7th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2016 Hatch-A-Long

[TJChickens]

I'm going now to milk the cows, With a surge machine.
We only use one stall at a time.
I can do it both ways, But I think manual is still quicker up until about 7 cows in.
Of Course, I'm milking 6 cows this morning! With a Dang machine.....
Easier on the hands though......

I was trying to answer and my computer blipped out....I meant Jersies and it came out heresies....

Here in California, people sell cow shares, so they own a part of the cow. That gives them the right to the milk according to the number of shares they have.

Hmmmm....now you have me thinking!

Boy, the offer is tempting, but I am too old and have too much stuff to move again. I don't think they make a trailer big enough for 3 mini donkeys, 2 mini cows, 4 cats, 2 dogs, 3 rabbits and 80+ chickens (not to mention the chicks hatching!).

I have never used one, but from what I have read, the ones that say Janoel are good, but the others are knock-offs and have a lot of issues.

If you can't find someone who wants to milk in exchange for some of the milk, you might try here: http://www.realmilk.com/state-updates/ to see where you might obtain some.

I have the cooling feature on one of my Brinseas, but I have never used. Like you, Ron, I am almost always doing staggered hatches.

The mini cows produce 3-4 quarts per day. They only require half (or maybe a quarter) the space of a full sized cow, but would still make short work of an acre of grass. Feeding hay all the time would cost more than the $6/gal. for the milk.

There is lots of information about cowshares here: http://www.realmilk.com/state-updates/

BTW, raw milk is very good for making kefir which is excellent for chickens!

Thanks for all this info! I have big trailers and will help you move!!

It is quite easy, but requires near daily maintenance. It is wonderful for people, too! It is similar to yogurt, but instead of 5-6 different active cultures (all bacterias) found in the really good yogurts, kefir typically has between 40-60! - both beneficial bacterias and beneficial yeasts.

Find someone with kefir grains. I let mine go last summer and have to find some myself, or I would send you some (that is actually on my To-Do List for today

). There is a group on FB for Kombucha and Kefir that has a list of people who are willing to share: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KombuchaNation.CulturesHealthHealing/. Here are the instructions:

I used to make a lot of yogurt. Also cottage cheese which mostly fed the chickens. If you let cottage cheese warm too long it turns into squeaky rubber balls, but the poultry loved it! Now I really want Kefir!

 

[Cynthia12]

 

[dowgirl71]

I have a broody white Silkie, acting as a surrogate mother to 3 Silkie eggs & 2 Polish. Hatch date set for New Years!

 

[ronott1]

love it!

 

[bamadude]

love it!

X2

 

[darkbluespace]

happy solstice.... yay for days getting longer!

 

[ChickaLong]

KC-10 Doing a good deed

 

[prizepete]

There is nothing like fresh, raw milk! I'd love to have a cow of our own for our own milk but we only have just over an acre of land. I'm working on talking hubby into either dwarf goats or dairy sheep. For now though, we're fortunate to have raw milk available at a local, year round, farmers market. Though, at $6 a gallon.....

nigerian dwarfs are great! I don't have any but I know a lot of people Near me that have them!

@prizepete I really like my does. The Billy, not so much but he is a purebred Saanen so I hope he chills out as he gets a bit older. I am not into bottle babies. They lack boundaries.

I don't want to bottle raise mine... unless mama rejects them or they are not strong enough... what I do is when the babies are two weeks old I start separating them at night from mom and milk in the morning, then let them together until it gets dark, then separate them again... then when its time to wean milk twice a day

 

[shahtir101]

nigerian dwarfs are great! I don't have any but I know a lot of people Near me that have them!

I don't want to  bottle raise mine... unless mama rejects them or they are not strong enough... what I do is when the babies are two weeks old I start separating them at night from mom and milk in the morning, then let them together until it gets dark, then separate them again... then when its time to wean milk twice a day

I have some nigis. They used to be in my avatar.

 

[Saris]

Lost 2 more eggs.....urg. Down to 32 now.