I have been looking for a cream seperator reasonably priced for a while. We have two milk goats and want to make butter and stuff. I placed a wanted ad in a agriculture paper in NC and got a call today from someonne with one she wanted to sell. BUT I need some advice- what does a cream seperator LOOK like? She said this puppy stands 3 to four feet tall and is rather massive. I was thinking it would be monitor (computer) sized. She said her father used to put cows milk in it and sold it locally- is a goat milk seperator and a cow milk seperator the same species??? and is thing too big to process the milk of two goats? She also said that the bowl (the thing you pour the milk into) was missing- is this something I could have the local welder make? She also said that the seperator was made by Internationnal Harvester. Pricewise: she wants 200 bucks, but its a 5 hour drive to go and get it (not that I minnd but I dont want to drive 5 hours to find out this thing is not gonna work). Adivce PLEASE!

-- Kevin in NC (vantravlrs@aol.com), December 11, 2001

Answers

That is a antique seperator OK. But if it doesn't have the top tank it would be hard to replace. They was made out of stainless steel. Why not just let the cream come to the top and skim it off. Or is goats milk different from cows.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), December 11, 2001.

Hi Kevin (Disclaimer: I have no practical experience with home dairy but have been reading up on the subject prior to diving in myself.) It sounds like the used one might be a gravity type separator. Cows milk will separate somewhat by its own devices but goats milk is naturally homogenized and the butterfat wants to stay mixed with the milk. I've been looking at a centrifugal separator in Lehman's that runs $249.00 delivered. Item #27326. http://www.lehmans.com. Maybe someone else can steer you (and me) to a better deal. Again- only know what I've read. Good luck.

-- B. Lackie (cwrench@hotmail.com), December 11, 2001.

Kevin,

Don't take this one if the bowl is missing. It is the main parts of the seperator. In therory, I guess you can have anything made...but not all seperators have interchangeable bowls. Depends on the model and date. $200 without the bowl is kind of high. They are selling apparently for the collectibility as an antique. You also have to be careful because there are dozens of parts to a separator in the form of rings. You can bet that if the whole bowl is missing so are some of those rings.

The size is pretty standard. If you had a dairy farm in the 20's that is the size you would have. Most of the table top varieties came later and where made for goats or people who did not want to wait for the cream to seperate out of the cow milk. They are generally not as well made as the large ones (which were generally for commercial use).

A cream seperator is a cream seperator. It does not matter if you put in goat milk, cow milk, or sheep milk. It has a screw that you adjust for how much cream you want to seperate out. You would turn it most all the way for goat milk.

Be sure when you are looking for a seperator that you inquire about the condition as far as rust, pitting, etc. goes. Exterior is something you can clean up, but you don't want rust where milk will be touching. It also has to turn smoothly and have all its parts.

You might not realize, you don't need to have a cream seperator for goat milk. Check the archives for various easy inexpensive ways to seperate. In reality, you will spend as much time cleaning a seperator as you do milking! For a goat or two it just is not worth it. You have take all those dozens of parts apart to clean each and everyone, dry them and put it all back together at each seperating. Anyone who has a seperator will tell you what a pain it is. One of those things you are sure you won't mind and then find you REALLY do mind and so the $300 separator sits on the shelf.

If you still decide you want one, just keep looking and take your time. They are expensive so get the one in the best condition you can afford. You can check the following site which has the same model that is sold in the Lehmans catalog at about a third of the cost ($125 at this place). It has plastic parts, but is very high quality. I saw this model when we visited Lehmans this past summer. http://www.homestead-products.com/creamsep.htm

Best of luck!

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), December 11, 2001.

Kevin......that price would be high, even if the bowl was there. I bought mine, that sounds like the identical one, for $75. Guess what?? I almost NEVER use it. I pasturize my goat's milk and cool and refrigerate. Within 5 days I have a really nice layer of cream on the top. Unless you are running GALLONS and gallons of milk through those big separators they are just not worth the bother involved with cleaning. If you only are milking two goats I just would not bother with the separator. If you skim and freeze your cream until you have enough for butter I (IMHO) would think you would be much happier.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 11, 2001.

if you buy that cream seperator email.me I know where the is one at an antique store for less than $20

-- earl (earlofhoward@hotmail.com), December 11, 2001.

Well, another idea that goes over like a lead balloon... thanks for the advice, all. I also saw the one in Lehmans, but really dont like Plastic Parts!!! I have tried letting the milk refrigerate, but no cream comes to the top- it just gets (sometimes) a nasty dried out film on top. What gives? The goats are a Lamancha and a Nubian, incidentally. I wish I knew how one worked- I might give it a try at building one. Had one thought... My grandfather was in the hospital a while back and they had this machine that seperated the red and white blood cells- he had a rare disease and the white blood cells basically revolted and where making a mess of things so they had to remove them from his system. Sounds like a similar process. Wonder if I could pick up a blood seperator at a hospital auction... maybe this isnt such a good Idea, though, kinda gross.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 12, 2001.

Someone one the forum said if you mix in some raw cow milk with the goat milk the emzimes it will help the cream separate out of the goat milk.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 12, 2001.

Kevin, I had one of those big IH separators once. I bought it for $20 and sold it for $150 a year later. It had never been used because it was in an old-time hardware store that went out of business before the separator had sold. Anyway, separators of that size are capable of processing about 60 gallons of milk at a session, in something less than an hour, if memory serves. It takes a while to get the thing up to speed and by that time, the production of your 2 does would have been through it and gone. The point I want to make is one that size for 2 does probably isn't practical, not only from a quantity standpoint but also from the time needed to clean all those little disks before and after use. Keep looking for something smaller.

The comment about the enzyme in cow's milk is true. We did it in a dairy science class I took years ago. Remember also that cow's milk has a larger fat globule that separates faster too.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), December 12, 2001.

OK Keven, perhaps this machine is not you you need but I would like to comment on a couple of points that have come up in the discussion.

I have never seen a stainless steel bowl on an old seperator, all have been tinned steel although stainless steel would be better.

A good many of the larger seperators DID NOT have bowls! The milk came from a large receiver vat via a horisontal pipe with a right angle bend down into the top of the seperator. Of course making such an arrangement should be a cinch.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), December 12, 2001.

Kevin, I sold a cream separator like that for $200 and got a new table-top model for slightly more....and have never used it! I'm hoping I'll get an ice cream maker for Christmas and if that's the case I may use it this summer. We'll see. I also have 2 goats and that cream separator was much too large for my purposes. The thing sounds like an airplane taking off when you start it up!!! Oh, and if it's the same IH cream separator that I had, it does have a stainless steel bowl that should come with it. It also needs a special tool to get the rings off for cleaning. There should also be floats in the bowl to adjust the %fat (so you can have skim milk or 2%).

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), December 12, 2001.

from my experience, I would try to borrow or make a trade with some one to use it for awhile. Most of the folks I know, and myself who have spent the money to buy a cream seperator don't use it often enough to justify the expense, if your finances are such that the money might be better spent for something that you would use more frequently. Mine was given to me as a gift and I enjoy using it from time to time, but often don't use it for weeks at a time. I have one of the small table top type that are castiron with stainless parts that do the seperating and a plastic type holding bowl and spouts. It's a good size for doing a couple of gallons of milk at a time..Ron

-- ron (ronmister@hotmail.com), December 15, 2001.

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-- brahm sinhal (sinhal@del2.vsnl.net.in), February 23, 2002.