Winter is a great time to work on indoor projects, so here are some of my favorite salve recipes for farm and home use:
Un-Petroleum Jelly
Use as a general salve (for humans and animals) or as an udder balm. We use this for our cows in the coldest months when liquid teat dips might freeze or teats might be wind or cold chapped. I’ve given this as gifts at baby showers as a “baby balm” approved by moms.
This all-purpose salve is far superior to petroleum jelly or bag balm. Can be used in place of Corona ointment. Use like you would the store bought variety. This salve is smooth (not “sticky” feeling) and has a pleasant beeswax-y smell.
- 1 cup lard
- 1/4 cup beeswax
- 2 tsp. lanolin
- 20 Vitamin E capsules
Measure ingredients and place in a saucepan on the stove (or microwave 30-60 seconds at a time). Warm on low until beeswax has melted, then remove from heat. Stir occasionally with whisk or electric mixer until solid. (I like to place in fridge or outside to cool and whisk every few minutes.) Pour or scoop into a small jar. Lasts indefinitely.
*I prefer to leave this salve unscented so that it can be used on open wounds without causing a stinging sensation. If desired, essential oils could be added. For example, tree tea oil could be added to a winter udder salve.
Healing Salve
Good for helping wounds heal (ie: udder rot) or for external application on udder (ie: for a quarter with mastitis).
- 1 cup lard
- 1 cup raw honey
- 1 Tbsp. lanolin
- 10 Vitamin E capsules
- 1 Tbsp. powdered clay
- 1 Tbsp. powdered slippery elm
- 2 Tbsp. activated charcoal
Measure lard, honey, lanolin, and vitamin E. Stir with whisk or electric mixer until well blended and airy. (Can warm ingredients slightly to help with blending.) Fold in clay, slippery elm, and charcoal. Pour or scoop into a small jar. Lasts indefinitely.
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Edema Salve
Good for external application on udder to assist in healing from edema or mastitis. Works well for humans, too – to ease arthritis, joint injury, etc. Use in place of expensive peppermint-based udder creams.
- 1 1/2 cup lard
- 1/4 cup beeswax
- 1 Tbsp. lanolin
- 10 Vitamin E capsules
- 20 drops peppermint essential oil (Can increase mint EO to 1 Tbsp. if using for severe edema/mastitis. Use gloves when applying to udder.)
- 10 drops tea tree essential oil
- Optional: 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
Measure lard, beeswax, lanolin, and vitamin E. Place in a saucepan on the stove (or microwave 30-60 seconds at a time). Warm on low until beeswax has melted, then remove from heat. Stir occasionally with whisk or electric mixer until solid. (I like to place in fridge or outside to cool and whisk every few minutes.) Once cool, mix in essential oils. Pour or scoop into a small jar. Lasts indefinitely.
Where to find ingredients:
- Lard [For perfect “creamy lotion” texture]: I have a large back-stock from when we owned pigs. Ask a neighbor or a butcher if they have extra lard – it’s easy to render down. Or, ask at your grocery store – odds are they either have lard or can order it for you. Here are instructions on how to: Render Fat (into Lard/Tallow)
- Beeswax [for texture, consistency, and smell]: I have some from my bees and other from local sources that sell it for $5/lb which is a steal of a deal. Try local first, otherwise you can find it online though prices seem to be quite high. (No worries, a little goes a long way.)
- Lanolin [For healing & soothing properties]: While I do own several wool sheep, collecting lanolin off them is not practical (just enough in the wool for easy spinning!). I purchased a small container of NOW brand cleaned lanolin online and one small jar lasts for many recipes.
- Vitamin E [A natural preservative]: I was given two jars of capsules, so find these recipes to be a good way to use them up while they’re fresh. A nice option is the 1 oz. bottle of squeezable Vitamin E from Trader Joe’s found in the aisle with lotions, etc.
- Clay, such as Bentonite [Draws out toxins]: Available at health food stores and online.
- Slippery Elm [Draws out toxins & soothes tissue]: Oregon’s Wild Harvest or Mountain Rose Herbs have the best bulk pricing. Buy a pound – there are many wonderful uses for slippery elm!
- Activated Charcoal [Draws out toxins]: In a pinch, you should be able to find capsules at a local health food store. A good source of powder in bulk form is: http://www.charcoalremedies.com
- Essential Oils [for medicinal properties]: NOW is a popular, affordable brand available in stores and online. Bulk essential oils are available online. I buy peppermint in bulk because it’s an “affordable” essential oil, whereas I buy tea tree oil in smaller (2 oz. or less) containers as needed.
Alternatives:
INFUSIONS: A liquid oil could be substituted for part of the lard in order to infuse the oil with herbs such as calendula.
I planted a few calendula seeds in my garden and now have a large plot of orange and yellow calendula each year that blooms all summer through frost season. (Remember: One person’s weed is another person’s medicinal herb!) I can pick off petals or full heads to dry for use later in the year.
