The first time I came to the barn to milk a cow, the fellows handed me a bucket and told me I had to kneel down and milk the cow. The bucket was filthy inside, but they told me that's where the milk went and I believed them. They even had me kneeling and milking the cow by hand until Joseph's Mother came in and wanted to know what we were doing. She saw me and no one had to tell her what I fallen for. When she sent the boys to get to work-she explained how they really milk cows.
Our cows are milked, twice a day, by automatic milking machines. It takes about three to five minutes to milk a cow. Milk goes from the cow to a strainer, then plate heat exchanged and then into our milk vat (tank) where the milk can be stored up to two days at approximately 39 degrees. The vat agitates so the milk stays cold and mixed-the cream does not separate from the milk. This is all done automatic through the stainless steel pipes in our barn.
The Dairy Milk truck arrives on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Milk can only be kept in the vat for 48 hours. The milk man comes, smells the milk, measures the milk, grades the milk, takes the temperature, reads the charts, enters the amount on the folders, takes a vile of milk sent for testing, and adds the information on his computer. The viles are marked so that if there is something wrong with our milk, it can be traced back to our farm. He then turns off the vat, hooks up the hoses and empties the milk from our vat into the truck. Once the vat is empty, he turns on the hoses and cleans the vat so we can use it again.
From our house, the milk goes to the Processing Plant which is licensed and inspected. The milk is inspected before it is unloaded from the truck. Then the milk is processed. It is really interesting to go to the processing plant. Joseph and I went there and saw how milk is processed. Milk can processed to milk that is in the stores, but also cream, cheese, and butter.
This is sort of a short detail what happens from the cow to the stores. I know if Joseph were here, he would go into more detail that I have. I will be back next week to answer some of the quetions that you have for me from when I was here last time.
Be With the Lord,
Martha
12 comments:
That is very interesting Martha. I knew most of this, as I am in the "Dairy State of Wisconsin". =)
Good Morning Vickie,
I will tell Martha what you said. I thought it was very interesting as I live in a farming area, but didn't know much about milking cows.
Marilyn
Wow, very interesting. Thank you for the information.
Thanks for the interesting post Martha. How many cows do you have? Obviously you have horses, but what other kinds of animals do you have? Do you have a generator in case the electricity goes out, or do you just lose the milk?
Doreen
Hello QuiltingB and Doreen,
I will give your compliments and quetions to Martha. I am so use to typing Jean, I almost wrote Jean. I can answer one question and that is Jean's Farm and Martha's both have generators in case the electric goes off. The others Martha will have to answer.
Marilyn
Marilyn maybe Martha can be asked if she and the family drink "Raw Milk", I myself prefer the processed kind but some folks seem to really love the "Raw" stuff!
Also incase any of the old Amish Stories readers are interested I have just posted my first 2 images since I had stopped posting anything since December, these posting's will be random but I'm planning to post an image of a Amish buggy that I'm calling "the rumble seat" sometime after this new one. Richard
Thank you Richard for changing the top. I really appreciate it. I have eatten at Martha's and yes the family drinks "Raw Milk" and they do at Jean's to. When I was a child that was the only kind of milk they had. Now, I prefer processed, but the "Raw Milk" isn't bad.
I went to Amish Stories. My brother used to own a Corvette. Then it was either his wife or the car so he got rid of the car. Years later my sister-in-law gave in and let him have another one. He bought a 1966. That was the year of the one she made him get rid of. His was a white vett.
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn. I was just wondering when and which part of the country did you grow up in when you had raw milk as a child? Are you sure that as a child that raw milk was the only milk that was available?
I thought New York state had virtually banned raw milk in the 1940s altogether and pasteurised, homogenised and standardised milk was the norm in NY by the late 40s and early l950s.
I grew up in New York State. What I am talking about is the late 40's and early 50's. Maybe I am wrong, but I can remember the cream rising to the tops. Two of my uncles had farms and we use to get our milk from there. Eventually my parents got home delivery from the dairy.
Marilyn
Are you sure what you drank as a child was unpastuerised (raw) though? Anyway, what is the difference in terms of taste between pastuerised and unpastuerised milk? A lot of people say that unpastuerised milk is actually better for you despite the risks.
Back in the days when I was a kid, my aunt and uncle use to put the milk in some bottles direct from the cows, but that is illegal in New York State, now. Now you can milk the cow and have it on your table, but your can't sell it or give it away in that condition. You can be arrested. To me, the unpastuerised tastes stronger or thicker than the store bought milk. I don't know if it is better for your or not. I like it but I look at calories and I think the skim has a lot less than the unpastuerised. Martha said people have come and tried to buy raw milk from them, but they won't sell it or even give it away. They don't want to end up fined or in jail. It's against the law, they won't do it. But it is common at Martha and Jean's table.
Marilyn
Hi blackopals,
Martha did say that if they could sell that raw milk they could make a lot of money because there a lot of people that want it. She said that every dairy farm owner has had people ask them if they would sell it to them at one time or another. People really want it. But as said before, they won't sell it.
Marilyn
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