- Thread starter
- #41
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Very good points! That I will need to keep in mind, thanks!
The Journey of Finding the Perfect Dairy Calf
- Thread starter BarredBuff
- Start date
peteyfoozer
Lovin' The Homestead
quite a few people do that, milk into a smaller bucket then dump and refill. I have a belly milker so I don't have to deal with it. You will LOVE having your cow. Playing with milk is so much fun! 
I use gallon glass jars to chill my milk in, as Jerseys tend to give a good bit. My 2 year old heifer is giving me 3 gallons every morning on just 1x a day milking. She freshened at over 6 gallons a day as a first freshener! Out of the 3 gallons I take, 1/2 gallon is heavy cream that I have to SCRAPE off of the spoon. Now would be a good time to start gathering books and info of what to do with it all. I make butter, ghee, cream cheese and sour cream with mine, as well as using some for ice cream and whipping cream. I have also found that culturing my butter works a lot better and the resulting buttermilk is awesome both to cook with and to inoculate my cream cheese and sour cream.
The skimmed milk I use for yogurt, mozzarella and ricotta and am working on the hard cheeses (need a better press). KFC is a great resource for information on cows.
Lookin forward to seeing pics of her when you get her!
I use gallon glass jars to chill my milk in, as Jerseys tend to give a good bit. My 2 year old heifer is giving me 3 gallons every morning on just 1x a day milking. She freshened at over 6 gallons a day as a first freshener! Out of the 3 gallons I take, 1/2 gallon is heavy cream that I have to SCRAPE off of the spoon. Now would be a good time to start gathering books and info of what to do with it all. I make butter, ghee, cream cheese and sour cream with mine, as well as using some for ice cream and whipping cream. I have also found that culturing my butter works a lot better and the resulting buttermilk is awesome both to cook with and to inoculate my cream cheese and sour cream.
The skimmed milk I use for yogurt, mozzarella and ricotta and am working on the hard cheeses (need a better press). KFC is a great resource for information on cows.
Lookin forward to seeing pics of her when you get her!
- Thread starter
- #43
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Thanks for the advice. Yeah I know what products to make, I make cultured cream butter and buttermilk now and make churned ice cream. I am considering once a day milking. We plan to raise a beef calf, and a pig or two. So the milk wont be wasted. Plus I want to make chicken mash with it. I have the half gallon glass jars, a dozen at the moment, but Im considering getting more.peteyfoozer said:quite a few people do that, milk into a smaller bucket then dump and refill. I have a belly milker so I don't have to deal with it. You will LOVE having your cow. Playing with milk is so much fun!
I use gallon glass jars to chill my milk in, as Jerseys tend to give a good bit. My 2 year old heifer is giving me 3 gallons every morning on just 1x a day milking. She freshened at over 6 gallons a day as a first freshener! Out of the 3 gallons I take, 1/2 gallon is heavy cream that I have to SCRAPE off of the spoon. Now would be a good time to start gathering books and info of what to do with it all. I make butter, ghee, cream cheese and sour cream with mine, as well as using some for ice cream and whipping cream. I have also found that culturing my butter works a lot better and the resulting buttermilk is awesome both to cook with and to inoculate my cream cheese and sour cream.
The skimmed milk I use for yogurt, mozzarella and ricotta and am working on the hard cheeses (need a better press). KFC is a great resource for information on cows.
Lookin forward to seeing pics of her when you get her!
peteyfoozer
Lovin' The Homestead
Will you be share milking, or putting the calf on a bottle? I did share milk the first few months, so I had time to ride in the summer without having to worry about milking, but as soon as the calves were 4 months old and things here settled down, I weaned them off to a bottle only (They had to get occasional bottles at the beginning or I never would have got them on one later) so we would get some cream. Cows are FAMOUS for holding back all the cream if they nurse calves too. It takes EmmaLouMoo 3 days to give it up for me! Have you already got a cow you are looking at, or plan to 'cow shop' after you get everything put together?
- Thread starter
- #45
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Probably calf on the bottle, thats my plan. No I havent got a cow picked out, I plan to shop after the barn is built and we get the electric fence fixed. Which should be April or May. 
mandieg4
Lovin' The Homestead
If you plan on hand milking, get some of those grip exercise things and start working with them now. Don't just use your whole hand to squeeze the grip things, use two fingers and your thumb, and three fingers and your thumb. I've been milking for 7 months now and my hands STILL start to cramp up about halfway through milking.
- Thread starter
- #47
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Good idea, what are they called?mandieg4 said:
mandieg4
Lovin' The Homestead
- Thread starter
- #49
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Yesterday we got most of the start up materials for our calf, which we should get here VERY soon. I can feel it!! 
1. Fortex Rubber Pail for Watering
2. Fortex Rubber Pan for Dry Feed
3. Bottle
Then my Veterinary Kit includes:
1. Sulmet
2. Corrid
3. Electrolytes
4. Syringes
5. Needles
6. Corona Wound Ointment
7. Gentle Iodine
8. Duramycin
9. Oxytetracycline
ALL of this was bought with our SS money
1. Fortex Rubber Pail for Watering
2. Fortex Rubber Pan for Dry Feed
3. Bottle
Then my Veterinary Kit includes:
1. Sulmet
2. Corrid
3. Electrolytes
4. Syringes
5. Needles
6. Corona Wound Ointment
7. Gentle Iodine
8. Duramycin
9. Oxytetracycline
ALL of this was bought with our SS money
peteyfoozer
Lovin' The Homestead
I would add some sulfa boluses like Sustain III for scours, a pill gun and possibly one of the calf stomach tubes in case it gets sick and needs tubing. I have a couple calves every year that do that, although most of them do just fine. I would also be sure to get some loose mineral. Congrats! You must be really excited, I would be!