To make an infusion
Fill a mason jar half full with dried herb to be infused (such as calendula petals).
Pour liquid oil (such as olive oil) over the herbs to twice the volume of the herbs. Seal jar.
Leave on counter or in a warm area where you will remember to shake the jar every few days for four weeks. (After that, infusion can be left alone until needed.)
Strain out herbs when ready to use infused oil.
OTHER OILS:
- Olive oil is a popular oil. If replacing the lard with olive oil, increase the percentage of beeswax in the recipe to help keep the consistency thick.
- Coconut oil is another alternative I’ve used, but I avoid it as the sole oil because it solidifies too hard in cooler weather. Could substitute half liquid oil (olive, grapeseed, avocado, etc.) and half coconut oil. Cut beeswax amount in half or remove altogether.
Happy Milkings to You! Enjoy!
Spirited Rose Homestead Dairy Farm 
Hello! Been scouring the internet as to not bother you with this question! Do you know if there is a temp low enough as which to not apply lanolin? I have pure lanolin and trying to avoid frostbite or wind chapping. (I’m about 2 hours from Spokane so we have similar weather to you. Hi by the way, I’m aquatinted with Lorinda over in Idaho 😉).
However we are in a valley of Montana and get some pretty good wind gusts. I’ve done everything else in the past few years to prevent the chapping I’m dealing with during these cold snaps (no post dipping, making sure teats are totally dry, fresh straw twice a day and always have done deep litter method in loafing shed). But it’s still has been a problem with my thin teated cows.
Next year we will be retrofitting the barn to lock them up during cold snaps (roll down doors, enclosing the ceiling, building free stalls etc) and keep them out of the elements when temps dip.
For now, we can’t do that. So I have pure lanolin I wanted to try out . But I’m scared to do more damage if I put this on and it’s too cold. For the life of me I can’t find info on the internet as to how cold may be too cold to apply it. Only a study from Finland (or somewhere lol) that talked about fat on the face actually being MORE likely to cause frostbite in extreme cold weather. So I’m just curious if you have experience on if there is a temp that is too low, that putting pure lanolin, or your above recipe for winter salve, would do more harm than good. Thanks so much!
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Hi neighbor!
Your question makes me think of people putting bag balm on chicken’s combs. I’ve heard the same thing that in trying to protect them, you can actually put them at higher risk. https://extension.sdstate.edu/factors-affecting-teat-skin-condition-winter
I’m thinking you probably shouldn’t use lotions including lanolin at temps below freezing or at freezing.
What we do is “dry wipe” our cows before and after milking when temperatures are below 20-25F (there are also powdered teat dips you can use in winter). We keep the bedding dry (easier to do in freezing weather!) and add extra straw bedding to the freestalls so the cows can snuggle down into the bedding, protecting the udder. One article suggested keeping your teat dip warm so that it goes on easier for the cow and dries faster. If using teat dip in risky weather, they say to allow it to dry before letting the cow back out.
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Thanks for the reply! Well, I’ll have to let you know in a few days if the lanolin helped, as I did wind up using it morning and night. It definitely hardened right away when applied, but I will say, by morning milking time, their teats seemed much more supple compared to the last cold snap, in which I didn’t post dip at all, but dried any remaining moisture after milking with a paper towel. Any damage we’ve had before has been days after the snap… so maybe it helped, won’t know just yet. Who knows, maybe the lanolin being a natural ingredient, versus the petroleum based bag balm, may make all the difference. I’ll come back on to let ya know.
Also, their loafing shed is a tunnel that , sadly, aligns with the winds natural direction. By next year we hope to have rolling doors installed. We also plan to remodel into freestall design. This way we can ensure deep and dry bedding. As is, during snaps, we are doing 3xs the amount of straw. We do deep litter method (though muck most the poop out) so that adds warmth. But we face a big issue with our current management – the unwanted 20-50 turkeys that troll around the farm and go into the shed and turn it all up, for the seeds from straw AND the whole grain from the milkers poo (that’s the most annoying, the poop that I can’t muck out because they spread everywhere. Summer time however, this IS a handy thing they do in the fields ). While their shed is by no means a sodden mess , the night time is the only time there is an actual “dry” straw layer. Darned turkeys!
So, hopefully by next year it will no longer be an issue.
Thanks again!
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Thank you! Thank you! I am looking forward to making these!
We only have one cow–do you think I could make up a big batch (particularly of the first balm) and freeze it?
Happy New Year!
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I usually make up big batches for the farm (small, fresh batches when I do gifts). I have some salve that’s probably a year old by now and is still fine to use. If concerned, you could increase the % of Vitamin E (preservative).
There should not be a need to freeze, although I’ve frozen lard, tallow, etc. before with no negative effects. I haven’t tried freezing the salve, I don’t think you’d get separation, but you could try freezing a small container and then thaw it out a few days later to check the effects.
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