under a time crunch and the does' milk is just coming in. I don't like having to buy milk, so if I can several gallons it gets me through till the does' production is sufficient.

mekasmom · #22 12/12/12, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mygoat

I've canned it many times with a stovetop canner - not pressure cooker. Boil in canning jars for 1 hr...

I know someone who just water bath cans it for 15 min. It comes out fine. I just think it is easier to pc it because you don't have to fill the canner so far and watch it to make sure it stays so full as it boils.
The best thing about water bath canning milk is that you don't have to worry about it getting dark. In pressure canning if you happen to leave it in too long it gets kind of tan color.

ani's ark · #23 12/12/12, 02:08 AM

I have one Saanen doe, she's currently raising her 2 kids - the doeling will be a future milker and the buckling is for meat. I also just got 2 more bucklings from our neighbour - its our favourite meat.
So, one doe = drinking and cooking milk for our 2 person household, full freezer of meat, 2 soft cheeses each week, I give some away at work, chickens turn milk into eggs, the dogs and cat love a saucer AND a bit on the garden sometimes as a very last resort!
Even one doe can sometimes leave me drowning in milk. Even dam-raising twins she still gives a half gallon each morning.

Cant beat a dairy goat!

hiddensprings · #24 12/12/12, 09:16 AM

There's so much you can do with the milk. Its just hubby and I here and I milk 12 girls. I use my milk for:
* cheese
*fudge
*yogart
*soap....lots of soap, it is one of our main products sold on the farm
*raise bottle calves (usually 6 bottle babies at a time)
* anything extra goes to the chickens and in the freezer.

Shayanna · #25 12/12/12, 09:19 AM

When you give it to the chickens, do you curdle it or just give it to them in a pail?

topside1 · #26 12/12/12, 09:32 AM

Shayanna, just pour it in a pan or whatever it will curdle on it's own. Of course they just drink it too....Topside.

April · #27 12/12/12, 10:33 AM

I curdle it for chickens and pigs. We raise meat birds with heavy "clabber" supplementation. I just pour old/unused milk in 5 gallon buckets and let it sit in the warm kitchen. It never stinks or anything. It just smells like yogurt.

CaliannG · #28 12/12/12, 02:58 PM

~clears her throat and starts singing~

Fudge-drops and yogurt, and fresh mozzarella
Aged farmer's cheddar is yummy, I tell ya
Kefir all fizzy, that smiles that it brings
These are a few of my favorite things!

White colored butter and creamy hot cocoa
Cajeta all sticky or homemade gorgonzola
Freshly made ice-cream, with milk chocolate rings
These are a few of my favorite things!

The chickens, they love it and drink with such greed
The pigs and the calves will prefer it to feed
They'll get fatter and fatter, as fall runs to spring
Because milk is the best of their favorite things!

When the grass is brown, when the nettle stings
When feed prices are sad,
I simply remember
my favorite things
and then I don't feel so bad!

~curtsies to the audience, ya'll are too much!~

Hope this answers your question, Mosherd1. There is an old saying, "Dairy animals feed the farm". It is true.

andabigmac · #29 12/12/12, 04:05 PM

Nice song Callieann!

It gets really bad when you ask your DH what he wants for dinner and he says baked chicken, rice, and broccoli and you tell him no there has to be a milk product to help get rid of it. Okay so you want buttermilk fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and cheese sauce on your broccoli. Much better. You want ice cream and custard pie for dessert too right?!? RIGHT!!! Now, about all of those eggs.....

Copperhead · #30 12/12/12, 04:22 PM

What? nobody thought of bottle calves?

Mosherd1 · #31 12/12/12, 05:30 PM

Wow, these responses really have been terrific, as well as the song! Great ideas...Now to convince my wife that I will need pigs and more chickens if I get two goats! I really like the way of thinking that the goats give us the milk, we feed the milk to the other animals, and we get eggs, pork, etc. I will look into learning how to make cheese and yogurt if I end up getting goats. Thanks again for the responses!

Hollowdweller · #32 12/13/12, 09:30 AM

Keep in mind though that really, feeding other animals goat milk is not really cost efficient.

I mean it's better than pouring it out but if you consider the actual economics of it, it's cheaper just to buy feed for any other animals you raise.

So all of us who own and love goats are really better off trying to keep our numbers down to a level we have the least amount of extra milk possible, rather than taking on more and more animals to have something to do with our goat milk.

mpillow · #33 12/13/12, 09:38 AM

Raising your own meat from your excess milk produces a quality of food you cannot afford or find in a store for the most part.