storing frozen cows milk for future use for calves

[steveaust]

Is it feasable to store cows milk in buckets in the freezer to be fed out later to calves.I can buy milk direct from the farmer much cheaper then i can make it up.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Yes Steve, it is feasible to freeze it, but I think you'd have to make sure the buckets have a very good seal. As a matter of fact, we freeze cololstrum every year during calving season. I milk out the odd cow that is in the maternity pen after calving and freeze the colostrum for future use on newborn calves that may be unable to nurse for one reason or another. Every calving season I chuck out the old stuff from the previous year to make room for the new fresh milk. I'm not sure if it gets freezer burn, it just seems like a prudent course of action.

We used to store it in the large size pop bottles, but this last calving season I've switched to using the large sized freezer bags. They take up less space in the freezer than the bottles and seem to thaw out faster.

One note of caution: thaw the frozen milk in a container of warm water. If you overheat the colostrum you will kill some of the anitbodies, thus defeating the purpose of the whole exercise.

Take care.

 

[certherfbeef]

Steve,
I don't know how close you might be to a Dairy or two but see if they will help. Preferably not milk from a first calver, and definately not from a johnes herd.
I too use freezer bags and the warm water thaw method.
While in college we used a clostrumeter to measure the value of the milk. I'm sure you can still get one, but I don't remember the preffered value any more. Good Luck, lots of colostrum on hand is never a bad thing!!

 

[txshowmom]

Yes you can freeze it and it is a very good idea to do so. We pour ours in gallon size ziplock freezer bags.