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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.

How Can I Tell If My Cow Is In Heat?

07.28.2020 by Raelene Bradley // Leave a Comment

In order for your milk cow to produce milk, she must have a calf. And in order to have a calf, she needs to be bred. The simplest way to do this is to have a bull handy, but that’s not always possible or feasible for a small family farm or homestead. Artificially inseminating your cow (either right on the farm or at the veterinarian) is a good option and ensures an accurate due date. But either way, you need to know for sure when your cow is in heat and ready to be bred.

A cow will come in heat 30-90 days after calving and then every 18-21 days after that. Every cow is a little different, so you’ll need to watch her closely for signs of coming into heat for several days around that schedule.

“In heat” means she is ovulating – fertile and ready to be bred. “Standing heat” refers to the 18-24 hours that she will willingly stand for a bull and accept breeding. Those are her most fertile hours and whether you’re doing a live cover (breeding with a bull) or AI (artificial insemination), you want to be sure to time the breeding just right.

How do you know when she’s in heat?

The most obvious sign is mounting other cows. When in heat, she will jump up on and ride another animal. This does happen with some regularity within a herd, even when they’re not in heat, but if she is consistently mounting or being mounted by another animal, and especially if she stands still while another mounts her, this is a clear sign of heat.

Sometimes a cow will even want to jump on you. When our yearling heifer is in heat, she often wants to jump on me; I watch her closely and try to keep from turning my back to her to keep her from doing so.

Another obvious sign of heat is mooing. Depending on your cow and her personality, insistent and consistent bellowing is another sign of heat. Our cow Sandy rarely moos. If she does, it’s for an obvious reason (e.g. we’ve just separated her calf). But she moos much more often when she’s in heat (sometimes it almost sounds like she’s in distress – but it’s just hormones). Our yearling heifer, on the other hand, bellows like it’s going out of style for several hours at a time. I can always tell when it’s “her time of the month” by her bellowing alone.

Discharge is another sure sign to look for. As her body ovulates and prepares for breeding, her vaginal canal will produce discharge to ease the breeding process. You’ll see long strings of mucus from her vulva, often swooped up on her flank by her tail. This is an excellent sign and a good rule of thumb is to breed 12 hours after seeing discharge – so if you observe it in the morning, breed in the evening. If you see it in the evening, breed the next morning.

Other signs include restlessness, general irritability, rubbing on another cow, on trees or fences, or on you, and a swollen vulva.

The best way to know if your cow is in heat is to carefully observe her behavior and combine both the timing of previous cycles (18-21 days) and several of the previous signs.

What if there are no other cows around?

I am asked this question a lot. Because the most obvious signs of heat are mounting and mooing, if there are no other animals for her to interact with, it can be difficult to detect heat. The best way to do so is careful, consistent observation and accurate timing.

For example, our milk cow Sandy calved on February 15th. She came into heat for the first time on May 19th, exhibiting very clear signs: she had been irritable for several days beforehand (she balked when I tried to lead her, was sometimes restless and shifted more than usual during milking, and even laid down one morning when I tried to bring her up to the barn); she tried to mount both the steer she was with and her calf; she was mooing more than usual; and she had clear discharge swung up onto her flanks.

Knowing for sure that she had been in heat on May 19th, her next cycle would have been around June 9th. This was earlier than I wanted to breed her so I didn’t pay close attention.

The next cycle after that should have been June 30th. I watched her closely the day before, day of, and day after and though her vulva was very swollen and she did moo some, there was no discharge. Since the steer was no longer with us, I just wasn’t 100% sure. Without the steer around, she did not mount the calf and didn’t seem to exhibit many of those sure signs of heat.

Because I wasn’t totally sure when/if she was in heat, we missed the chance to breed her. But when the time came for her next cycle on July 21st, I had a better idea of what to look for with her specifically (and specifically without another animal). She was more restless than usual. She rubbed up against her calf and against the trees in the pasture. She was swollen and mooing (not a lot, but more than usual for her).

Having previously observed her behavior closely, when I saw these signs on the 21st, and knowing the timing was right relative to her previous cycles, we decided to breed her via AI on the morning of the 22nd, just after milking. Our friend is an AI tech and brought his equipment to artificially inseminate her. Once he was inside and could feel the condition of her cervix (which softens and elongates when she’s in heat in preparation for breeding), it was clear that though we were on the early side of her cycle, it was still good timing for breeding.

We’ll watch her closely around August 11th (the timing for her next cycle) and hope that she does not exhibit any signs of heat. This will mean that the breeding took and she’ll have a calf in mid-April.

