how soon.....

[Oakshire_Farm]

How soon after freshening do you start to drink the milk??? My Jersey calved on tuesday afternoon, today is the 3 day mark. When my hubby worked on the dairy they started shipping milk on the 3rd day. I am at the end of the gallon in the frisge, I am thinking tommorow am I am going to take milk!!!

[Oakshire_Farm]

I should add that we are milking her 2x per day and bottle feeding the calf

[ozark_jewels]

I go by taste. If it tastes good, drink it! You can drink colostrum too, in fact its very healthy. I just don't like the flavour.

[LizD]

Hi Oakshire; If it is for drinking only, then let the milk separate after a few days and whatever is left of colostrum should be in the cream, skim it and give it to the calf. As Ozark said you can drink it but it's a bit bitter. To make chexe though I have found that I have to wait for about a week for the milk to stabilize. (I don't use calcium chloride.)

[Oakshire_Farm]

Thanks for the reply! I am going to take milk this afternoon! I have a cream seperator so I always run the milk through there! This morning it tasted nice and sweet!