I must brag about my Capri! This is the first time I have let milk be here as long as a week. When I started to give some of this to my kitty, I took a second look - methinks her butterfat is just fine!!!
This is as good as our milk cow we had when I was in Jr/Sr high school and she had exceptional milk. Not sure how this compares with other ND girls, but I am really pleased with this. :-)
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I just gotta add to this, I just gotta! I was so proud of my little girl on Saturday when she gave me 28.1 ounces; I even posted a photo on facebook of the nearly-full quart jar of milk. That was Saturday for 28.1. Sunday = 27.5. Monday = 25.1. Tuesday = 25.3. Today, Day 278, Wednesday = 28.3, which is the most yet even though only 0.2 oz more than Saturday, it shows that perhaps this is *not* an anomaly at all.
It looks like carrying warm water to them several times a day and that 1/2 cup sunflower seeds added to her grain twice a day might just be paying off. Or maybe she is more relaxed with only the two of them here right now. Whatever it is, I am appreciating my sweet little girl! What a great way to start the year!!!
This morning, I milked my Summer girl for the last time this year. I started milking once a day ten days ago. Today, Day 271, she gave me 26.4 ounces. I am so proud of my little girl! I didn't start milking at all until Day 93 when her triplets went to their forever home. A wonderful way to end the year. Color me a happy goat mama.
freshed = freshest <grumble>
Frozen milk is fine. Of course, let it fully thaw before you use. With that said, I will tell you that I often put the milk, still partially frozen, in to cook the custard. It has not seemed to make any difference in the finished product. I will say, however, that I use the very freshed milk for vanilla. If I use milk several days old, I make chocolate with the idea that the chocolate will mask the "off" flavor that we milk snobs have learned to detect.<g>
A few days ago, I made Deborah's 100-yard ice cream, maple syrup instead of sugar. It is delicious. One of my very favorite ice creams is walnut maple nut and I am looking forward several months when I can add walnuts! (Dental surgery earlier this month prevents nuts and all lucious crunchy food including the Almond Roca my middle son gave me for Christmas - !!!)
Emily Puentes said:
That's the same strainer I have! I am so pleased with it and the filters (I ordered the box of 300 mini filters), it really makes my life so much easier. Luckily I had read a story similar to yours when I was doing all of my pre-milking research online so when my strainer came in the mail I knew what to do with it, but it would definitely be nice if they included instructions with their products! I really have been pleased with everything I've ordered from Hoegger Supply but I wish the website listed all the items that are out of stock because there is always at least one item I order that they don't have and I end up waiting over a month for it. I can't wait to make ice cream with it! Can you use pre-frozen milk to make ice cream or does it need to be fresh?
Glenna Rose said:
I do bring a filter but have to say - I'm sure I and other farmer types ingest lots of manure and such daily while brushing, moving things, cleaning, etc. But it is nice to think perhaps I'm not drinking it. Ah milk - will miss it this year!
Judy Asarkof said:
My milk never makes it home. Just milking 1 doe- I drink it while doing chores after milking but don't tell any germ-phobes.
My timing stinks! I order three items on Christmas eve and, today, received an email from Hoegger that two of them are on sale. One is the strainer for $3 less and the goat minerals for 20 percent off. <big sigh> I did send them an email asking if they would honor the sale price since they wouldn't be processing the order until today. Moral: So close to the end of the year, inventory close-out sales are common.
Emily, I am so glad that you finally drank the milk. That was my experience the first time I drank ND milk - had never had milk that good since I was in high school from our wonderful milk cow. That was so long ago that it might not even have been as good as this is! When you make ice cream, I use whole milk with no added cream, you will be even more delighted! (I make custard-based ice cream.)
Hoegger's has a great little strainer, and filters of course. I just ordered a second one in case I manage to lose part of mine. I cannot imagine that I could lose any of it but I've managed to lose such things before to have them turn up later so I am taking pre-emptive action. They can be used for canning "funnels" if you want. I have this one: http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/SS-Mini-Strainer.html
Now I will tell you a story that I was first embarrassed to share then had some other ladies very sweetly tell me they did the same thing. I noticed the bottom was threaded and could not figure out why. I was also getting very frustrated keeping the filter in place; it didn't have a ring like our strainer for our cow milk did. I trimmed it, I wet it down before using it, and still about went mad. Well . . . it has a ring on it that unscrews so you can lay the filter above the disk, put the disk on, then screw on the ring to hold everything in place. The only thing I had right was I put the filter on the top of the disk, but it really does work better the way it is designed, imagine that.<g> I had been running mine through the dishwasher each time I used it so there wasn't any contamination but it would been a risk if I weren't so fussy. I wish that they had some sort of diagram that comes with it to show how the filter is fastened in place - since I was not the only one, it isn't an intuitive as they must think!
Melissa, the lab in Salem is: Willamette DHIA, I initially spoke with Lance. Joel Taylor is the manager. Their contact info is: 3979 Silverton Road N.E., Salem, OR 97305 - Phone: 503-362-1880 - Fax: 503-362-2051 - Email: office@wdhia.org
They are great people; the lab is easy to find if you drive there, but not fancy. Most people mail in the samples, but I drove down since Capri's milk was already several days old (maximum of a week from milking to them is what they say so the faster the better). By the time I was home, the results were in my email. They have vials for the samples but you could send them in sterile glass jars I would think. I took my samples down in jelly jars and transferred them to the vials. Lance showed me how some people use an egg carton to ship the vials because it holds them securely. Of course you have shipping to pay for but the cost of each sample is only $3. I don't know why anyone in the States couldn't use their lab. One advantage is that their test results go to two digits so you get hundredths. I think I recall Deborah saying that the lab she uses only goes to one digit. I brought extra vials home so I can mail them if I want to mail them. There are about the size of the hobby glitter bottles that have the snap-off lids, so small, and fit nicely in the "up" part of the egg carton.
The listing of labs around the country is at: http://dhia.org/dhialabs.asp
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