The Cost of Our Milk

Our kids love cereal, particularly our boys. I think they would eat it all day, every day if I let them. But I don’t.

However, I’m fine with letting them drink as much milk as they want. That’s because our milk comes from our own animals.

This is a chore my husband is not particularly fond of, and he often wonders if the cost of obtaining that milk is truly appreciated by all those who consume it.

So, in the interest of having our kids better understand the cost of our milk, I started having them recently go out with my husband each time he milked and be a part of the process. 

From the Desk of My Daughter:

What Goes Into Milking The Cow

The first thing we do is bring the cow into the milking shed and guide her over to the milking station.

Then my dad locks the cow’s head in place and gives her feed so she can stay occupied.

After Dad fills up part of the bowl, he hands it over to the boys to run it through a filter to get any dirt or hair that could have gotten in it out.

He does this several times so if the cow kicks the bowl over, we don’t lose everything that we’ve just done.

After he has milked her till she has no more milk, he lets her out, and we bring the milk back to the house where we label the lids with the date, so we know which milk is oldest. After that, we put the milk in the fridge.

Once that is all done, the milking is done for the day.

When I asked my youngest son to write down what was involved in getting the milk the first time they went out with him, here’s what he wrote…

From the Desk of My Youngest Son:

Tools you need:

• Feed, Filter, Cow, Milk, Bowl, Jar

This morning me and my brother went out to help my dad with the milk. My dad milked the cow.  I filtered the milk, and my brother fed the cow.

It was a slow process. I needed to pick up the filter and put it down again…

and again…

and again… You get the point.

It took a looonnngg time.

Then, we brought it back to the house.

Then, we did the last of the milk. And then we put it away. (We keep it in the fridge.)

I think he meant that they labeled the jars once they brought the milk back to the house.

We don’t milk every day; just as needed — a few times each week for our family of five…as long as the calf is still nursing. When we expect company, we typically milk extra just to be sure we have plenty on hand.

Raw milk is a precious commodity. We certainly appreciate it. 🙂