Most economical place to buy SS milking supplies?

[shelleyb1969]

I just bought my first milk goat yesterday. She's a 3 year old Nubian and is a SUPER sweet girl and an excellent milker. I've never milked a goat before, but being a country girl from TN, I did it without any problem at all...but "Daisy" was soooooo nice and easy to milk. Anyways...I'm not picking her up from her previous owner until next Saturday...I requested a week to get everything in order. I've been looking online (all over!) to find a stainless steel pail and strainer...but man are they outrageous! Can anyone direct me to an economical retailer for what I need? Or even an alternative to the "standard" supplies?

 

[freemotion]

You can milk into one of your stainless steel pans/pots or glass canning jars, no problem! You can buy a ss funnel and line it with a filter....or do what I do, use one of those coffee filters that you wash and re-use over and over, put it in the funnel. I like the size that is made for a single mug of coffee. The holder, that sits on the mug, is sold separately so don't buy it. It is designed to SLOW the water down to make better coffee, but is infuriatingly slow for filtering milk.

Remember, you are not a commercial dairy so do not have to follow those guidelines and you will be just fine. I have a bunch of funnels....the ss one is always in the dishwasher, it seems, when I need it.....and my favorites are plastic ones that I made by cutting the top off a sturdy plastic bottle and inverting it for use as a funnel. The dishwasher will sanitize everything just fine.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Thank you so much, freemotion. I KNEW there had to be an alternative...and thank you so much for sharing with me! You have relieved a lot of my stress. I have a stainless steel pot, and I'm sure I can find one of those re-useable coffee filter thingies. I have one, but it's been used for coffee A LOT, so I don't think I want to use it for the milk. And goodness knows I have plenty of plastic bottles around here. Now I can focus on some of the other things I need before Daisy comes home.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I use seamless stainless steel 2 qt dog kennel pails from Jeffer's. Snagged them on sale for around $3 each. They've worked GREAT! Just make sure they're seamless- some of the stainless steel kennel pails have seams in the bottom. They come in larger sizes, but the 2 qt fit under Nigerians.

 

[Holachicka]

Congrats on the new goat!!! Me too! I Just got my girl and I can't believe how expensive things can be so I did a lot of looking around for alternatives. I've only been milking a week now, but what's been working for me is a gallon glass pickle jar. I do worry about her breaking it, so I have one hand on it at all times to move quickly... Until I can get a seamless stainless steal something or other... I use a 12 cup sized reusable coffee filter, in a canning jar funnel to filter. and for the wash/dip I take a cup of water, teaspoon of bleach, and two unscented babywipes out with me (babywipes in the cup of bleach water for wipe down, rest of cup for teat dip). Hope this helps a little!

~Sarah

 

[Roll farms]

TSC carries stainless / seamless gallon buckets for a very reasonable price. Just yank on the handles and check them out...The 1st one I bought, someone was asleep @ the welder and it didn't stay on long. I've since bought 4 others and they're in great shape, 8 yrs later.

Well, one has a dent in it....from a kicky doe. The doe is no longer here...but the bucket is.

If you get milk stone buildup on anything, bleach will usually remove it. Rinse everything in warm (not hot, not cold) water to remove the milk before you put it in hot water and that'll help a lot.