Yes we do! Goat milk, and plenty of it.
Mila and Seren’s kids have been weaned and it’s time to start the milking routine. (Quick kid update, Maxwell and Sadie have been re-homed and Spencer is staying with us at Timeless Acres as a wether.)
Knowing that we do not need more than one source of milk on our homestead, we decided to dry up Mila and milk Seren this year since she was producing more each milking and she also took to being milked much easier as a first freshener.
As with Stella last year, Seren is giving us a ½ gallon of milk each milking. Due to our schedules and our current needs we practice once a day milking. We want to be sure that we have a place for all the milk that we are collecting. You may not want to cry over spilt milk, but you may cry over wasted milk. We milk by hand each morning around 7:00AM, give or take.
This will be the start of several blog posts sharing our experiences with Milk, Yogurt and Cheese, oh my! And of course we share a little splash most mornings with the felines in the family, Tippy and Rainn.
Raw milk or pasteurized? Both are delicious. And when you have access to your own milk supply you get to choose what is best for you.
Milk, please.
With a clean cloth, clean udder and teats with Dr. Bronner’s Castile tea tree soap and warm water and fully pat dry with a second cloth. Milk out a couple squirts from each teat to rid any bacteria that may be in each teat as well as check for mastitis, health.
Milk out fully. We prefer to collect milk in a seamless stainless steel bucket/pot with cover.
Strain/Filter milk. We are currently using and really like this strainer/filter combo.
Pasteurize the milk by slowly bringing it to 162 degrees in a stainless steel pot and holding it there for 15 seconds. I will also gently stir the milk on and off while its heating to prevent a layer of milk from forming on bottom of the pot and to ensure 162 degrees is reached throughout. Then quickly cool it down to around 70 degrees by placing the pot in a sink of cold water. And here too I will stir the milk, this time to help speed up the cooling process.
Refrigerate. And this we have learned is one of the most important steps. For the best tasting milk, we have found sweet spot is at 35 degrees. We use a fridge thermometer just to be sure. Serious, the colder the fridge, the better the milk.
We clean all milk collecting items after each use with soap and hot water and allow each to fully air dry. We also run all milk collecting items through our dishwasher each week.
Stay tuned…..more to come on products made from goat milk.
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