How to Make Udder Butter

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Udder Butter Dairy animals are the hardest working livestock on a homestead. They graze, produce meat, lamb, kid or calve, then provide the farmhouse with milk that can be turned into a variety of dairy products like cheese, butter, sour cream, and ice cream.

For more than 40 years I raised sheep, with a few goats and cows thrown in here and there. I have seen plenty of udders stretch beyond the size of a basketball, sometimes wondering how the poor girls ever managed the ever expanding skin much less the weight. And, when the babies were born mom had to endure months of young sharp teeth gripping teats and anxious mouths aggressively nudging mom’s udder to let her milk down. I don’t think there is any other body part that takes such a beating as the livestock udder.

The weather doesn’t help much either. Most female livestock give birth in cold weather months, where low temps and frigid winds can chap and crack the skin of an udder, making nursing even more uncomfortable.

Running to the feed store to buy a can of udder cream or salve may be an easy solution, but making your own is easy and more organic for both mom and baby. Imagine a baby nursing from an udder that has been smeared with a chemical laden balm. No thank you!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 ounce beeswax
  • 2 ounces Shea butter
  • 2 ounces coconut oil
  • 6 ounces olive oil
  • 4 drops Lavender essential oil
  • 4 drops Tea Tree oil
  • Plastic container large enough to reach in to scoop out the butter

DIRECTIONS:

In a double boiler, melt the beeswax over medium-high heat

When the beeswax is melted, add the Shea butter and coconut oil

Stir gently as it melts to incorporate

Add olive oil, mix thoroughly and remove from heat

Stir in lavender and tea tree oils

Cool slightly before carefully pouring into plastic container (let cool completely so it can set)

Apply to udder (for cows and goats apply after milking. For sheep who are nursing, apply morning and evening, when lambs are likely to nurse)

Store in the house, as a cold barn will make the butter a solid mass

 

Within a few minutes time you’ll be on your way to relieving the sore, chapped udders of farm girls who work just as hard we do.

As a side note, this udder butter works great on our hard worked human hands as well.

When the farm girls are happy, EVERYBODY’S happy! Right?

 

 



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