B- Dealing with milk!

[Selden]

As I survey my groaning refrigerator shelves I realize I have to do better in keeping the milk "mooving"! I'd love tips from all you experienced folks.

1) I store my fresh strained milk in gallon food service jars. What is the best way to skim the cream from these jars? I have been using a 1/2 cup measure to scoop, but this leaves a lot to be desired in terms of efficiency. It also leaves a lot of cream. Claire, I remember you saying that you skim almost all your cream. How do you do it?

2) I am assuming it is OK to mix the milk from two different milkings in one jar? I have been doing this, when I have a jar that's not full.

3) How do folks keep track of which milk is oldest? At first it was easy and now I feel like the Sorcerer's Apprentice! Do you label?

4) How do those of you who hand milk sterilize your milk bucket and milk tote? Mine, which just came , are too large to submerge in my sink. Is washing them out immediately and then putting them through the bottom rack of the dishwasher OK, or not?

5) Here's a silly question. You take all this trouble to clean everything speckless and then you carry your stuff to the barn. Say I was going to milk directly into my 2.6 gal ss milk tote, which just arrived from Lehman's and which seems possible (also desirable, since I have to drive everything the 1/2 mile to the barn). If I did this, where in the barn do you put the sanitized lid while you're milking! The barn is VERY dusty and the chickens VERY inquisitive! Or for this reason must I continue to milk into the pail and then transfer to the lidded tote? (I'm afraid I look fairly ridiculous carrying bucket, milk tote, small tote for udder wash, cut-up towels, etc, every time I leave for the barn! Like a one-man band!)

I have to say I am very happy with this adventure. Katika, aside from pooping and peeing halfway through most milkings (I catch both and growl at her, but haven't sharply reprimanded her -- should I?) is being is good as gold in terms of standing still. She really hardly moves a muscle. I tell myself she likes my singing and humming -- or maybe she's just transfixed by my inability to carry a tune!

Thanks so much for any answers, and all the support you all have given me! I tell everyone about this wonderful board!

[Joann]

Those logistical questions do take pondering. I have got, after many years of annoyance, a chicken and cat free milking zone.

I have a broad shelf that I set things on and if flies or chickens intrude, all can be covered with a big towel.

A couple of this big plastic bins might be useful to keep things safe from dust and tipping over during milking and between milkings.

I always label each jar of milk with the date and AM or PM using a Magic Marker. I do top up jars from the previous milking or the frig gets too crowded. I don't top up jars from a previous day as it interferes too much with rising the cream.

I skim using a ladle of a convenient size. Few ladles are really right. Skim by using the ladle to "bite off" the top layer of cream. Then set the ladle into the lighter cream and allow it to flow over the rim into the ladle. That way you can remove virtually all of the cream.

Then you figure out what to do with the skim milk! Some milk I skim only slightly and use for drinking.

[Claire]

1) I skim my milk with a nice, medium sized soup ladle. It's nice because you can sink it to the very surface of the milk and snatch out all the cream that tries to scuttle away and escape.

2) It's perfectly alright to mix milk from different milkings. After I skim I aways try and compact my milk supply so I don't have 5 half full containers hulking in the fridge.

3) The most recent milkings is always in the very back of the milk shelf in our fridge, so it can cool and not be disturbed by people seeking liquids as the cream rises. I label the containers with masking tape written on with marker. "Warm" is the newest milk, "Drink Me!" is the oldest. That way I don't have to hear people whining after they pour warm milk on their cereal!

5) I wonder if you could just get a big 5 gallon bucket with a handle and snap on lid and pile everything you have to haul inside? Empty milk bucket on the bottom with the bucket of udder wash on top, towels tucked around? Then on the way back after dumping out the wash bucket stick the dirty towels in it and put the full milk bucket on top? You could hide the milk bucket lid in the 5 gallon bucket with its top on to keep away the bugs and chickens.

[myersfarm]

well since i have more money then time i come up with a way to get cream for my wife.......when she wants it i just put like 5 gallons in fridge in wide mouth plastic jars after the cream rises i skim it off by pouring right out of the jar into a ...,,,,,...a sun tea jar or a.spring water bulk bottle the one you buy...... it has a wide mouth on the top and a nozzle on the bottom..... pour off the cream you can do it fast no sponeing just pour it in milk and all into the water jar... after you let it set awhile and then open up the nozzle on bottom the milk flows out leaving the cream next day pour in more cream with the milk and take out the milk from the bottom...do not get cream into the nozzle it will stop it up and be hard to get next days milk out...with me i can get gallon cream in 2 days thats both milkings....since i feed mine to calfs i just pour the skimed milk into my calf buckets like the 2 gallons of cold milk and mix it with the 3 gallons of hot milk right from the cow..then put more milk into the fridge sun tea jar are cheap if you buy a water bottle one make sure it is clear not tinted blue it makes it hard to see the cream from the milk........john

[Deleted]

;D My friend gave me her old (an extra) refrigerator.

;D I usually had calves or "milk thieves" who make a lot of milk dissappear.

;D I was overwhelmed trying to use glass. I could purchase new sterile gallon and half gallon milk cartons in bags the size of a truck bed, light enough to carry up to the hayloft to store. I use them up.

;D Cream is easy to separarate by punching a hole in the bottom and venting the cap. I made clabber, acid cheese, chicken cheese & cottage cheese with the skim. Ice cream, butter & sour (cultured) cream.

