Ok I will probably have a million qusetions befroe and after I get a cow, here is my new one!!!

How many of you paturize(sp)your milk? We saw a paturizer in Lehmens and it is $409.00 husband wants to get it and I say do we really need it? We get milk now form a friend and it is not pasturized and they have been drinking this milk for years and the cow would come from their milk cow when the time comes.

Thnk you for all your help!

-- sonneyacres (jtgt12@ntelos.net), February 11, 2002

Answers

Response to Another Milk Qusetion!!!

This question has been answered many times before and tends to be very controversial, so I am sure you will get a variety of answers here.

My answer is - It depends on the health of your dairy animal and what you prefer. If your dairy animal is in good health and you have clean milking practices, then there isn't much use in pasteurizing. Many people prefer unpasteurized for its health benefits. Pasteurized is considered a "dead" milk.

My preference is that I do not pasteurize. Pasteurization was invented for wine, not milk and I believe it kills all the healthful nutrition milk has to offer. Look at realmilk.com and rawmilk.org

If you do decide to pasteurize, you certainly don't need a $400 piece of equipment to do it. Get yourself a dairy thermometer, put the milk in a pan on top of the stove and do it that way. I forget the exact temperature it has to reach, but there are others who know and will answer that.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), February 11, 2002.

Response to Another Milk Qusetion!!!

I agree. We don't do it either but if you WANT to DO NOT spend $409. That's a lot of feed and hay you could purchase instead (or chickens, etc.) If you really want to check the Goat Shed or Ebay or some other. They go for a lot less than $409. Check with your local goat/dairy people and see if they know anyone that has one. GL!

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), February 11, 2002.

Response to Another Milk Qusetion!!!

Previous threads on pasturization should be under the Kitchen (Dairy, etc.) category.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 11, 2002.

I just bought a nice pasteurizer off ebay for $45.

I have decided to pasteurize our milk until the baby is a little older....then I probably won't.

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), February 11, 2002.

IMO pasturization depends upon where you live. You can have wonderfully perfect milk handling in some parts of Michigan, but if you have deer jumping in with your cattle you could end up with T.B.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 11, 2002.

If you wish to purchase a pasteurizer, Hoegger Supply Company offers one for $215 plus shipping. The number is 800-221-4628, they are a great company!

-- Joni (jjdenton@st-tel.net), February 11, 2002.

If you are purchasing from folks with clean stock, who also drink their milk raw and you do some homework before your purchase than drinking the milk raw is less of a risk. Now go to the auction barn and purchase, then yes pasturise! If you have family who will be drinking the milk who are very ill, weakened immune systems, or children under 2, and you have not raised this cow/goat, than you are risking the health of your family. With the high incidence of Johnnes in cattle, with the link of Johnnes and Chrones, I would at least ask the folks with the cow if you could test her (at your cost) for Johnnes, TB and Bangs.

Just use your stock pot for pasturising, get a 2$ candy thermometer from Wallmart, heat the milk while stirring, get it to 165 then quickly cool it in a sink full of coldwater and ice. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 11, 2002.

Don't pastuerize. It takes a very healthy food and turns it into a junk food, destroying all the enzymes and putting the protein and calcium in a form the body cannot use. You would be better off not drinking any milk at all rather than heating it. The risk of disease from pasteurized milk is greater than raw milk because raw milk contains a variety of substances designed to deal with pathogens which are destroyed in the heating process. That is why nearly every outbreak of disease involving dairy is from heated dairy products. I suggest you check out The Milk Book by Dr. William Campbell Douglass and www.realmilk.org. Having used grass fed raw milk to help people beat disease over the years I can tell you from personal experience that pastuerized milk is a life robbing food.

-- m lazuras (bianca3@juno.com), February 13, 2002.