# Cream Separator Needed



## Anita Martin

I am in need of a cream separator. My current budget is $300. So far I have not located one for around that price. I also have no idea which ones are any good. I did see a novo separator for $377. It does have a plastic tub to pour the milk in. Does anyone have one of these? Anyone have a good used separator they would like to sell?


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## Lynn_Theesfeld

Anita have you tried E-bay?? of course I would ask all sorts of questions, but I looked at some while ago and I think they were a little cheaper then 300. But I could be wrong it's happened once before  

Lynn


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## Fiberaddict

OK...we have 2. 1 manual one from eBay that came from the Ukraine, and 1 Novo elecric. So Far, we can't get either one to work right - I'm sure it's just operator error, but you never know.

The Ukrainian one shipped quickly, and was right at $125 (or thereabouts - we bought it last year). The instructions are - you guessed it! - in Russian. We figured out how to assemble it, but.....it never actually separated anything. We might not have gotten it up to speed before opening the valve......in any way, my husband said he hated it, and told me we needed an electric one.

So, I bought a Novo. The seller is nice, the instructions are pretty good (I have a .pdf of them somewhere I'll gladly share with any Ukrainian owners! The basic set up is the same for electric OR manual).....but we haven't figured out the "sweet spot" for the adjuster-thingy. We have gotten *some* cream.....but honestly? We get more cream by letting the milk set a couple of days and using a turkey baster to suck it off the top. (Seriously. Wish I'd known this trick before we spent all the $$ on equipment we can't figure out!)

My husband still wants to play with them, or I'd move 'em out.....granted, we're only milking 4 this year (6 next), so we probably don't have the volume to make a separator earn it's keep. The turkey-baster method has gotten us about 2 pounds of butter in the past month.....but I think if we had more milk to run thru, it wouldn't be as good as an actual separator.


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## Anita Martin

I haven't tried ebay yet. I will certainly look there too.


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## hsmomof4

I have this cream separator: http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=3531&cat=142&page=1 but I got it used, so it didn't cost me that much. I have had excellent results with separating cream, my only issue is a leak at one of the seals, so it always has oil slowly oozing out of it. Don't know if the previous owner had issues with leaking or if it developed in transit. I need to get a new gasket for the seal and take care of it, I've just been too busy to care about that right now.


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## Anita Martin

Hi Stacey,
How easy is it to use the manual one? I keep coming back to this model as it looks well made, but people say the manual units leak oil. Does the oil get into the cream or milk? Where did you find it used?


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## nightskyfarm

Anita, you can borrow mine, but you need minimum 3 gallons of milk to operate it. SO, save some money and bring your milk here to separate it. It's an electric one from Coburn, see how you like using one before you go buy one. There is only 6 miles between us! :crazy


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## hsmomof4

I don't find it that hard, but you have to bolt it to a table/counter. The oil doesn't get anywhere but on the table that it's mounted on...the leak is much lower than where the spouts are for the milk and cream to come out. Have you heard about leaking from other people???? I found it used in the for sale section here on DGI and happened to be online at the right time so I was the first person to respond.


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## Anita Martin

Jennifer, I'll do that! I've had to work every single day lately...which is good...but time consuming.


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## Hearts In Dixie

Several years ago I bought an old used manual seperator at an auction. All the older folks there looked at it and said all the parts were there but I probably needed a new rubber ring. I bought the whole thing for $90 I think. We got it home and had no idea how to put it together. We took the old rubber ring to the local tractor dealer and they had a ring that was identical. A neighbor lady down the road grew up using one like it and came by one day to put it together for me. Once we saw how it actually went together it was easy to take apart and clean and put back together. We tried using it many times before we figured out that we got the best results when we used slightly warmed milk instead of cold. We gave ours a makeover to clean it up but it too leaks a oil even when sitting idle. It is still a beautiful piece and very useful when wanting to make butter.

Marla


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## hsmomof4

Oh, yes, the milk definitely needs to be warm. Goat body temp is ideal.


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## Anita Martin

I went on ebay and saw lots of those old self-standing units. I want one! I do need to get one that actually works though, so I'm still looking. Anyone ever order one of those red ones from the ukraine?


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## Laverne

I really like the older separators, they're built like battleships. I have a Montgomery Wards had crank that works really good for goats milk but it's a lot of work to crank. I got a De Laval electric I haven't used yet but I got it off Ebay and it looks like it had hardly been used. I got that one for 156.00 plus about 35.00 to 45.00 shipping. Years ago I used to pick them up from newspaper ads or farm sales. The best one was an Internationl Harvester with all stainless bowl and parts, electric or had crank. It was heavy though with a cast iron base.


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## Cotton Eyed Does

This guy has got a U-Tube video that shows how to use the cream separator.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MILK-CREAM-SEPA...665?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5e5b8791


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