Milk Cow (I am Spoiled)
January 23rd, 2007 by Nathan VI am very spoiled. Let me explain what I mean by that. When I moved out to the Salatins they didn’t have a milk cow, they had had a couple cows years ago but that had fallen by the wayside as they became busy . I started getting milk from a friend of theirs that had a dairy. The dairy was grass based so the milk had a good flavor but because most of the cow are Holstein the milk was not very creamy and rich. At home we have all jerseys and the milk is very creamy and rich, usually about 5% butter fat. For the first year I was at the Salatins I just put up with getting milk from the friend that had the dairy but when I decided to stay on another year I wanted to get my own jersey cow and build a portable milking parlor so I could milk my own cow. Since the portable milking parlor is the next logical step once you go to rotational grazing I wanted to experiment with designing a portable parlor and with the saw mill it is very easy to build anything very cheaply. All that to say that I finely got a jersey cow the first week in January. The first few days she went off of her feed almost completely and was not settling down very well. After about a week she finely got into the routine and started behaving herself. WOW!!!!!!! the milk that she was giving me was about 1 part milk and 10 parts cream, I have never seen anything like it, after letting the milk sit for 24 hrs there is about 1-3 inches of milk on the bottom of a gallon of milk and the rest is cream. After about 5 days the milk started to have less cream and the that was there wasn’t as yellow. I think that the reason for that is that when I first got the cow I put here in a small holding pen but soon after turned her in with a group of calves that we just moved into a lot that had two days worth of grass. I am very excited to see if when we turn the cow out onto pasture in the spring if her milk becomes very creamy again. When you drink milk that is that rich and creamy you feel like you are indulging in something that would be found on King Solomon’s table, and you so I have become very spoiled and regard all other milk as substandard.
I got to thinking that there are people that never get to taste fresh, rich, creamy milk right from the cow and get the satisfaction of knowing that the milk came from your cow that you just milked. The feeling that it gives you is one of deep satisfaction both physical and spiritual. With Authentic Agriculture practices that feeling is not uncommon and is found in many tasks from milking your own cow to cutting your own wood with the old buzz saw. I think that one of the reasons that Joel has been so successful is that he is very good at making people feel like they are a part of the Polyface family, that they are an essential part of the system, giving them a similar sense of satisfaction that we as the farmer experience.
Here is some news that I thought was exciting. According to Joel there is now a ‘easy’ way to beat the NAIS (national animal identification system).It is to simply not comply. According to Joel, in Michigan, where animal id is already mandatory, there are about 20 farmers that have not complied that have bankrupt the budget for enforcement simply by not complying. On a national scale the budget for the NAIS was less than 50 million. that’s less than 1 million per state. It doesn’t take to long to use up 1 million with legal fees .
January 23rd, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Jerseys rule!
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Oh man! I tell you, if it ever gets back to raining in this part of the country and the grass grows again all summer, there’s gonna be some Jerseys on this place! And that’s a fact! I got spoiled with that fresh Jersey milk that Jim V and Nathan brought up to our humble farm around a year ago and the family here still talks about it! Everyone loved it!
Interesting also about Michigan. I hope folks keep up the good fight!
January 23rd, 2007 at 7:58 pm
I like that way of defeating NAIS! I’m glad you brought it up.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Nathan,
PLEASE share whatever information you can about your portable parlor! We’re going to be milking in a few weeks, and my son Chris is very interested in the idea of taking the milker to the cow, rather than vice versa.
As to NAIS, I’d call that the Franklin Sanders strategy of defeating the government, and a very effective one. Many years ago in his novel Heiland he explained that as the government became more totalitarian, it actually became less effective, precisely because it could not afford to enforce its far-reaching laws, particularly in rural areas.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Our dream is to have a couple of Jerseys for “family” cows. Until then, here in LA, we are stuck buying milk that has been…. the “p” word. I shouldn’t complain, though. At least the cows are grass fed and aren’t on medications.
About the NAIS… shhhh… big brother is, well you know. :o)
January 24th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Rick
What I did is make a 4×5′ frame out of 2×4”. I then put 2 head gates, from a tie stall barn, on the frame. The whole frame is then bolted to a three foot wide axle ( I would like the axle a little wider maybe 4-5 feet wide because right now it’s a little top heavy.) Very simple but light so I can pull it either with the four-wheeler or by hand if I don’t have to far to go. With only one cow I am milking by hand but if I had a milking system I have a small platform that I could mount a generator and milking system on. My plan was that this would be a small working prototype that I could play around with and than maybe build a bigger one that I could milk 30 cow with. I think that I could build one that I could milk 30 cows in and it would not have to be much bigger. I think I would need a small tractor because it would be heavier with the milking equipment on it.
March 13th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I need to find out about what size to make a hand milkiing stall. I have Jersey and need to know what size to make the stall
Thanks
March 14th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Vicky,
We milk in an old stanchion barn, locking our cows into metal head locks. You can see them in the picture at
http://www.scepaniakfarms.com/blog/2007/01/25/portable-milking-stanchion/#comments
These head locks are adjustable in width. If you have old dairy farms in your area, you may be able to buy one of these old head locks. If you decide to make your own head lock, make sure it is adjustable so that you can accomodate cows with varing sizes of necks and heads, since a given size may contain a heifer, but be too small for a larger full-grown cow. Alternatively you can just tie up your cow. If you decide to tie up the cow, the cow will need a halter or chain around her neck. In my area we can buy a wide nylon collar and we prefer these to chains around the neck or halters. If you decide to tie up the cow, you will need a sturdy place to tie her up and a way of preventing her from moving away from you to one side. If she is not accustomed to being milked or a little wild, having her move to one side can be a problem. An easy way to keep her from moving away from you is to position her up against a wall. Some barn stalls (not mine) have metal bars that go about three feet up on either side of a stall. These help contain the cow. When I get home tonight I will try to get the rough dimensions of my stalls. You might be able to estimate the size of the stall you want by tying up your cow and then determining the distance that will contain her but also give you space to move. In our case we have multiple cows next to each other when we milk. If the cows are too close together you risk getting kicked by the cow next to the one you are milking, or the very least getting nailed in the face by a swinging tail. Because we have plenty of space and originally the barn was designed to really jam in a lot of cows, we actually place our cows into every other stanchion. This gives us more room to work. Hope this helps.
Jim V
March 16th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Vicky,
In our barn the head locks are roughly 3 feet apart. WE put cows in very other head lock. The place where the cow stands is about 6 feet to where the gutter used to be (they were filled in), so the length of a “stall” is about 6 feet.
Jim V