Post by buxombeefcowdairy on Dec 3, 2007 14:39:41 GMT -5
I took about a month off from milking Chloe, who has fostered/adopted one of our twin Angus calves. The calf didn't take all of the milk until she was 2 1/2 months old, and I was taking about a gallon a day.
I took some time off from milking because we had a lot of work from our bull sale on November 1.
During that time, Chloe has learned to let down only when the calf nurses. So I halter-broke the calf, so that I can get let-down and then milk the remaining 2 or 3 quarters.
Something is wrong, though-the milk does NOT last more than about 24 hours before it gets sour. It tastes sour before it smells sour.
My procedure and equipment is exactly the same as before, and so is her feed-except that she has leftover grass to graze instead of fresh green.
Chloe is very clean, and I have tried even a betadine-scrubdown of her udder and a complete change of my own clothes. I give the milk jars a hot soapy water and bleach rinse both to clean them and then immediately before putting milk in them. I have rinsed the (new) filter out with boiling water before filtering, and it is cold here so the milk gets chilled fast.
When we weaned our spring-born beef calves, I got in one of my pet Angus cows, Tibbie, and milked her. The milk wasn't really very tasty, but it kept for 10 days- with the same procedures and equipment that I am using on Chloe. (Except Tibbie was much dirtier! So I milked her in the poopy squeeze chute instead of outside on clean pasture. Go figure...)
By the way, there is hardly ever even so much as a hair in the filter, and the milk filters quickly.
Could there be some sort of bacteria in Chloe that is souring the milk? Would an antibiotic teat infusion possibly get rid of it?
I really want some nice, clean milk but I can only get it for the 6 hours or so following a milking.
Help!!
I took some time off from milking because we had a lot of work from our bull sale on November 1.
During that time, Chloe has learned to let down only when the calf nurses. So I halter-broke the calf, so that I can get let-down and then milk the remaining 2 or 3 quarters.
Something is wrong, though-the milk does NOT last more than about 24 hours before it gets sour. It tastes sour before it smells sour.
My procedure and equipment is exactly the same as before, and so is her feed-except that she has leftover grass to graze instead of fresh green.
Chloe is very clean, and I have tried even a betadine-scrubdown of her udder and a complete change of my own clothes. I give the milk jars a hot soapy water and bleach rinse both to clean them and then immediately before putting milk in them. I have rinsed the (new) filter out with boiling water before filtering, and it is cold here so the milk gets chilled fast.
When we weaned our spring-born beef calves, I got in one of my pet Angus cows, Tibbie, and milked her. The milk wasn't really very tasty, but it kept for 10 days- with the same procedures and equipment that I am using on Chloe. (Except Tibbie was much dirtier! So I milked her in the poopy squeeze chute instead of outside on clean pasture. Go figure...)
By the way, there is hardly ever even so much as a hair in the filter, and the milk filters quickly.
Could there be some sort of bacteria in Chloe that is souring the milk? Would an antibiotic teat infusion possibly get rid of it?
I really want some nice, clean milk but I can only get it for the 6 hours or so following a milking.
Help!!