Belvedere Farms

Farming for Flavor and Raising our Family on 47 Acres in NE Ohio

  • Our Story
  • On The Farm
    • Shop Farm Goods
    • Farm Events
    • Farm Dispatches
    • Farm Institute
  • Milk Cow 101
  • On the Blog
    • The Family Milk Cow
    • Milk Cow Blog Posts
    • Farmhouse Recipes
    • Canning & Preserving
You are here: Home / Blog Post / My Top 5 Every-Day Milking Supplies and Where To Get Them

My Top 5 Every-Day Milking Supplies and Where To Get Them

08.07.2021 by Raelene Bradley // Leave a Comment

A fellow milk cow friend of mine often likes to say:

A milk cow doesn’t ask for much, but she asks every day.

I milk my cow every day, rain or shine, whether I’m dog-tired or feeling fine, feeling my age or full of sunshine.

To make that experience an enjoyable one, it helps immeasurably to have the right equipment.

First (and foremost): find a good cow.

You want to enjoy milking time, leaning up against her warm flank as you swoosh swoosh swoosh that liquid sunshine into the bucket.

Take the time to find and invest in a good, proven family milk cow who is calm, quiet, healthy, and patient. Some days I spend more time with my cow than with my husband. You want to be sure you love that time, not dread it.

I cover this topic and many, many more in depth in my online course, Milk Cow 101.

Click here to learn more and join the waitlist so you’ll know as soon as enrollment opens and you too can learn everything you need to feel confident and prepared as you embark on your milk cow journey.

After a good cow, favorite milking supplies are pretty subjective, but these here are my favorite every day milking supplies. They’re good quality and hold up to the wear and tear of every day use.

1. A stainless steel 13qt milking pail.

Get it here: Homesteaders Supply

I like the 13 qt size because it will get me through an entire lactation – from when she’s giving 3 gallons a milking twice a day to when she gives not quite 2 gallons once a day.

Stainless steel means it’s easy to clean and sanitize. And it has no seams where milk particles can get lodged and go bad.

2. A milk pail lid

Get it here: Homesteaders Supply

Odd as it may be, milking pail lids are sold separately from the pail (which makes no sense at all to me), so make sure you ALSO get a lid.

After spending all that time and effort to milk out 2 gallons of liquid sunshine, you don’t want to have to dump it out because something got in the bucket on your way to the house.

3. A stainless steel re-usable coffee filter

Get it here: Amazon

Once you bring the milk to the house, you need to filter it to remove any stray bits of hair or straw or dust. You can purchase special-made milk filter funnels and disposable paper filters, but I like this one a whole lot.

It’s inexpensive, stainless steel and re-usable so easy to clean and sanitize, fine enough to filter out everything it should, and fits just right into the mouth of a gallon jar. Win win win win win.

4. Wide Mouth Gallon Glass Jars

Get them here: Uline

You need jars to keep your milk. I’ve tried half gallons, but when you’re bringing in 4-5 gallons of milk a day, half gallons fill up my fridge waaaaaay too fast.

Plus – I much prefer the extra-wide mouth on a gallon jar. It makes it much easier to skim the cream and I’m all about that cream.

And, when you buy them from Uline they’re shipped next day delivery. It’s a mite more expensive (though you more than save that on the cost of the jars), but oh so gratifying to need jars one day and have them show up the next!

5. Milking Rags

If you opt for disposable milking rags (they’re quick and easy to use, you can store them in the barn right where you milk, they’re single use and so always sanitary), you can’t go wrong with a good, quality shop towel.

Though I’ve seen diaper wipes used to great success as well. Just sayin’. You’ve got options.

Find those shop towels here: Uline

If, however, you’d rather use washable, reusable milk rags, I say make your own.

You can use old towels or sheets, t-shirts or sweatpants. If you cut up towels or sheets, be sure to zigzag the edges with your sewing machine so the threads don’t fray (I did this with some of mine and skipped it with others and find I always reach for the sewn ones first). But t-shirts and sweatpants don’t need to be sewn so if I get the choice, I find I cut them up for milk rags first.

Use 2-3 rags at each milking: 2 for washing, 1 for drying. Just bring them back to the house and keep them separate from your other wash (I have a small basket in the laundry room just for milk rags).

Once I’ve got a good many (generally after a few days), I’ll toss them into the washer on hot water and an extra rinse cycle. Easy. Clean. And no cash output.

So there you have it. I use these items every. single. day. They’re worth their salt and make the whole routine run smoothly.

If you’re new to the milk cow life, or want to be soon, come join the waitlist for my online course Milk Cow 101, where you’ll get all the information, knowledge, and actionable step-by-step training to feel confident, prepared, and empowered to bring home your first family milk cow.

