Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Thursday morning. 62 to start but up near 80 last time I looked. Humidity dropped yesterday afternoon though so not too bad. Sunny and will get to the upper 80's or thereabouts they say. No rain today, 20% chance tomorrow. Sure hope not as we have hay on the ground again... I think he finished cutting the 20+ acres at the one place, then we only have the farm we lease to do. Forecast looks like 30% plus every day next week.

Cow done, dishes done, laundry ready to go on line. Meters and hoses in the car and trays of bottles for this afternoon's test on the seat. I am going to leave a little early and try to make a couple stops on the way. Have to be set up and ready by about 1:45.... I try to be there before 1 so I don't have to rush. 200 cows... they milk pretty fast. I should be done, computer work and all, and out of there by 7 the latest.
Tomorrow will be raking hay I am sure.

 

[Mini Horses]

Questions about the auto milk equipment....

They do a quick teat wash, put equipment on...then to next cow...etc. not every cow or quarter has same amount. When a quarter empties, do they walk and remove each or is there a cut off?

Do they remove milk from teat by hand before attaching cups?

Do they dip/wipe teats at removal? Dip cups?

Are most set ups fixed to milk the group that's in, release all, bring in more?

Ya know, I was wondering as I was milking this morning!!

I need to come watch one day. .


My DD just told me she'd like more eggs but, no one cared for the milk. . Assume she meant the cats. I'll ask.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

no one cared for the milk.

 

[Bruce]

no one cared for the milk

What kind of milk? I've bought LaMancha milk at the Farmer's Market and I'd bet I could give it to anyone who drinks cow whole milk and they wouldn't know the difference.

 

[Ridgetop]

The flavor of milk depends on what the dairy animals are fed. Also some breeds of goats (and cows) produce more butterfat in their milk.

Nubians (and Jerseys) are known for their high butterfat counts so if you only drink low fat or nonfat milk, you might not care for the milk taste of those breeds. Also, if the dairy cattle producing your commercial milk are fed alfalfa and the dairy goats are fed alfalfa, the goat milk taste will be similar to the cow milk taste. Our Nubians and LaManchas produced good milk - we fed alfalfa and dairy cattle grain so they were eating what the milk cows were eating. We fund that if we didn't mention that the milk was goat milk no one could tell the difference other than it was richer. If we told them if was goat milk they would suddenly "discover" that they noticed a distinct difference in taste that was unpleasant. This after asking for seconds and thirds of the previously delicious milk! LOL

Some breeds of goat have milk that tastes substantially different from other breeds. Toggenburg milk has a very sharp taste which makes good cheese, but we hated it for drinking. Naturally, our first house dairy goat was a Toggenburg! We soon replaced her with Nubians. We also had several Alpines and a Saanen in our early dairy goat keeping years, but didn't like their milk as well as the Nubian and LaMancha milk.

 

[murphysranch]

Several items to discuss on FJ's thread.

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Just went on the market and for 36 acres, you could prob get two cuttings of hay. But thats alot of money and like you said, one must invest in the equipment. There are lots of ads on F marketplace and Nextdoor looking for contract hay cutters/balers.

An old friend who used to be on TEG, Major, has had 5" of rain so far this week in NC. Holey Moley! I'm glad you were AOK.

I've always loved goat cheese, but not goat milk. I've tried it fresh from the grocery store (Meyers) and powdered. I used to use it in some of my soaps that I made. I'll have to try again, now that I've moved to an much more ag area.

Thanks for the continued learnings.

 

[Alaskan]

I've tried it fresh from the grocery store (

I hated grocery store goat milk... very strong.

Super fresh is best. The longer it sits the stronger it tastes. So super fresh tastes way more like cow milk.


I preferred goat milk from goats fed a bunch of barley.

 

[Ridgetop]

Ugh! Goat milk from the store doesn't even smell that good. You want to chill the milk immediately, store it in glass containers, and only drink the fresh milking. Everything left over from the morning milking by the evening milking gets put into the pasteurizer for the goat kids or fed fresh to the calves or hogs. Evening milking gets drunk for breakfast. It tastes best not pasteurized. We only pasteurized the milk for the goat kids to avoid CAE.

 

[farmerjan]

Questions about the auto milk equipment....

