Our goat milk tastes off

[forestrymom]

I'm not sure what's going on, so I'm posting for ideas. We just started milking and it tastes off. I've had goat's milk before and it was delicious, and in fact, I thought it tasted BETTER than cow's milk. So this is very disappointing for me. Any ideas?

[Momsteader]

Are you cooling it right away?

We have friends with quite a few goats and she puts ice cubes in a ziploc bag and puts it in the milking pan so that it will begin to cool immediately! And her milk tastes delish! She says that's the big secret to goat's milk is cooling it fast.

It also might be what you're feeding them as that can really affect the taste of milk. If you're in a different area than where you tasted it before, that will mean different forage for them and different tasting milk. Also if you had commercial store goat's milk versus fresh from the farm.

[forestrymom]

I am cooling it right away, but I posted this somewhere else and they said I should cool with the lid off. I tried that, and adding some yeast culture and minerals directly to their grain, and it improved it drastically. I also wormed them, with chemical wormer, which I haven't done because I wanted to avoid chemicals, but it was recommended to me (and they use the same wormer on humans in 3rd world countries, so I let myself believe it would be okay this one time). I can't drink the milk for a week, and I'm leaving in a week, so hopefully when I get back, I'll have it all lined out and it will be delicious!

Oh, and I"m in Montana too!!!!

[1stimestar]

Yea if you are letting them eat things they shouldn't, the milk will taste bad. 

[FarmerBeth]

We grew up with dairy goats.  We had a horrible episode of bad milk from the goats getting into the pine trees, and another from eating chives.  Also, my mother always washed the underside of the goats before milking to avoid body odor getting into the milk.  I don't know if this helped, but the milk tasted good outside of the pine and chives incidents.  If you had pasteurised goat milk before keep in mind that it will taste extrememely differnt from fresh.

[Arduinna]

It's generally either a diet thing or a husbandry thing. They need to be milked away from their pen and bedding area so it doesn't pick up airborn smells, use stainless steel or glass for anything that comes in contact with the milk. Clean the teats before and after milking, make sure you milk the first couple streams into a separate container then the regular milk pail and discard it later, strain the milk and well chill immediately. Again, everything stainless steel or glass and make sure you are washing everything that comes in contact with the milk with the correct cleanser. All that will greatly improve milk quality. Oh and make sure any mature intact male goats are not near the milking area as they can give off a pretty rank smell.

[howdeepistheocean]

Even though you've already had good replies, I had to answer too, as I'm from Montana as well. I've noticed that goat milk tastes "off" for weeks after they give birth. Like my goats had babies a little over 2 wks ago, and it still doesn't taste good to me. I know last yr, I ended up having very good tasting milk, even if I didn't cool it perfectly, so I'm not too worried. I'm sure with time it will taste much bette.

 

[forestrymom]

I actually think its the goat. I think her milk isn't as sweet, and has a bad aftertaste. I'm still experimenting with a few things, but I've tasted the milk of the other goat (even though I don't want to milk her as she's raising 2 of my next nannies), and its fine. Anyway, I wash and follow good cleanliness practices, so I know its not that, and we milk a long ways from the barn. I wormed them, and I've moved the buck even further away. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the replies!