Friday 9 August 2019

The New Electric Cream Separator - (All guesses were correct)


 
 We have been using this old cream separator for all of the years we have been milking cows and I'm very grateful to have it.
I taught myself to turn the handle at just the correct speed to get delicious thick cream from our cow's milk. It requires a bit of fancy foot work and juggling whilst tipping heavy buckets of milk into the bowl while the handle is still in full spin mode. But we country women are multi-taskers and multi-skilled, determined to get the job done when there is no one about to lend a hand.

Occasionally we have made an effort to find an electric separator like the one on the farm that I visited as a kid.
Memories of milking time on the farm as my friend's mum hand-milked all eight house cows of varying colours and breeds. Hand milked...! Here's me fifty years later,  like a princess.. needing a machine to milk my one or two cows because my hands get too sore after the first five minutes. (Rolls eyes with shame!)
She would let us milk one of the quiet multi-coloured old girls, squirting each other with warm milk straight from the teat. The cats lined up, happily accepting our squirts of milk onto their coats before slinking away to lick themselves clean.
After milking was done I loved to follow Mrs A into the cream room where she tipped the milk into the electric milk separator. Golden cream poured into a container from one spout, and the whitest of white milk poured into buckets from the other spout.
Perhaps that is where it all began? My ingrained love of cows and obsession with all things cream, milk and cheese. Who knows, but I've always had a hankering for one of those electric milk separators.
All of my searches for the holy grail of separators, over the years, amounted to nothing. All that showed up on Gumtree and similar on-line market places were old and beyond repair.

 

Recently we were invited to a long lunch as a thank you for hosting some organics agriculture students at our property last summer.
The three course lunch was entirely made up of ingredients grown and cooked by the students.
Can you imagine how thrilled we were to be attending this beautiful event?
And by the way, it was held on a weekday. You already know how we never commit to lunches out during our busy working weekends.
*Edited to apologise for the blue coloured words. All of my editing efforts will not remove them.*

One of the students had supplied the fresh jersey cream for the amazing citrus desert.
I was chatting to him across the table about milk separators (as you do) and which type he uses.  I mentioned that although we have a hand winding one, we have been looking for an electric model for years, with no luck.
The older couple sitting along from us heard this and called out that they had one they wanted to sell.

No time was wasted agreeing on a time to visit them early on the following Saturday morning. All planned farm jobs were moved aside to accommodate this special excursion.
We bought it for a song at twice the asking price.  Neither of us could walk away without paying a fair price for this beautiful piece of working history, but it was definitely a "start the car" moment.

So to all of you who guessed correctly, it is indeed Alfa Lavel brand, congratulations and well done!


There were just a few minor teething problems, getting the the thickness of the cream just right; the tiny allan key was missing so we had one made up by a friend.
At present I'm not into full-swing milking mode as Lavender holds back the best part of her milk for her calf Minnie, and I'm milking only a couple of times each week. But come October, when the calf is weaned AND Poppy's calf is born, there will be milk and cream and all the good things.
So I will enjoy this relatively relaxed milking time, using my energy elsewhere for now.

As I've been writing this, the rain has been pelting down for two days, with 20mls in the gauge so far. It couldn't have come at a better time. Our rainfall is well below average again this year, our crops are only just hanging on. It is also allowing me some respite from outside work as I've injured my shoulder and am feeling rather helpless until it recovers.
Brian is on hay feeding and firewood duty for another couple of days, while the-up side (for me) is having the time to sit at my laptop and write.
Covering for each other when one of us is away or ill/injured is a good reminder of the work and effort that each of us adds to the smooth running of our home or farm. We can easily take for granted all the work that the other does. I can't help feeling that the universe throws these hiccups at us for a reason.

And as the rain falls here, filling our tanks with precious water, I feel so terribly helpless for all of the parts of our country that haven't seen rain for too long. Stanthorpe in Queensland is only hours away from running out of water. Millions of dollars of water will be trucked into the town until it rains again. Our thoughts are with all of the residents there and in surrounding districts.

Thanks for dropping in friends.
Cheers!
Sally XX
















16 comments:

  1. Sally it is wonderful that you have gotten the electric creamer. I bet it will make life just that little bit easier when you're back into full milking production. The rain going into tanks will be such a blessing. So many communities to our West are doing it tough after many years of drought. Stanthorpe residents are being asked to keep their water usage down to 90L/day/person.

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    1. Water is such a huge issue in our country now Jane. I feel so sorry for the folks up there living with drought. Our summers are exhausting enough, but I can't imagine the dryness hanging on for years. Huge respect for the resilience of those people.

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  2. My dad only ever had a hand turned separator so I was very pleased to get an electric one from my grandmother. I don’t have the little key to change the thickness and I wasn’t even sure what you used so we just have very thick cream. I’ve had to wean my 3 cows as their calves were getting too big but fortunately have just had two new ones calve so by the time their milk cleans up I will have exhausted my fridge supply.

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    1. I won't be getting the biceps workout any more Lucy, but there are still all of the bits to wash though! Thankfully yours is set for thick cream. Much better than too thin.

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  3. Sally, good on you for picking up that separator. Well done! Yes, the drought is very bad around here. Stanthorpe is two hours away from Toowoomba and the whole area is just parched. I think Warwick isn't too far behind Stanthorpe regarding running out of water. They both have the same council so paying a million dollars a month to truck in water is going to be too much for them without government help I would imagine. I am pleased you had some rain down there though.

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  4. We're grateful for every drop Chel, but still well below average again this year.

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  5. A new creamer, and rain. That's a double-barrell of good fortune. I know you'll put both to good use. It's a reminder to speak up with those around us, and they just might have something we're looking for.

    I spent my last years of high school (3 in total) in Stanthorpe. I was there in the worst drought - late eighties, early nineties, and farmers were feeling it then. But the town had water at least. I have a feeling, rain will arrive soon though. It's not forecast, but I feel it's not far away.

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  6. I agree Chris, it's always good to put the feelers out, but to be honest, I had given up trying to find this separator. Fortunate indeed. We all hope your feeling of approaching rain is on the money. XX

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  7. What wonderful stories about the cows from your childhood! I would love to hear more about that!

    That cream separator is pretty darn special, so happy for you!

    xx

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    1. Ha Em, be careful what you ask for.. lol Yes so many wonderful memories from simple pleasures of my early years.XX

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  8. Hey, we have just fired up an old electric cream separator just like yours and I was surprised to see that once the cream was cold it went solid. Like thick glue solid... Is this Normal?
    Thanks,
    Sarah

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    1. Hi Sarah, it sounds like your tension needs adjusting. Do you have the little key that adjusts the tension? We use a small Alan key. It took a bit of patience to get the adjustment correct as the big bowl needs to be lifted off to make the adjustments. I'll take photos and describe the process if you would like to send me a direct email that I can reply to.

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  10. Ok thanks,
    We Don't have a key but if an Alan key works id say we should have one that fits.
    You can send an email to sara_bare3@hotmail.com

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  11. This cream separator is the perfect addition to any farm. The sturdy metal frame and metal drum allows for easy separation of milk into cream and skim milk.

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  12. Chadha Sales is the best milking machine Manufacturer in India. Incorporated in 1948. The company started its business as a manufacturer of milk testing centrifuge as their first product.

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