Milk - Freezing

[patit]

Hi,

I was wondering if I could freeze raw milk from my cow and still make cheese.  Do I need to skim it before freezing and then just make yogurt and/or cottage cheese or can I freeze whole milk and still make some good hard cheeses? 

Thanks!

[JMB]

I know you can freeze sheep milk and mix with fresh milk to make cheese.  It damages the fat particles but it does work.

[patit]

I've tasted cheese made from frozen sheep milk, and it really was excellent.  But because it's naturally homogenized, I think it might work better. 

I think I'll just do an experiment and freeze a gallon of skimmed milk and see what happens.

[MrsKK]

When I've got too much milk and not enough time, I freeze up milk in ice cream pails for making cheese later on.  When I finally get to it, I normally use a combination of fresh milk and frozen.

I have found that I lose more of the butterfat from the frozen milk, though.

My cow is dry now, so the frozen skimmed milk I have is in reserve for direction consumption.  I'm having withdrawal, from both milking and cheesemaking!

[patit]

Thanks, Karen.  I only am caring for this cow for eight weeks, and I want to keep as much milk around as possible for as long as possible.  I was so worried about the early morning schedule (please don't wake me before 6:30 am!) and the "must be there every 12 hours" schedule, that I never expected to enjoy the milking process as much as I do.  I love being out with her at 5:30 am, and the smell of fresh milk everywhere (I honestly smelled milk as I got in the shower the other day) makes me feel fully home.  I want to be home with her every 12 hours.  She brings structure to my life, and the milking process is actually meditative.  And I only have her for six more weeks. 

[sandhollerfarm]

I only have experience with freezing goat milk.  So far, I haven't been terribly impressed.  It seems to separate funny in the freezing process and never quite goes "back together".  So for drinking I would never use frozen again.  But I've made plenty of cheese with frozen.  Like MrsKK said, the yields seem to be off but it sure is better than nothing!

I too thought that 12 hour interval milking would be the pits.  But I love it.   I still haven't convinced my husband to have goats at the house but I spend 3 day weekends at the family farm so I get my fix then!  Too bad you won't get to experience winter milking.  There's nothing like going to the unheated milk room when it's 10F outside and cuddling up with a warm goat!

[MrsKK]

for drinking, I froze milk in quart bags after skimming it because last year I froze whole milk and the butterfat formed little grains that never assimulated back into the milk.  (I found out later that you can warm the milk to 90 degrees and it gets better).  It really doesn't taste good, though.  It is sweet in an odd way that I can't tolerate.  I'm going to have to find some black market milk to get my fix, as past/homo milk makes me ill.

I miss the rhythm that milking brings to my life.  I think my cow is missing the attention, too, because she stays longer in her stall after feedings and wants to be scratched and petted.

So that I don't have to milk every 12 hours after the first couple of months, I sharemilk with my cow's calf.  Until the calf is big enough to take most of the milk, I keep them together 24/7.  Then I start separating them for overnight so that I can get a good milking in the morning.  Eventually, they are separated except for milking time, when I bring the calf in to finish up the milking for me.  I lose out on a lot of cream that way, but it is easier on my hands and I can't deal with five gallons of milk a day every day anyway!

[Cheese Head]

Several more posts on this subject here .

[JMB]

Patit,
I hear you on the meditative cow milking.  I had a 50 cow grazing herd and no matter what the weather or what broke down or what was happening it was a peaceful start to the day and a "centering" at the end of the day.  Just like cows I guess we thrive on routine if we like the routine and I certainly did.  Besides they are so much simpler than people.  Ahhhhhhhhh.
J