primative milking questions

[heinola honey]

I do have a portable milker but....no great shelter so to speak to milk in. The building we use for the cows to come in out of the elements is just that and no room for 2 cows, 2 calves, a goat and myself to milk in.
So I have been just tying up the cows to a post outside and milking.
The questions I have for anyone who might know are:
1. When the milk bucket is in the snow can the first milk into it freeze
and make the cream and milk once fiiltered and settled look funny
almost like it was frozen and thawed? (outside temps below 0)
2.If any of you have similar situations how do you do it?
3.I tried to make cottage cheese from milk that I forgot about outside to chill over night which froze and it didn't turn out what could've gone wrong.
Thanks
Ruth

[francismilker]

Not sure, never had to milk in those conditions. If I did, I'd probably go back to store bought milk! LOL.

[heinola honey]

Well It's only temporary (i hope). Our neighbor is giving us his early 1900's barn so this spring I will actually have a real barn!
The shelter the animals have is actually a large old brooder house. It is about the only decent building left on place when we moved here.
Thanks Ruth

[uncle Will in In.]

I'd milk those cows in out of the weather if I had to put up a tent to do it.

[heinola honey]

But I am of hardy stock ...born and raised here...If I complain everyone would think I anm a wuss.

[ericakc]

I milk in an open barn. We get down to 0 deg. F a couple of weeks in the winter. I can usually milk fast enough that the milk in the bottom of the bucket doesn't freeze, but the milk that splashes onto the sides and rim freezes. In cold weather the cream will begin to separate before I get to the house and then doesn't want to go through the filter.

How do you keep your hands warm? The rear teats don't have enough room for all 4 fingers and the 2 that get left off ache terribly from the cold.

[Up North]

erikakc - Make yourself a pair of gloves like Rocky Balboa wore. Rocky as in "Yo, Rocky, Stay away from that pet shop dame"...LOL.
A cheap pair of brown cloth gloves from farm store, take a sharp pair of scissors and snip off the two glove milking fingers and thumb. Then slip them on to do rear teats.
Just Brainstorming:
Perhaps if one took a styrofoam minnow bucket and matched it with a steel or plastic milking bucket that slid inside it, then stored both in a warm area between milkings, maybe it would lessen the freezing of milk.
A simple shelter can be built by stacking hay round bales in a U shape and then stretching a blue tarp over top them. Allow cows access only during milking though, or they will simply eat the shelter, LOL.

[Haggis]

I built a "room" in my barn large enough for me and the cow; it's no warmer in there than it is anywhere else on the Iron Range, but some of the wind is kept at bay. The room doesn't have a door, just a short piece of cattle panel to keep the cattle out; when the wind is just right, I have to shovel out a place for the cow and myself.

The worst trouble I sometimes have is my milking machine vacuum lines freezing (clogging) from the vapor off the milk. It's not much problem until it gets below -30, of course, at -20 the vanes in the vacuum pump freeze up due to the thickening of the lubricating oil. To keep the pump warmer, I put a 75w bulb in a heat lamp on it, and cover the lot of it with an old wool blanket, but nothing keeps it from freezing up once it's really cold out side.

Look on the bright side; the weather will generally begin to warm by April.

[heinola honey]

Haggis,
I have seen your barn and often wonder if you hand milked or machine, and if you had alittle space heater or brooder lamp. Yeah my milking machine starts to get cold too so I have been milking Dorsey in late afternoon and Irene in the morning. Too cold for the milker to go that long.
Ericakc,
my hands only get cold if the the claw and the cow aren't cooperating.
Up North I like the idea of the styrofoam. I wish I had a built in filter so the milk would be ready to go by the time it hits the pail.
Let me know if you come up with anything for that.
Thanks
Ruth

[Haggis]

Originally Posted by heinola honey

Haggis,
I have seen your barn and often wonder if you hand milked or machine, and if you had alittle space heater or brooder lamp. Yeah my milking machine starts to get cold too so I have been milking Dorsey in late afternoon and Irene in the morning. Too cold for the milker to go that long.

Ruth

I handmilked until one January, when it was -30's to -40's at the morning milkings, and I all but severed a thumb (my own, one of two) while cutting up a quarter of frozen beef (the knife slipped; who would'a thunk it?). I had to do something in a hurry, so Herself pushed me to order in a portable machine; I like the machine better, more especially so when it 100 below miserable outside and my hands are wet.

[harplade]

since we think it's cold when it's in the 20's, I am amazed at yall's perseverance. Good luck with your milking!!

Harplade-wearing shorts and enjoying 75 degree days in the balmy South

[heinola honey]

I hope spring comes early. Here is the barn my neighbor is giving me.
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...n/DSCF0752.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...n/DSCF0754.jpg

[dezeeuwgoats]

All I can say is, 'wow'.

Both to the cold, and that gorgeous barn!

niki

[Up North]

hh - Are you planning on moving that barn or using it where it stands?
The Cupola is precious btw.

[heinola honey]

We live less than a mile from where the barn is. We will be moving it here in the spring. We have to pay for half the cost of clean up at the site. He doesn't want the silo and neither do we.
I know the cupola is precious! We haven't discussed that coming with.
My Dh has one almost identical that came of the barn on his homeplace.

[robin f]

if he dont want it, and you dont want it, just tell him its not worth anything to you and the price should reflect that and then you advertize it in a local farming paper, i know some ppl would pay for a good silo, though not a lot, but hey any income is better than none

[Shirley]

You lucky duck! What a beautiful barn! Wish somebody would give me a barn!