Thanks for the welcomes! I get about six gallons a day from the two cows, handmilked twice a day since weaning two weeks ago. They're not high producers, being first and second timers, especially since the first freshener is actually a Jersey-Dexter cross producing about two gallons a day. Hopefully, she'll do better next year.
For 15 years, I sold fresh milk from both goats and cows, but tired of it and sold the goats last fall. So now I mostly chill the milk 24 hours to hand-skim heavy cream for butter and coffee, then feed the mostly skimmed milk to two piggies, except when I make cheese once or twice a week. Since selling the goats, I occasionally trade fresh Jersey milk for goat milk to my neighbor so I can continue to make feta and soap without the aggravation of goats and she gets butter and cream... win-win! lol
When the piggies visit freezer camp in January, I'll drop to once a day milking and cheesemaking will step up in frequency, so I need to learn as much as possible about hard cheese to avoid the usual newbie mistakes. For example, I've discovered that generally speaking it isn't a good idea to leave all the cream in Jersey milk when making cheese. lol Right now, if a cheese doesn't work out right, there's no waste... the piggies get it, another win-win.
I very much want to master brie/camemberts, my favorite cheese, especially as it's so expensive to buy. I could eat a pound a week. LOL