Categories // Blog Post, MilkCow 101 Tags // family milk cow, home dairy, milk cow

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




belvederefarms

Hey there friends! Long time, no see eh? . Popping Hey there friends!
Long time, no see eh?
.
Popping in to let you know I’ll be posting over at @belvedere.farms from now on.
.
Same farm, same milk cow / farming / homesteading / canning & preserving / free-range kids capers & misadventures kinda stuff, but a whole new chapter.
.
Sneak peek: if you’ve been around for awhile, you’ll know Maude (our milk cow Sandy’s first calf). She’s a brand new momma herself!
.
She and I are learning together how to train a milk cow from scratch. It’s an adventure, to be sure!
.
Come on over to @belvedere.farms and follow along.
.
- Raelene
Wow. Just wow. . This is how I feel every time I l Wow. Just wow.
.
This is how I feel every time I look at the pantry shelves, filling slowly but surely, bit by bit.
.
Summer’s bounty + hard work (and plenty of hot sweaty days in the kitchen) means my family will eat like kings all winter long.
.
It’s such a blessing to know these skills and get to pass them along.
.
Sign up for my newsletter (link in bio) so you know when the next homesteading/self-sufficiency class is happening here at Belvedere Farms and you too can start filling those pantry shelves with goodness.
.
.
.
#homestead #preservingtheharvest #canning #cannedpeaches #canningseason #selfsufficiency #homemadefood #homesteadmama
“She is little, but she is fierce.” Don’t pu “She is little, but she is fierce.”
Don’t put out that fire.
.
.
.
#farmraisedkids #farmher #farmgirl #ican #homesteadmama
Can I hear an AMEN? Just tell me one thing: Team L Can I hear an AMEN?
Just tell me one thing: Team Lake or Team Ocean?
.
Me? Lake. All the way. Nothing in the lake wants to kill me. 😱
.
#gooutside #wildandfreechildren #lakeday #summertime #outdoorkids
There’s nothing like the smell of fresh cut hay. There’s nothing like the smell of fresh cut hay.
.
.
.
#hayingseason #freshhay #hay #farmlife #summeronthefarm #hayfield #ohiofarm
Just like that, canning season has officially begu Just like that, canning season has officially begun.
.
I drove down to the vet’s to pick up meds for a sick heifer and since it takes me right through Amish country, I couldn’t resist stopping at a farm just off the road to pick up 10 quarts of small but luscious berries (the small ones are sweetest, I think).
.
Harvested rhubarb from the garden and a couple hours later : strawberry rhubarb jam.
.
When you’re filling shelves for the winter, every little bit counts.
.
Are you making jam this year? What’s your favorite fruit to use for jam? I loooove apricot jam, but have a hard time finding local apricots here in Ohio. If you know of a source - spill the beans!🤣
.
.
.
#canningseason #strawberryjam #homesteadmama #homesteadskills #oldfashionedonpurpose #preservingtheharvest
It may seem like a small thing, but it always make It may seem like a small thing, but it always makes my heart happy to look out the window and see the cows grazing in the pasture.
.
It took a lot of work to get here, and takes a lot of work to stay here, but working hard for something you love isn’t a burden. Instead it builds confidence, self-respect, resilience, and stamina.
.
Go, friends. Work your tails off at work worth doing. And stop every now and again to take stock of all you’ve accomplished and all you’ve learned. It’ll blow your socks off and give you the gumption to do the next hard and worthwhile thing.
.
.
.
#iamyourfarmer #milkcow #grassfed #rawmilk #farmlife #lifeouthere #hardworkpaysoffs #ohiofarm
Every farm needs a barn cat. We’ve noticed a hug Every farm needs a barn cat. We’ve noticed a huge difference between the years we’ve had barn cuts and the years we haven’t. They’re essential.
.
And yet, I’m pretty sure my kids all think we keep barn cats for the kittens.
.
There’s a new litter every spring and so far we’ve always been able to give enough away to keep from being overrun. Their momma, Scout, is a phenomenal mouser (and catches birds and squirrels and chipmunks too) and earns her keep many times over.
.
So much so that when she decides to give birth, she finds a spot in the basement and we let her come and go as she pleases while the kittens are teeny. That in itself is a testament to her place on the farm.
.
Are you team barn cat? How many do you have?
.
.
.
#barncat #kittens #kidsandkittens #farmraisedkid #farmkid #homesteadkids
Eleven brand spankin’ new piglets born on the fa Eleven brand spankin’ new piglets born on the farm yesterday afternoon/evening.
.
It never gets old this farming thing. There’s always something to work on, look forward to, get better at, learn from, grow into, and try again.
.
I’m here for it and doing my darndest.
.
#farmlifebestlife #babypigs #piglets #iamyourfarmer #supportlocalfarmers #berkshirepigs #farmher
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Recent Posts

  • 5 Meals or More With 1 Pasture-Raised Chicken
  • Tacos de Lengua – Beef Tongue Tacos
  • All About Cream : Part 1
  • How to help your milk cow adjust to Daylight Savings Time
  • What is A2A2 Milk?

Categories

  • Blog Post
  • Canning
  • MilkCow 101
  • Recipes

Copyright © 2023 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in