# Dumping milk



## Nana (May 12, 2010)

I was at the fair today and I just couldn't believe some of the people who show their goats. Some of them milk and just throw it away. What a waste. They are not interested in making cheese, butter, yogurt, or drinking it. One had about 6 goats also that they breed to keep good udders. They could at least feed it to other animals rather that dumping it. I just don't understand.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Showing is a filthy proposition. You are disgusting by the time it is over, the girls are laying in years of icky dirt of old old pens, that you have cleaned as good as you can and thrown some shavings down. They then proceed to shlep around a ring that other does who are so overuddered are spraying milk which your doe is walking through. If she lays down, that other does milk/mud is now right near her orifice, or worse going home with you in your trailer.

More and more you don't get the looks of disgust that you once got from taping your teats or making your does stand at ringside clipped to chains so they can not lay down until they have been milked out, teat dipped and had their orifices taped up again. I don't get the 'looks' when my goats are brushed clean and their feet washed before jumping up to go home in the truck cap. Or my pens cleaned with techtrol before I will pen them.

Taking home milk, milked into open containers, with all the dust and dirt of a show, worse is when they allow stinking bucks in the building  fans blowing everything everywhere...nope I ain't taking the milk home for anything either! Usually at shows there are pig guys who will put plastic barrel is out for everyone to dump their milk, and there are those who will hand milk your does for the milk, and they do it super clean with a towel put down and your goats brushed really well...but yes most dump the milk in the grass. I try not to do disgusting things like this in front of those who don't have goats, and if asked will explain why I do dump my milk, or if there is rules about not dumping milk, I will take it home in my ice chest and dump it at home.

But yes there are alot of folks who do nothing with their goatmilk, it's their goats and their milk  Vicki


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

Good explanation! I wondered too at the beginning of our fair why so many people dumped it. I didn't have a trailer at the grounds and I was at fair all day so I couldn't keep the morning milk cold long enough until night when I went home after chores and night milking. I felt really embarrassed about dumping it. Then I saw many others do it. After Vicki's post, now I really don't wanna keep the milk! Never thought about all the fans blowing crud in my pail! Yuck!


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## Squires (Jul 23, 2010)

I once asked why they don't pasteurize and do something with the milk at the fair -- give it away or do demonstrations or something -- and was told that milk regulations are so strict that they are not allowed to do anything with it. 

In theory, pasteurizing would cure a lot of ills, and giving it to some project at the fair would be something interesting. Ah well.


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## Laverne (Apr 4, 2010)

I suppose if someone wanted to be frugal they could save it and let it clabber on it's own. They'd have Bonnie Clabber. Then drain it and feed it to the chickens.


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

Every show I go to, we dump the milk. We don't take it home with us. It's too much of a hassle taking containers with us to put the milk in and getting it put in the coolers to bring it home....besides that, I wouldn't use the milk anyways....hard telling what is in it w/ all the dust and everything at the shows....of course this is coming from someone who does't use the milk anyways...and before someone asks why I even have dairy goats if I dont use the milk, because I want to show and I use the milk for other animals. (calves/pigs)...


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

We always dump the milk at our shows, too. Many times we are at the fair for three or four days. There is no way to keep all that milk clean and cold. We have, at times, cleaned the udder well and milked into a small bottle for milk for our morning cereal, but there's no way we could keep all the milk we get at a show. I remember once years ago we brought a pasteurizer along to feed the milk to the goatlings, but I now generally show only kids who are old enough to not have to be bottle fed at a show. Between my friend and myself, we have anywhere from 40-50 goats. With that many animals to care for as well as show, we really don't have the time to do anything with the milk.
At home, I try and sell/use most of the milk we get, but still find myself throwing some out. If it were legal, I'd take it to farmer's market, but I'd get in trouble if I did that. Two if my friends and I are thinking about taking the soap making class at convention to find another use for some of our milk. The two of them are each raising a calf, so some of my milk goes to them.


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## Nana (May 12, 2010)

I am not talking about dumping the milk at the shows. I know it is not a clean environment. I am talking about people that dump the milk at home and don't even use it. I can't see the point of having dairy does for that.


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

I save the whey and spoiled milk or yogurt for my dogs, and even the poultry have learned to know when I am filling containers of milk/whey, and they come running.

My cheese making is kind of a bust, and we can't eat enough pudding or drink enough milk to keep ahead of the milk production. Dumping sure is tempting, when each milking I am thinking, and where will I put this?