Because they are lactating and much of their energy goes to producing milk, the conception rate for dairy cows is around 44%, so if she does come back into heat, we’ll simply try again.

Observation & Timing Bring Confidence

The three most obvious signs of heat are mounting, mooing, and discharge. But also watch for restlessness, irritability, rubbing, and swelling of the vulva. Combine those signs with careful observation and timing of her cycle (18-21 days) and you can be confident in identifying the signs of heat in your family milk cow and get her bred so she gives you a lively spritely calf next year and keeps on producing that liquid gold.

Have any other questions about identifying heat in your cow? Let me know in the comments below!

Flaky Farmhouse Buttermilk Scones

04.27.2020 by Raelene Bradley // Leave a Comment

We have gallons and gallons of fresh milk coming into the kitchen every day and each gallon includes a quart of cream. After just a few days, that makes for A LOT of sweet, rich, golden, pasture-rich goodness. And so we churn butter. Lots of butter.

I usually leave the cream out on the counter to ripen for about an hour before churning, but the other day I got distracted doing a million other things (typical!) and so that when I went to churn it, it was a little too warm and the butter fat fluffed up but didn’t separate from the buttermilk.

I’ve read of this happening – usually in the summer when the cream gets too warm. It is sometimes called “fluffy butter.” Depending on the batch, you may still be able to strain it from the buttermilk, and press it together sort of. But because it’s too soft to wash, it has to be used first (it is the buttermilk that goes bad. Well-washed butter keeps well in the fridge for a long time). Sometimes though, fluffy butter won’t press together at all. At that point, you can always give it to the pigs (they live for dairy experiments gone wrong!) or use it in a recipe that calls for both butter and buttermilk (which is exactly what it is).

So with our first batch of fluffy butter on our hands, Jordan decided to do a bit of tinkering and created this recipe for buttermilk scones. Since it uses both butter and buttermilk, it’s the perfect use for fluffy butter and they came out light, flaky, and delicious. For the first test, since we couldn’t weigh them separately, we guessed on the yields of both butter and buttermilk based on our usual yields. But we’ve since made it with regular butter and buttermilk and narrowed down the ratios. They turn out beautifully every time.

Note: we use true buttermilk – the liquid left over from making butter. It is sweet and has the same consistency as milk. After a few days in the fridge it gets a little more acidic, and just a little thicker. Store-bought buttermilk is decidedly different. It is much much thicker, for one, so you may need to either add more or add milk to get the liquid consistency right. The dough should just barely come together, and still be loose and flaky – just like a biscuit dough.

Print Recipe

Flaky Farmhouse Buttermilk Scones

Flaky and delicious, these beautiful buttermilk scones come together quickly and are perfectly delectable every single time. Pair with a glass of milk for a true farmhouse breakfast.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Freezer Time30

Total Time1

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: breakfast, buttermilk, scones

Servings: 12 scones

Equipment

Mixing Bowls
Parchment Paper

Ingredients

570 grams flour (approx. 4 3/4 cups)
100 grams sugar (1/2 cup)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
250 grams butter (1 cup + 1 1/2 Tablesppons)
340 grams buttermilk (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
100 grams nuts, chopped or sliced (1 cup)
120 grams dried fruit (1 cup)

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or two knives) until it resembles coarse oatmeal.
Add the buttermilk all at once and mix a few strokes. Add the nuts and dried fruit, and mix just until the dough comes together.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and split in two. Using well-floured hands, pat and shape (but do not knead) the dough into two round disks, approximately 1.5″ thick. By the time you have the disks shaped, you’ll have used about 600 grams of flour – you want the outside to no longer be sticky. The inside of the dough will still seem wet, but holding its shape.
Transfer the disks to a parchment covered baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat the over to 425F. Remove the disks from the freezer, cut into six equal portions (one cut down the middle and cut each half into thirds). Separate them on the baking tray by a few inches (to allow room for rise).
Bake 20-28 minutes, until puffed up and golden brown.

Notes

*Use whatever you have to hand to flavor these. We love almonds & dried cranberries, almonds & dried blueberries, walnuts & dried apples. Experiment by adding almond extract or vanilla, or orange zest. We like to add fresh berries like raspberries and blueberries when they're in season as well.

*After the scones are cut, they can be returned to the freezer, well-wrapped, until later for a quick and easy breakfast. No need to defrost. You’ll just need to add approximately 5 minutes to the bake time.

*Scones are always best warm, fresh out of the oven. We don't feel like they need any garnish, but a dollop of creme fraiche or jam, a swirl of honey, or even maple syrup wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Add a hearty glass of milk for a true farmhouse breakfast.