Milking Supplies

[Tango]

I'm going to get most of the things I need locally but I was looking for a butter churn, a yogurt machine, and stanchion plans. Lehmans has a butter churn for $135 and it looks well made, not plastic. Churns butter in 15 min. They also have a yogurt maker. Any better place other than e-bay? I want new.
Also need those teat dip cups and don't know if I can find those locally but I'll go to the coop tomorrow before I pick up the Jersey. Where do ya'll shop? Thanks.

[Carol K]

If you have a mixer you can make your butter in there, not sure if you know. I just put mine on low while I'm in the kitchen and listen for the milk to sound like it's "sloshing' you will get used to the noise change. That means the butter has formed. I have a daisy churn but always use my mixer.
I do have a Yogurt maker but that can also be done in quart jars, if you are making a lot I would suggest the quart jars. I have a Donvier you can see it here http://www.comforthouse.com/comfort/yogurtmakers.html I've been very happy with it, I didn't get it from these people so google it, you may find it cheaper.
I'll leave the teat cup stuff to others, as I don't use them.
How exciting a new cow, and you get to go shopping! LOL

Carol K

[Christina R.]

I use Hoegger Goat Supply for milking supplies. I bought my yogurt maker there and have been happy with it except for the quantity (it only makes a quart). I have used the making yogurt in the oven method and it turned out fine (I then used it to make yogurt cheese).

I don't use teat cups. I bought a teat dip thing on ebay and haven't used it once. Here is a site on milking that was so helpful to me. I used their ideas for everything and have never had any problems

http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/milking-...equipment.html

It is off a site for goats, but the premise is still the same. Overall it has other great info. Hope this helps!

[Tango]

Thanks ladies. I'm camping in the woods right now while everything starts getting underway for my new house. Have solar power and propane and very little space in my travel trailer. Just about everything I own is in a box somewhere. But I can wait to be set up in my new kitchen rather than buying things I don't really need. I like the idea of using a mixer. I have a food processor I can use once I'm in the house. Since I also keep Alpines I'm a big fan of Fiasco Farms; didn't even consider I could use the same methods since I was so focused on what I had seen at the dairy on Tuesday. Thanks for the advice

[coso]

Tango, Just skim that cream off there and put in a quart or half gallon jar. Rock jar back and forth till your butter comes. This is the way we always done it, and you could have butter today.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by coso

Tango, Just skim that cream off there and put in a quart or half gallon jar. Rock jar back and forth till your butter comes. This is the way we always done it, and you could have butter today.

Alright! Thanks gotta remember to put down bread on my grocery list

[linn]

I use my blender to make small batches of butter. It forms quickly, so you have to watch it closely. You can make yogurt without a yogurt maker. I have used a food dehydrator and the bread proofing setting on my oven. Good luck with your butter and yogurt making.
I use the large dose cups that come with Niquil or other otc meds for teat dip cups. You can also use small paper drinking cups and just throw them away each time.

[Tango]

Thanks linn this morning I just sprayed her with the cleaner and wiped off with paper towels. She didn't like the cold spray but before she was getting hosed off first so I can't see a spray being more offensive.

[Haggis]

Both of my Grandmothers used a thrown churns with wooden dashers. Herself just churned in a glass jar as mentioned above. Eventually she started using a blender, and now she has a proper electric churn from THE PARTS DEPARTMENT.

I strip the "foremilk" into a saucer that I then empty into it a pan for the barn cats. I've started using a milking machine, but milking the house cow can be an exercise in frugality or spendthriftiness.

[JulieLou42]

Cannot figure it out, but my butter refuses to "come" in the blender or the mixer!! And since those are harder to clean up. I've gone to using the half-gallon jars, too...but fill them to only 2/3 full and after the first and second five minutes of shaking, open the lid to let the gases out, then proceed for about 15-20 minutes. Keep shaking till you get the solid lump of butter coagulated, otherwise you'll spend literally hours pressing out the buttermilk with a rubber spatula, even after rinsing in the coldest water available at the tap. In an old Backwoods Home magazine, I came across a wooden butter churn that you set a jar into and rock manually; maybe I'll build one of them!

Yogurt makes up pretty well in the oven in larger quantities, that is more than one quart, however, mine's been coming out runny and badly formed lately and I cannot figure out what's going wrong. I heat it to 185 degrees, chill it immediately in an icey water bath to 110 degrees, add the culture [plain whole yogurt from the market] after blending that with one cup of the cooled milk, and then stirring that in to the whole of it. It then goes in the oven for any time upwards of 4 hours, depending on the acid taste one wants. My WestBend yogurt maker is great for quart batches, but takes six hours.

You don't need to bother with "teat cups" ...just wash her down well, entire bag with a warm bucketful of bleachey water with a squirt of dish detergent in it while she's eating her grain ration; that will cause her to let down her milk if you get really aggressive with washing of her bag. Look at the bottom of her teats to see if they're clean. I use 12" x 14" white terry towels that are available at either Costco or just about any restaurant supply house, folded in quarters, and keep unfolding/refolding as you go using all quarters both sides of the towel, getting off all the dirt/dust you can, till you don't see any more going onto the towel. Sometimes I have to take the pressure nozzle to her hooves so that she doesn't track a lot of muck into her stanchion. I always curry comb her while she's eating her ration, too, to get any debris off her coat that might fall into my bucket. [She's hand milked.] My milk tastes just fine, and others aren't complaining at all. If you're milking every 12-14 hours, she should be fine and not show any signs of mastitis. If you're worried about it, put some drops of grapefruit SEED extract on her grain ration. It's a triple-antibiotic that my Texas sister tells me dairies are using now to combat mastitis. [I also use the GSE at a rate of 1 drop per cup in the milk after straining, always at the bottom of each jar I fill.]

Stanchion? Copy the one in Keeping a Family Cow by Grohman. If you email me, I can attach a drawing for one like that, of 2"x 4"s basically. I had one built into the far corner of our basement garage.

[Tango]

Thanks JulieLou42. I pretty much figured out the butter. I'm making very small amounts in a small glass jar and shaking for about 5- 7 minutes. It balls up easily and the dogs love the buttermilk (until I'm in a normal kitchen and use it for biscuits that is ) I'm not keen on using the oven to make yogurt though and will probably get the yogurt maker, which is pretty inexpensive. Karma (I've named her) lets her milk down easily. I hadn't even thought about it . I spray a paper towel with an antiseptic/ antibacterial not Nolvasan but same ingredient) and wipe her teats and udder. Since arriving I've brushed her out very well and she's clean - for a cow. I haven't died yet or developed complications and I'm drinking it raw (never even liked milk)