;D I built a new chicken house BEHIND the barn and the chickens are NOT allowed in the barn, milking area, or milk room.

;D Milking a cow, like Paradise, is a journey not just a destination.

[Deleted]

One of my customers compliained that she was going thru sun tea jars right and left (the ones with the spigot). I assumed that the oil in the cream was erroding the silicone in the spigot.
John, what do you wash your sun tea jar with? Have youj ever experienced this?

Tracey in NE Kansas

[Liz]

Selden
Do you make 2 trips to the barn each day?
Could you get a large plastic footlocker to store everything in each night (take it back to the barn clean) and that way have all the milking supplies there waiting for you?
I wash out the milking supplies with cool water 1st, then warm soapy water, then a spray of milk clorox solution, then warm-hot water. Turn upside down to dry.
Hope this helps!
Liz
www.luckylizardranch.com

[jstadrem]

First I would like to say that every so often I take out the top drawer of my dishwasher and run all the big stuff through it, i.e. pots for making cheese, two milk totes, milking buckets, etc. If you have space I would use some sort of cupboard or standup locker, because the take up less space and give you an area to leave things with the door shut that will stay reasonably clean, if not clean enough small things can be put in zip lock bags. My husband is waiting for a double spinal fusion but still insists on helping me, so he uses a wagon to put the stuff on and pulls it back and forth. I would try milking into a bucket and then run it through a filter and into the pails if possible. It you really want to milk into the pail put the lid into a zip lock bag, they are reusable and keep it clean. You may find you still have to refilter it back at the house, but this should remove any hay flakes etc that may have fallen in. I use a permanate marker on glass jars to put the date. It comes off with a good scrub cloth or steel wool, that way I know which one to go first of if it is time to make cheese. Or if too late go to the chickens... lastly my cow deficated every time I milked at least once usually two or three times, now she hasn't done that to me in about three weeks... knock on wood. I think the main thing is to try to get it set up so you dont have to carry as much stuff to the barn, you can store soap and vinager out there and then just fill your milk tote with warm water to take out and pour that into what ever you use to wash her with.... good luck and I hope you have fun with all the milk you will be finding inventive ways to use up!

[Selden]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I am so impressed by all the good ideas and all the helpful energy. THANK YOU!

[BasleeBackwoodsFarm]

I have tried using the sun tea jars also with the spigot but they all have leaked. I have tried four I believe now and every single one have leaked. What a mess! I just use a ladle and do the best I can.

[myersfarm]

well i must have a real good sun tea jar then i have had no problems at all with it.....i clean with dawn antibactira.......and as i said do not let the cream get in the nozzle it will not close if it get the cream in it.......i just drain it down till about inch of milk left then add more milk next day.........john

[AnnB (NE)]

basleebackwoodfarm said:

I have tried using the sun tea jars also with the spigot but they all have leaked. I have tried four I believe now and every single one have leaked. What a mess! I just use a ladle and do the best I can.

Try reaching down inside the jar and tightening that nut on the back of the spigot. When I was having problems with milk leakage, that turned out to be the problem.

Ann B

[julielou42]

We've had trouble with those suntea jars' spigots, too. Have two sitting on the kitchen counter now that are bad and wondering if only the spigots are availabe separately for purchase

I have a stanchion built of 2x4's in one of the corners of my garage beside the door, with those black rubber mats [2] on the concrete floor where she stands.

I use the stainless steel 2.6 gallon bucket from Lehman's for the milk, a plastic bucket for the wash water, square. white, terry towels really cheap from Costco, and Bag Balm.

I keep a spray bottle of water with some bleach in that, that I use in the wash bucket water, with a drop of dish soap.

I rinse with lukewarm water anything that milk touches, then use a dishwashing wand [sponge with dish soap in handle] on everything. [The dish soap has grapefruit seed extract in it.] Then rinse off with my hottest water from the tap. Then invert and air-dry the s.s. bucket and milk strainer on a towel.

The only thing in my kitchen that'll hold the strainer properly is a 1 gallon Tupperware pitcher, so that's what the milk goes into from the pail. It's washed in lukewarm water, rinsed with hottest available, and then spritzed with the bleachy water a couple of times and left to sit with its lid on between washings. Before I go to use it for the next milk, I dump out the little bit of bleachy water that remains. Whatever's left in there isn't gonna make much difference in the milk.


For milk storage, I use the large, gallon glass jars, mostly. Generally wash those in the dishwasher and let them dry in there. Before putting milk into any jar, it gets one [1] drop of grapefruit seed extract PER CUP of milk put in.

I date/label with small, white price stickers and a pen thusly: 8/12//P+ equals the day's date "p.m." and "+" means GSE is added. "A" replaces "P" if it's morning milk.

Since I'm doing cowshare agreements, I [name] label my bottles with address labels [word processing?] and cover the labels over with clear packing tape. I've found that the dry-erase markers work on that packing tape quite nicely, too.

I, too, have been known to mix milk from today with yesterday's, but not any older than that.

J.

[Joann]

Good to meet you Julielou. Thanks for sharing your milk handling method.

I am not familiar with grapefruit seed extract. What is the reason for adding it?

[wyomama]

I label the top of my jars with the date with a wet-erase marker - the ones for writing on transparencies. The brand name is Vis-A-Vis. Then it washes right off in the dishwasher. I had a hard time getting the dry-erase marker off sometimes.

I also skim with a small ladle.

Great question!