They do a quick teat wash, put equipment on...then to next cow...etc. not every cow or quarter has same amount. When a quarter empties, do they walk and remove each or is there a cut off?

Do they remove milk from teat by hand before attaching cups?

Do they dip/wipe teats at removal? Dip cups?

Are most set ups fixed to milk the group that's in, release all, bring in more?

Ya know, I was wondering as I was milking this morning!!

I need to come watch one day. .


My DD just told me she'd like more eggs but, no one cared for the milk. . Assume she meant the cats. I'll ask.

Okay... about milking on a commercial dairy. MOST will do quick wipe usually with a cloth, for any dry debris, dirt, etc... then a pre dip of some sort. Most all do a strip of each quarter... several squirts... some into the drains, some into a strip cup... then another predip.... leave and go to the next cow... Most do 3-4 cows then go back to the first cow... wipe off and attach the milker. Give let down time of 30-60 seconds per cow...
If a cow is a "3 teat milker" they will use a plug that fits in the inflation so it doesn't get milked... and if one quarter milks out faster, inflation is USUALLY removed. bent over to not suck any air or the plug shoved in the end of the inflation so not sucking and losing vacuum.
Cows are post dipped, not wiped off at all. Yes, most parlors have the whole group go out at once when the last one is done... then another whole group comes in and then goes through the whole process. I have one parlor that is a "side opening" where each cow is in an individual stall... so if one is a slow milker, cows might come and go around her... has advantages and disadvantages...
Stanchion barns the cows can come in and go out individually also...
Most dairies also have "automatic take offs" that sense the flow of milk and cut the vacuum and the milker comes off automatically... one farm had the type of milking claw that has a button and it can be used to cut the vacuum( pushes in or out) and then the milking claw will come off. You don't want to ever pull the milker off... you can damage the teat ends... plus if the vacuum is too strong it will damage the teat ends... some just kink the hose that comes from the milk line to the milking claw and cut the vacuum that way....

 

[farmerjan]

WELL... I really think I will make a better weather forecaster than the latest ones....
0% on the forecast... then a mention of a very slight chance of a possible stray shower... So what does it do... I get to the farm, it is getting cloudy... and it has a good shower. But they got a real RAIN about 6-8 miles south... water laying in big puddles everywhere when I left to go home.
DS said it didn't rain at doug's barn, he went to the field not a 1/2 mile... and he got 5 rolls baled and it rained... went back to the barn... NOTHING at the barn... sun came out and he said well it ought to dry it wasn't much. Left to go back to the field a little later... and gets to the end of the driveway... and it is lightly raining but not at the barn....
NOTHING at my house 3 miles up the hill... about 1 mile as the crow flies....
Sure hope that it will dry and not have to be tedded out tomorrow. He wants me to go to the other field and rake... now there is a 20% chance of pop up showers tomorrow afternoon...
You know it is because there is hay laying in the field... and the forecast for Sat and after is 20-50% chances every day, now....
Had computer problems and couldn't fix at the farm... So I got home, deleted the herd out of the computer, then a little later "added the herd" back in as a new herd... downloaded the records from the computer center... imported the info on the jump drive like I normally do from his computer... and proceeded to go on and do all the milk weights... NOW I will have to go back to the farm and take the stupid jump drive and import the info (that i just exported to the jump drive off mine)... into his computer. If he had access to the internet at the stupid barn... I could have done all this there. No one has smart phones with the hot spot access .... and he was leaving so could not even ask to go in the house to try the delete and reinstall the herd trick there.... but I think that their internet access is very limited there and it is his wife's smart phone and she was not home this evening....
Granted, I thought it might require the computer support at work to figure out what was going on... but then I figured why not try to delete and reinstall the herd....
Just time to quit these aggravations.....
Got the packing list (what we call the racking list) for the samples so will get them done and ready to go out. Drop them off in the morning I guess. Got to look at the weather before I do anything tomorrow now. It is about 20 minutes to drive the tractor and rake to the other field that needs raking... I'm guessing it is pretty dry... haven't talked to DS about it at all....

I did go out and bring the laundry in since it had not gotten wet... and now am thinking a hot shower and a bowl of ice cream would be nice.