Goat question

[Littlechick]

I have some questions regarding goats. My husband and I are slowly converting our property to be more of a sustainable living area. Edible landscaping, chickens, pigs, that sort of thing. I'm interested in getting a goat for milk, but I bought some in the store, and I wasn't fond of it at all. The after taste was a bit too earthy for me. Does raw goat milk really taste that much different from store bought? How many goats do I need in order to have some to milk?

 

[Chirpy]

I hate (with a passion) store bought goats milk. I love (with a passion) my own fresh milked goats milk.

What a goat eats will affect how the milk tastes. So, even having your own goats you may get different tasting milk ... depending on what they eat. If you allow them to graze they will eat weeds and that will affect the taste of their milk. I have chosen to keep mine penned up (in a very large fenced area) and controlling their feed so that my milk tastes the same every day. After I got them I did let them free range and we noticed a different yucky/goaty taste in the milk for two to three milkings afterwards.

How you handle the milk affects how it tastes. The faster you can get it cold (really cold) the better. The cleaner your equipment is the better.

Make sure you have at least two goats. They are very social animals and do not do well when alone. They truly do need the company of another goat.

A good milking goat (Alpine, Nubian, LaMancha) will give a gallon of milk per day (1/2 gln. in the morning and 1/2 gln. at night). So, you can determine how much milk your family needs and get the number of does accordingly. Remember that goats give less milk during the winter months and sometimes they stop producing all together.

 

[Littlechick]

Awesome response. I appreciate it.

 

[toddntiff]

My Mini-Lamancha is an "only" goat...but I think she is the exception not the rule. She was producing about a 1/2 gallon a day and we are getting less and less as the weather gets colder and colder. She will be bred next week so come December/January we will stop milking her all together. But...her milk tastes great when chilled. We think it tastes better than cows milk from the store!

 

[kstaven]

Can't really add much here except to say goat milk from the store tastes nothing like fresh goat milk.

 

[Chatychick]

I agree the canned milk is awful as fresh goats milk. I have La Mancha, Alpine, Nubian and Nigerians. Their milk is wonderful and we love it . Its all we drink.

 

[helmstead]

I've never had store bought goat's milk. When I started milking I was worried it would taste like goat cheese...but it doesn't. Ours is JUST like store bought cow's milk, just a tish sweeter. Very yummy. That said, I think every doe has it's own flavor, and MUCH of it is diet related (our goats live in dry lots and have very controlled diets). We make sure to taste a few samples from each doe before we commit to milking her to make sure it's tasty. I'm sure in a commercial environment, they just milk away without checking first. I hear that different breeds have different flavors, too...but all I've ever milked are Nigerians, who have a high butterfat content.

I've changed a lot of laypeople's opinions of goats milk by letting them taste mine...everyone who was a doubter was pleasantly surprised by the flavor. Even the cream cheese and cottage cheese I've made tastes 'normal'. Not goaty at all.

 

[DeeTee]

I can tell you that I used to buy goat's milk from the store and I liked it, but it definitely had an off odor and taste. But the woman who sold me my goats has twice given me fresh milk from her does, and it is without a doubt the most delicious milk I have ever had in my life. As long as my does are producing I will have no use for cow's milk.

I have two doelings that will be bred in December and I can hardly wait to have my own goat's milk in the spring.
The woman I bought the goats from told me that it never tastes as good from the store because they don't collect it often enough and it sits too long, at least here in Ontario, where dairy goats are not a huge industry yet.