[hickerbillywife]

We just started milking our jersey cow this past week and I have a couple questions. I am skimming cream off to make butter but it takes several days to get enough. Do you keep Mondays milk separate from Tuesdays and Wednesdays and so on or do you add the new milk to the previous days? Right now I have so many containers of milk I am running out of space but the cream keeps rising so I keep scooping it off. I have way too much milk for just drinking and I know I can't keep/use it all before it goes bad. I'd be happy to just make some butter this time. So do you keep it separate or add to the milk container from the day before? How many days of spooning off the cream is normal? How many days can you keep fresh milk in the fridge? I read on here you can keep cream for butter for two weeks, is that correct?

 

[barefootflowers]

You don't want to mix the milk unless you have chilled the current batch completely. If you add the warm milk to the cold milk it will make the cold milk not last as long. If you are just skimming for cream, you can skim it into its own half gallon jar that is just for cream. That is what I do. Then if I don't need the rest of the milk for cheese etc, I feed it to our livestock.

My milk will last for at least 14 days in the fridge and still taste fresh. A key point is to chill it immediately in an ice bath and then keep it cold. I set my milk fridge down to about 34 degrees- too cold for produce is perfect for raw milk.

With my cows, it takes me two quarts of cream to get a decent amount of butter. If it's cream from my Jersey and it's early spring, beginning of her lactation two quarts will get me just shy of a pound of butter. If it's milk from my Brown Swiss, or the Jersey later in her lactation then sometimes it takes me about 3 quarts of cream to get a pound of butter.

Most of my jars currently have 2 1/2- 3 cups of cream in a half gallon jar. Sometimes I get 4 cups of cream out of a half gallon- but not usually. A lot depends on feed, point of lactation and the cow.

Good luck- I love milking my cows.

 

[Awnry Abe]

I find that our cream lasts longer than our milk. The little pint jars that I fill for coffee creamer last beyond 3 weeks. It may be because we keep the cream in smaller glass containers and it doesn't come out of the fridge as often. Yes, we will accumulate many milking's worth of cream to make a single batch of butter or cream cheese. Barefoot hit the most important point: don't add warm to cold. But if you are skimming, the milk is probably cold.

 

[hickerbillywife]

thanks guys! One more? Do you make butter with cold cream or do you warm it to room temperature?

 

[lilframinky]

Cold cream and mixing bowl works best for me

 

[Vickie44]

I warm to room temp then churn

 

[arnie]

I have a glass ice tea jug ;the type with a spicket in the bottom . and a pig I pour the cream off of the top of yesterdays milk into it and (after every thing settles and seperates ) drain the skim milk out of the spicket to feed the pig use your cream to make icecream and butter or spoon into your coffee . not only will you have the best pork ever in a few months you and your family will enjoy the benefits of drinking your cows raw milk ; by being in close contact with her(milking living in the same area and eating from the same garden ) she will help protect you from getting sick with her antibodies the same as nature would alow her to protect her calf . enjoy

 

[hickerbillywife]

Thanks Arnie that is exactly what I had planned. I am fattening 6 red wattle piggies on the extra. The kids are not sure about drinking the milk but I am using it for cooking. I just finished making a large dish of graham cracker pudding pie with the milk. I had to get a bigger jar (half gallon) to hold all the cream. I'll make butter soon. It sounds like some churn it cold and some churn it warm. That is just what I had been reading everywhere . Someone said put a marble in it to speed up the process. I guess I'll try it cold and if that don't work next time I'll let it warm up first. Thanks All !