saving dairy milk

[deleasom]

I'm new to this board so I appreciate the opportunity to post here and any advice I get.
I have 6 dairy cows and a herd of beef cows. I use the dairy cows to feed bottle calves. I'm not new to cows but very new to dairy. My Jersey girls make so much milk I have to pump them off with a milker until I get more calves. Can I freeze this milk and thaw it for later use for other bottle calves? Thanks again for any help.

 

[dun]

Get some pigs to feed the surplus to.

 

[Nesikep]

I know of people who freeze milk for their own use and it's fine.. just seems to me it would take up a whole lot of freezer space and time to do it.
Make a few gallons of yogurt.. in a cool room it'll last for a LONG time, and it's pretty easy to make

 

[Son of Butch]

Yes you can freeze the milk for later use. IF freezer space is a problem, I'd suggest skimming the cream to save.
I know some dairies freeze their best colostrum for future use. One even keeps a couple of ice cube trays filled with
colostrum as a handy way of popping a few cubes out for newborns or sick calves that need an extra boost.

 

[greybeard]

When I was a kid,mom used to freeze grocery store milk all the time. Bought it when it was on sale in the half gallon Foremost cartons and dropped 'em in the freezer and thawed 'em out as we needed them.
I guess we wuz po folks--just didn't know it..

 

[skyhightree1]

Get some pigs to feed the surplus to.

I agree.. or make cheese with the milk or butter

 

[bja105]

I agree on the pigs. We milk one Jersey. She gives 8 gallons a day. The calf gets two gallons. We keep some as needed. 4 pigs get the rest. Its cheap gain for the pigs. We bought the pigs 4/26/17 for$27.50 each. They were about 20 pounds each. They are now around 80 pounds each. In barely over 2 months, they have eaten only 200 pounds of grain, some table scraps, and lots of milk. The pen was an hour of work, 8 hog panels, and some T posts.
The cow gets very good pasture and 8 pounds of grain a day.

If we don't sell our Jersey heifer, we are considering milking two and scaling up the pig operation.

 

[deleasom]

THanks for the great ideas. I was considering the pigs and now think that is what we will do. Once I'm better at milking and trust my skills more I will be making butter and cheese.

 

[Son of Butch]

Don't feed your pigs too much on table scraps... a neighbor fed one almost only table scraps, when they butchered
and cooked the meat it smelled like rancid garbage and was inedible.

 

[dun]

Feeding straight milk seems to give a bit of a mushy texture to the meat. When we fed milk it was soaking up old bread/bakery products. The stuff that the day old bread store can;t sell. We also finished them on barley/corn soaked in milk.