Oh well, I have mastered butter and frying cheese, so that is something.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

MaryAnn, hang out over on the cheese forum. Go to cheesemaking.com get Ricki's catalogs, get on her newletter, read her blog...she is me with an apron on....she knows her cheese, her cultures are fool proof, her information is wonderful because she wants you to suceed and buy her cultures or rennets and starters. If you just took 1 and 1/2 gallons of milk each day and made it into cherve, then freeze it, it's better than dumping milk, you can use it in everything! Vicki


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## Nana (May 12, 2010)

That does sound good. Today at the fair I was approached by a lot of people who want goats milk for their puppies. When the litters are so big they need something to give them. I don't have enough goats in milk to sell the milk. I don't want to be milking more than what I use each day. I will however sell goats to people for them to milk. This is not going to be my career. I am too busy with my other career. By keeping my goats a hobby I think it will be more fun.


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

:blush I do have Ricki's book. I did follow her recipes. I even bought all the proper stuff.
And the dogs love the nasty results!
I also post on the cheese forum, and tried the one cheesemaking forum, it is just too over my head.

I made better cheese, back when I had nothing to work with! 
I have thrown in the proverbial cheesemaking towel.
I just can't make decent yogurt or cheese.

Puddings, now I do great puddings!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

You have used her cherve or formage blanc culture in 1 gallon or 1 and 1/2 gallons of freshly milked and strained warm from the doe milk? It's so good folks sell the stuff  ME!!!


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

I don't know what a chevre or fromage blanc is, so I didn't try to make something that I wouldn't know if it is right or not.
I did try mozzarella, cream cheese, cottage cheese and ricotta... the dogs liked them.
The vinegar cheese was good, it fried nice if you egg batter it.
And my butter is out of this world.
So, I skim cream, and give the rest to the dogs. Except what we drink or make into puddings.


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## mabeane (Aug 7, 2010)

I make wonderful, EASY yogurt every three days for my husband daily consumption. Making some of this stuff is far easier than what some books or webs sites tell you. Relax. Keep trying until you get the results you are looking for. 
I am milking only one small ND each morning for the 1/2 quart of milk hubby and I need.


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I dump my extra milk into the dog or cat bowls. The behinder I am the more they get. 
As for making cheese, I can make stuff the dog won't eat so I quit wasting my time. I can make kefir and that is about it. I have books, I have ingredients, I have studied, but the magic cheese making touch is absent.


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## Hearts In Dixie (Oct 29, 2007)

When the end of lactation nears and we are just tired we usually raise a couple of feeder pigs on milk. You can turn a 25lb piglet into a 200lb porker in four months with lots of milk and a little corn. We raise our meat chicks with milk also easily reaching 8+lb birds in 56 days. We have a lot of horse breeders that call often looking for milk. When we go to the fair we have the local vet office pick up our milk and they keep it in their freezer for future patients. 

Marla


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

That just must be it, the cheesemaking touch just vanished for me too!

I am not in late lactation, my kids have only been weaned for a month!
I am not tired of milk, I am tired of wasting my time attempting yogurt and cheese and then just having lots of dirty dishes, dirty cheesecloths and dog food. I can cut the middle out, and just milk, skim cream in a couple days, and feed the dogs the excess.

To get the best cream I have to hold the milk for a couple days, and that really takes up space! 

Maybe I just need a week or two of not fighting with the cheese and yogurt?

This battle has raged for a month and I am just weary of lousy yogurt and cheese.


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## sarafina (Dec 26, 2009)

Ozark Lady said:


> And my butter is out of this world.


What brand butter churn do you use?


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

A canning jar and electric mixer with one blade inserted.


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## sarafina (Dec 26, 2009)

Ozark Lady said:


> A canning jar and electric mixer with one blade inserted.


Now that fits my budget!


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

Mine too.
And I separate the cream... with a tablespoon! Save it in the freezer until I have half a jar full. Let it come to room temp, and start whipping it... when you think, it isn't working, bingo suddenly it is done.


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## Hearts In Dixie (Oct 29, 2007)

Kids (10-18) and a glass jar with a lid make ecellent butter churns. My middle son at 23 will still churn (gently shake) butter for me. 

Marla


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## Squires (Jul 23, 2010)

Ozark Lady said:


> I don't know what a chevre or fromage blanc is, so I didn't try to make something that I wouldn't know if it is right or not.
> I did try mozzarella, cream cheese, cottage cheese and ricotta... the dogs liked them.


