I'm sorry. We are moving just north of Springfield, MO. Our property has some trees, but there's plenty of pasture. It's hard to tell how the pastures will be in the spring or summer, because we have not seen it in that season.
Cow's milk has large globules of fat, so it float up quickly. Sheep and goats have smaller globules of fat and it tends to stay in the milk. At least that is my understanding. Have you considered buying raw milk from a local farmer? This is what we did, but had to buy 'milk shares' and pretend we owned the cow. My local dairy is completely organic and very clean, so I had no hesitation. Like you, I can drink raw but have a problem with pasteurized.
__________________ Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales
Farmboy Bill! We too would love to get a jersey. If we kept her in a pen about 40x40 with a good barn to get into, how many bales of good alfalfa would she eat a day without pasture to graze?
Just my opinion, but that is no life for a lovely milk cow and you will get better milk if the cow has fresh graze!!
Pasteurizing milk removes the Lactate.
It is the living Lactate in raw milk that helps you digest the Lactose.
We all need Lactate to digest Lactose. It is supposed to be in the milk but it is not there in store bought milk.
Right there is why we have so many people that are Lactose intolerant.
Alice in TX says she makes cheese from goat milk.
I do not know about butter.
I do know that the French alpine goats we used to have gave great tasting milk. Had friends stop by just as my sweet wife was taking cookies our of the oven. We shared them and I asked if they would like a glass of milk.
They said yes so I got two glasses out and asked if goat milk was okay.
Yes he said.
NO she said. She said goat milk is nasty stuff.
Okay I said. I poured goat milk in his glass then I put the goat milk in the fridge and took out the goat milk and poured her glass.
They both loved their milk and she would not taste his.
After she was all done I asked her if her milk was okay and she said it was great. Then I told her the only milk we had was goat milk. She had to look in the fridge. Keep the udders clean. Keep the milk clean and chill it right away. Sometimes if they eat the wrong stuff you can taste it in the milk but a cow is the same way.
Dad fed 1/2 bale a day outside, but kept hay in the manger also so that when she was finished with her corn she still had something to eat and think about whikle he was milking her,
DONT FORGET THE GRAIN. Dad fed corn cause we raised it for cows, hogs and chickens. We even ate field corn for sweet corn.
How much grain to feed a cow will be determine d by how much milk she gives. IF YOU SKIMP OR CUT OUT THE GRAIN, she will make milk with calcium in it from the calcium in her bones, and get what humans call brittle bones disease.
We had 23 jerseys. X wouldn't let me buy corn, as I wasn't farming then here, just hay. The cows both went down and had to be rendered.
......
Last edited by Brighton; 01/20/14 at 07:30 PM.
Reason: Changed my mind, not worth it.
Cow's milk has large globules of fat, so it float up quickly. Sheep and goats have smaller globules of fat and it tends to stay in the milk. At least that is my understanding. Have you considered buying raw milk from a local farmer? This is what we did, but had to buy 'milk shares' and pretend we owned the cow. My local dairy is completely organic and very clean, so I had no hesitation. Like you, I can drink raw but have a problem with pasteurized.
I do own 1/20 of Cindy the milk cow on a farm 40 miles south of here.
It says so in my contract. I get a gallon of raw milk delivered to a cooler in a garage in town. There are two large coolers that get filled every week.
I make cheddar, mozzarella, brie, etc with goat milk.
Alice, Have you tried to make butter with goat milk?
I also would like to know this.
Seems like it would take a cream separator.
When I get my soil working I would like to get a cow but if there is a way to make butter from goat milk it would do us much better to have a couple milk goats
If I remember correctly the grain we were giving to the milking goat was oats.
I know it wasn't corn or wheat.
I do not believe it was barley.
All of the goats got all of the second cutting hay they wanted.
It was mostly alfalfa.
Yes they are herd animals...they do better in a pair or more...For my bet sounds like you need a Jersey...although never have had a Dexter...But in my thinking..Jerseys can't be beat..
Pasteurizing milk removes the Lactate.
It is the living Lactate in raw milk that helps you digest the Lactose.
We all need Lactate to digest Lactose. It is supposed to be in the milk but it is not there in store bought milk.
Perhaps you mean lactase? Lactase is the enzyme that breaks down lactose.
Goaty tasting cheese or milk usually means you have an issue. It is not the norm. I always thought goaty flavor went with the territory until the first time I made mozzarella at home. Since then I have made mozz, cheddar, paneer, ricotta, a whisky cheddar as well as a port cheddar and yogurts without ever having a goaty taste to anything. The only time I have ever had that flavor was with chevre and it was really mild and I think it is something to do with that cheese. As for the milk, our kids guzzled it.
Dad fed 1/2 bale a day outside, but kept hay in the manger also so that when she was finished with her corn she still had something to eat and think about whikle he was milking her,
DONT FORGET THE GRAIN. Dad fed corn cause we raised it for cows, hogs and chickens. We even ate field corn for sweet corn.
How much grain to feed a cow will be determine d by how much milk she gives.
IF YOU SKIMP OR CUT OUT THE GRAIN, she will make milk with calcium in it from the calcium in her bones, and get what humans call brittle bones disease.
We had 23 jerseys. X wouldn't let me buy corn, as I wasn't farming then here, just hay. The cows both went down and had to be rendered.
You're kidding right? Corn is very low in calcium. There are many dairies running grain free and the cattle are doing fine. Taking the grain away will not cause any bone brttling. I have had holsteins normande and jersey crosses past their 8th lactation doing quite well as grain free dairy cattle .
All I know is that the vet we called said that not having grain caused the cows going down. Dad always fed grain and never had a problem. Figure it out for yourself. We lost those 2 and could never afford to buy a cow again.
I'd figure the vet didn't have a clue. Check your Morrisons it says all cereal grains are low in calcium with corn running .02 and oats running .06 percent. If you want calcium you feed alfalfa or some other legume hay.
As a matter of fact you want a cow to be able to mobilize calcium from her body to make milk. Towards the end of pregnancy one of the ways to avert milk fever is to make sure you are not feeding calcium rich legume hay and feed some low calcium corn silage. This "trains" the cows body to start using her own calcium to make milk since even with calcium rich feed she still needs to add her own. If the body is not used to mobilizing calcium the shock of starting it so quick and for so much causes milk fever.
I made goat butter once, it looked like shortening. I just do not care for it. It does not really taste like butter. That is the reason we have a cow, to get butter.
47Likes
