Hi everyone,
I am currently milking 3 Jerseys and have been for years. I make and store a lot of cheese but lately when it comes time to press my curds, I have noticed that they are melting, like they do when you make and stretch mozzarella. This means that the PH of the curds at that time has to be around 5.0-5.2 or so. This should not happen. For the cheeses I am making the PH should be closer to 5.9 or higher. So, as a result I tested the milk before I began the next batch of cheese and it was reading 6.45. Fresh milk should be around 6.7 PH.
I had our milk tested not long ago and Somatic Cell Count was a little high. But we just use the dairy for ourselves so I don't worry too much about that. Doubly confusing is that according to my research, a high SCC would increase the PH, not decrease it.
A few weeks ago one of our three Jerseys became very suddenly ill. She had diarrhea, gave no milk, and would not drink and did not get up. After 20 hours, right as the vet got here, she stood up and began to eat and drink as if all was normal. She has seemed completely fine since then and her milk production went back up to its previous place. For the past 1.5 weeks approximately this cow has been noticably more restless during the milking. She raises her hoof to kick (but doesn't) while I am cleaning her teat and she behaves somewhat abnormally while the milk machine is on her. She also for many weeks now does not finish her grains. It has seemed to me like one teat in particular disturbed her, but there is no visible damag to it and I have done a mastitis test with negative results.
I have a ton of milk and need to be able to make my aged cheeses but cannot figure out what could be causing the low PH. My vet is out of town for 6 more days, in which time I will need to process over 50 gallons of milk.
Any help is very much appreciated.
I am currently milking 3 Jerseys and have been for years. I make and store a lot of cheese but lately when it comes time to press my curds, I have noticed that they are melting, like they do when you make and stretch mozzarella. This means that the PH of the curds at that time has to be around 5.0-5.2 or so. This should not happen. For the cheeses I am making the PH should be closer to 5.9 or higher. So, as a result I tested the milk before I began the next batch of cheese and it was reading 6.45. Fresh milk should be around 6.7 PH.
I had our milk tested not long ago and Somatic Cell Count was a little high. But we just use the dairy for ourselves so I don't worry too much about that. Doubly confusing is that according to my research, a high SCC would increase the PH, not decrease it.
A few weeks ago one of our three Jerseys became very suddenly ill. She had diarrhea, gave no milk, and would not drink and did not get up. After 20 hours, right as the vet got here, she stood up and began to eat and drink as if all was normal. She has seemed completely fine since then and her milk production went back up to its previous place. For the past 1.5 weeks approximately this cow has been noticably more restless during the milking. She raises her hoof to kick (but doesn't) while I am cleaning her teat and she behaves somewhat abnormally while the milk machine is on her. She also for many weeks now does not finish her grains. It has seemed to me like one teat in particular disturbed her, but there is no visible damag to it and I have done a mastitis test with negative results.
I have a ton of milk and need to be able to make my aged cheeses but cannot figure out what could be causing the low PH. My vet is out of town for 6 more days, in which time I will need to process over 50 gallons of milk.
Any help is very much appreciated.