MaryAnn,
you are doing all the hard types before trying the easiest! Don't worry about what the Fromage Blanc "should" be -- it will be a little different everywhere it is made. It is a soft cheese that is better than cream cheese!

Three common mistakes which I have made myself are: not lowering the temperature enough before adding starter; and/OR stirring the stuff too vigorously and damaging delicate curd so that it falls apart and runs through the cheesecloth; and/OR using the wrong cheesecloth.

The rennet you use in some cheeses can also be tricky -- different rennets act differently. I really think that each dairy has different milk and water and minerals and stuff and that has to affect the cheese.

Try it one more time with fresh cheesecloth or a tea-towel from the store (yes, a tea-cloth or an all-cotton kitchen towel) and a starter packet from a supplier -- Fromage Blanc is out of this world! (and there is no "right" -- it is different at different places and with different milks).


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Formage Blanc and Cherve are like cream cheese. If you don't whip it up when adding salt or herbs it can be put back into the cheese cloth pressed with a plate with a 5 pound sack of flour or sugar for a few hours so it will dry out and get crumbly like fetta, for putting over your eggs in the morning or salads YUM...or left like it is, it is perfect for making dips or putting on crackers...whipped up just salted you can use it in place for any cream cheese recipe...and having alot of it around all the time you find so many things to put it in...scrambled eggs in the morning...add it to yogurt with honey and fresh fruit and fill little pie shells, use it to make mini cheese cakes, in baked potatoes with garlic OMG!!! On top of steaks with grilled onions.....grill chicken breast, slather with cherve, put on salsa and cover with a lid while you finish getting the dinner on, to die for. On tomato halves with basil. Used in place of your Mexican white cheese in all your Mexican recipes....we use it for sort of a replacement for sourcream and cheese in Mexican foods. The list is endless....oh and with Herbs de Provance....fill boiled manicottie shells with the herbed cherve, cover with tomatoes, garlic, onions, cover and bake. When you see 'goat cheese' on a menu or in a recipe 9 times out of 10 it is just a simple basic goat cherve.

Using Ricci's cheesemaking.com prepackaged cultures will build your confidence. Vicki


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

I made 3 gallons of milk into frying cheese today, it usually works pretty good.
At the salting stage, I add, jalapeno sauce, some small bits of hot pepper, salt and a dash of garlic.
Then I basically make a pancake batter, dip and fry! This does work really well.
I have a kit to make bleu cheese and one for camembert, but thought I should do the easy ones first! I honestly haven't tried these.

I thought about it while outside working, building the buckling a larger pen.

Most all the failures require yogurt. And my yogurt is lousy, it is good for once or twice then it just gets too ripe!

So, if I replace the yogurt culture, years ago I used Yogourmet, and this time I have been using store bought yogurt, I wonder if I stumbled on the whole problem?

Buttermilk does okay for a couple times, then I need new store bought buttermilk.
Not a problem since I do like buttermilk. But it also goes bad before we can use it up.

Kefir culture tastes like buttermilk to me. I don't have kefir grains just yet.

Also, I think my issue is: we don't use it fast enough and the yogurt and buttermilk go bad. I need to just freeze 90% of each culture! It overripens because it gets too old!

I have cheese cloth bought at the paint store, cheese cloth and butter muslin ordered from cheese making place. Even brand new never opened packages of it.

I think it all relates back to using store bought yogurt and buttermilk.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Shoot I use old cotton pillowcases! Vicki


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

You know, that is exactly what the butter muslin reminds me of!
After I saw it, I thought, pillowcases are the same price, I coulda got new ones and retired the old ones to cheesemaking! ha ha


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## Nana (May 12, 2010)

Now I am seriously getting hungry with all this cheese talk. I need to make cheese! After the girls come home from the fair and things settle. :biggrin


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## Kris (Mar 28, 2010)

I use old t-shirts instead of cheese cloth. I also have an old pillow case I use. 

mabean...could you share your easy yogurt recipe?


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I never showed does in milk, just the youngstock, so I am know help. Yes, most people with milkers dump the milk when they are at shows. 

For cattle, some shows up here have a portable milk parlor or people bring their own milk machines. The milk gets loaded into a milk truck, I just don't know where ti goes form there.

I keep maybe 10% of my goats milk here for the house, the rest goes to the hens and dogs as fresh milk or I make yogurt, soft cheese or custard for them. Any whey I have gets used in the garden to water certain plants with.


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