HELP..GOATY goat MILK!! :(

[cassie]

Really, your best bet is to get a Nubian or two and use the Togg milk for something other than drinking. Feed it to pigs or calves or chickens or kids. I suggest Nubians because Nubians consistently have good milk. So do Nigerians but I have never been keen on dealing with the itty bitty titties. They are hard for me to milk. I think Toggs that carry the off flavor gene have done more damage to the reputation of goat milk than all other factors combined. BTW, cow milk varies in flavor also. Raw milk from the cow does not taste like store milk. So there is a chance your girls might not like it either. That said, I really miss my Jerseys.

 

[katrinag]

Here are some thing I have figured out down the road.
1. Dry lot is best if you have weeds growind in the padock. My girls got out into the other side of the padock and ate something that made there milk NASTY.
2. Good hay makes a big difference. The better the hay the sweeter the milk.
3. CLEAN all of the udder and teats well. Dry them well too.
4. There in NO way to milk them and not get at least 1 hair in the bowl. It has never made a difference it taste if I had 1 or 10.
5. Cool the milk ASAP.
6. Make sure you hands a clean.

Now I do not have a closed room to milk my girls in. I just have a stand in the barn. However I keep the barn as clean as I can. I have never had an issue with barn tasting milk.

When we have problem with off tasting milk I milk each girl into a different bowl. Clean and chill in seperate container and lable then taste.

I would see if you can find someone that you trust that has a different breed of goat and try there milk and see if you taste a difference.

Also for a lot of people it is a mind over matter. For years we have gone to the store and bought milk in plastic jugs.

 

[aaronzclark]

Well my mom came in and said try this milk i got at the farmers market she said it was fresh cows so i tried it and when i tried it she said it was really goat milk (just the thought of goat milk made me want to barf) and it was SO good I had never tried it so not all goat milk is nasty I am not sure what kind it came from but it was great i ate it in my cereal

 

[Catfishingpokey]

My first taste of goat milk was from a Nubian about 10 years ago. I loved it and couldn't get enough of it!!!! The next year my father in law gave us milk from an Alpine doe, and it was horrible!!! If it had been the first goat milk I ever tasted, I'd have sworn off it FOREVER!!!
I don't know what caused the off taste, but I don't necessarily think it was the difference in goat breeds. Who knows?

We now have a Saanen doe and a Nubian doe, and we have fresh delicious milk running out our ears. We end up throwing it away and giving it to our chickens because when you offer it to someone, they make a face like you are trying to give them something a buzzard wouldn't touch. I am to the point I would rather throw it out than try to convince someone it's WONDERFUL!!! The one time I have noticed that our goat milk gets a whang to it is when it gets a tad warm, like when I pour it up in a bottle and drink on the way to work. If it starts heating up I won't drink the "bottom of the barrell" milk cause it gets a definite whang to it.

Kim

(who just realized she is logged in under her husband's user name instead of hers, which is "Gatorpupsmom')

 

[Cara]

Ohiofarmgirl you mentioned something that we have also experienced. For some reason goat's milk and coffee are not friends.

I prefer to drink cold coffee, and sometimes we get a batch that tastes good with it, but more often than not it is not good. It hardly ever tastes good in hot coffee, but other than that we never have any 'goaty' issues, even when cooking with it. The only time it tasted bad was when Dizzy had first kidded, but that was because of the colostrum.

They are in a dry lot with alfalfa hay free choice and grain and sunflower seeds twice a day. We switch up the grain every now and then, sometimes they get mare and foal feed and sometimes a grain blend of barley, oats and cracked corn. One of the does is a hard keeper, and she gets a lunchtime snack of Calf Manna.

It is not at all true that all goat milk tastes goaty. My husband wasn't exactly enthused about getting goats and vowed to never drink the milk. He loves it, and brags on how good it is! It doesn't taste anything like chevre, that flavour comes from the enzymes added when making the cheese (just as cow's milk doesn't taste like parmesan).

 

[cmjust0]

I know this thread is old, but I was looking for something on google and this thread popped up.. Since I'm a member here, I thought I'd chime in.

Quote:
I've had the same experience with Nubians. If anybody ever has milk that tastes bucky or goaty, I truly believe it to be a characteristic of your doe...not your buck, nor your pasture, nor your feeding regimen, etc... We've run bucks with does -- on pasture and browse -- from breeding season up through kidding and into milking and never, ever had a "goaty" or "off" milk experience..

Knowing that the doe herself is the primary influence on the flavor of the milk, I was looking for peoples' experiences with the taste of Saanen milk. Looks like it's pretty good and non-goaty for the most part, though you get the occasional report of someone complaining about bucky Saanen milk (and being told to get the buck further away, get them off pasture, etc), which would indicate to me that some individual Saanens may be a little stout.

Anyway...just my experiences, FWIW.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

was looking for peoples' experiences with the taste of Saanen milk.

hey cmjust0 -

i milked a sanaan all summer - fresh and clean milk - nothing goatie at all. we really couldnt tell the diff between her milk and the la mancha. however when i made cheese the lamancha gave greater yields.

​

 

[cmjust0]

Aha..

We have nubians, boers, and boer/nubi crosses now.. The Nubian milk is OMGood, but the goats themselves?...meh.

They're very pretty and very entertaining, but they're also less hardy and -- this is just a personal theory -- I think all their fancy color makes them prone to mineral deficiencies. Again, just a theory...but copper does play a huge role in coat pigmentation..

Anyway...I think I want Saanens. Saanens and Saanen crosses have a reputation of being really hardy and more naturally parasite resistant...does white=more stored copper=less worms?...you be the judge.

All I needed to know was...how's the milk?!?

As such...suffice it to say that your post makes me

 

[Cara]

We recently added a Saanen to the herd and her milk is even better than the Sable's.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

now thats a goat! lovely gal - thanks for sharing the pic


i like that they describe the sanaans as 'big marshmallows' - hee hee hee we like our gal's laid back attitude, altho she is the herd queen

i have to say tho the la manchas are pretty darn good. mine out-milked the sanaan every darn day - and she is much more efficient with her feed. i dunno if i'm going to hop the fence to the nubians even if the milk is superdelicious... one of the things we like about the lamancha and the sanaan is that they are NOT hop over the fence types. for heavens sakes you can only spend so much on fencing!
;-)