Post by rd200 on Mar 8, 2015 16:18:33 GMT -5
#1- How long does it take you to either hand milk (Start to finish w/clean up) OR how long does it take you to milk w/ a machine (start to finish w/ clean up)
And how much does your cow give??
I'm really having a hard time deciding between hand milking and machine milking. Originally when I bought my heifer I was planning on hand milking. That was before Baby #5 came along. Now, with a new baby, and twin 2yr olds & a 4yr old at home w/me all the time, I have no idea when I'm gonna find time to hand milk her. (wouldn't be bad if I could milk her any time of the day, and change it whenever, but that isn't good for the cow) Thinking I might have to milk really early morning or really late at night. I'm just trying to think about how long its going to take me to get her all ready to milk, milk her out and then bring milk into the house, filter it, put in jars, clean milking equipment, etc. I have to get a plan in place soon before she calves.
I didn't realize how much a decent milking/bucket system costs...... yikes!!! Hand milking would be a lot cheaper but I don't know if its feasible at this point anymore.
I know a machine doesn't take long at all, especially if she only give 2 gallons or whatnot (sharing with the calf at first) but then you still have the machine & bucket to clean up too in addition to the filter and jars and stuff.
Do you think it takes about the same amount of time to handmilk as it does to machine milk by the time you clean the machine & bucket?? As opposed to just cleaning the bucket for handmilking?
Question #2- Do you think your milk is cleaner when you hand milk or machine milk?? I was planning on putting like a piece of muslin or cheese cloth over the bucket if I would hand milk so that the milk would stay cleaner while milking(so no debris gets into it) and then of course still filter it when I get into the house. I would think it would stay cleaner/less chance of contamination with a bucket, as long as I kept the milking equipment nice and clean. Since we're drinking it Raw and I have a lot of little ones, I want to do it the cleanest way possible.
Thanks so much for any insight!! (Sorry this got so long)