miron28
Overrun with beasties
i am thinking about getting a couple of cows and useing one for milking. what is a good cow to start of with. i will be hand milking her. what age do they have to be before you can start milking them?
You don't need to pasturize the milk. We get it straight from the bulktank and drink it that way. As steerridder said, as long as your cows are healthy you will be fine. I haven't had a chance to study up on it but, I've heard that there are newer studies showing benefits to drinking raw milk.miron28 said:do i need to get a pasteurizer? or can i just put the milk in to a milk container and drink it from there?
miron28 said:should i buy a cow at the auction that was a dairy cow or should i buy a calf and wait the 2 years? That depends on when you want the milk and if you are ready for an actual cow and milking her. If you decide on a cow steerrider had a very good point. If you can, go to the farm and see her, handle her, work with her before you buy her.
when i do milk herAfter she calves/freshens twice a day (roughly 12 hours apart)., what should i put the milk in? do i milk her into a stainless steal pale and then pour it in to a plastic container?I do believe that is the preferred method for hand milking. and how much milk will i get from her a day? Depends on the cow and how she is feed, as Imissmygirls pointed out.
will she let another calf that is not hers eat off her? or will she not let him cause it is not hers?This really depends on the cow. Some will except only hers and some will acept others.
do they sell a milker that will pump into a container? or do i really have to hand milk her? They make small vacuum pumps and either Delaval or Surge make buckets type milkers. Look at the equipment page (link in the index in my sig). Personnally, I hate hand milking and having to wash a unit would be worth it but, that is a personal decision. If you can, go to a dairy farm and milk a cow by hand. Try to go and do this a few times and see if you really want to milk by hand or not. It would be really great if it were the cow you wanted to buy, if your buying a cow. But, even buying a calf you should giv it a try so you know what you want to do.
sorry about all the quetions! i have more questions but i will start off with these and ask more as you guys answer thank you for all the help!
Here is some reading for you. http://wildthingorganics.com/milk.pdfFarmer Kitty said:You don't need to pasturize the milk. We get it straight from the bulktank and drink it that way. As steerridder said, as long as your cows are healthy you will be fine. I haven't had a chance to study up on it but, I've heard that there are newer studies showing benefits to drinking raw milk.miron28 said:do i need to get a pasteurizer? or can i just put the milk in to a milk container and drink it from there?