Home Dairy - from cow to table.   I was very fortunate in that the bones to a nice, two bail milking shed were already in place when we bought our current property, so it didn't take Gerry, who is a dab hand at odd jobs, long to have it functioning as I wished.  As well as power and water, we installed a Zip (small water heater) which has been marvelous as it has saved me lugging buckets of warm water needed for washing the cows' udder prior to milking.  Very handy too for sterilizing milk pots and utensils.  When consuming 'raw' dairy products, it is imperative that you do your utmost to keep everything that comes in contact with the milk, as clean as possible.  Having a fridge at the dairy shed saves me lugging heavy milk pots back to the house each day.  When I require cream for butter-making, I allow a couple of milkings to settle in the fridge for up to 48 hours, before skimming with a slotted spoon.  I prefer to store milk and cream in glass or stainless steel.  In my experience, storing dairy products in plastic containers taints and spoils this nutritious and beautiful tasting food.  If I'm growing pigs, they get the skimmed milk as we like our household milk just as it comes from the cow - rich and creamy! I regularly make butter using 'raw' (unpasteurized), cream in my household kitchen.  The 'food processor' takes the hard work out of butter-making, as does the large 'buttermilk squeezer' as seen in the photo, designed by me and made by Gerry.  Home made butter is so delicious and if made and wrapped well, will keep for many months in the freezer without deteriorating.  If time permits after making butter, I make ricotta cheese with the resulting buttermilk.  If I'm short on time, I freeze the  Buttermilk, after drinking some that is - try it sometime, it's almost as delicious to drink as full cream raw milk!  Sadly, I haven't had enough free time to experiment much with making hard cheeses, but I do enjoy making and eating a mild feta.  It's quick and easy to make and very much in demand by friends and family.  Feta tastes especially good drizzled with balsamic vinegar and eaten alongside beetroot, in pastry savouries containing sun-dried tomatoes and in basil/spinach and pine-nut pesto.   Adjoining the milking area in my dairy shed, I have a calving pen which can be seen from the house.  I always check cows due to give birth, every two or three hours,  day and night.  If a cow goes into labour at night I leave the lights on in the calving pen and the gate open.  Nine times out of ten, the cow will choose to calve in the straw lined pen and I can follow her progress from the house without disturbing her.  But, I do like to be on the scene when each cow actually delivers the calf so as to give her plenty of warm, molasses laced water and a calcium/magnesium brew, in an effort to ward off Milk Fever.  High producing dairy cows are prone to 'Milk Fever' which is a metabolic disorder that can occur soon after birthing and 'always' requires prompt treatment.  A cow 'can not' recover from this disorder of her own accord. In my early days of breeding I learnt why one should use straw and not shavings as bedding in a calving pen.  Sandy, pictured, loved the shavings as you can see, but when the newborn calf hit the ground it quickly took on the appearance of a crumbed sausage!  I couldn't have Sandy ingesting the shavings as she cleaned the babe, so I had to get some straw under the calf quick smart and help poor old Sands clean the wee bloke off.  Sorry, no time for newborn photos that night! Back To Top                                            ©2009Midge Henderson