# How do you keep the goat taste out of the milk?



## Bedste (Jul 24, 2011)

I have heard many different answers from friends.  What is the secret to keeping the goaty taste out of milk?  Is it important to cool it to 32 degrees as quickly as possible?  Please share your experiences.  I am new at this and learning from you all.  Thanks.....


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## freemotion (Jul 24, 2011)

Have you encountered goatie tasting milk yet?  I haven't.....oh, yeah, the quart that was forgotten in the back of the fridge for six weeks got a little goatie... 

I just try to be reasonably clean....I bleach my re-usable filter and the milking machine but just wash everything else.  So far, so good.  I don't worry so much about cooling it down fast, I just filter it into a clean gallon jar and into the fridge it goes.


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## Bedste (Jul 24, 2011)

I bought goat milk from walmart months ago and it was HORRIBLE and goaty.  I have not tasted goaty milk yet but I am milking and running to the house and filtering milk and putting it on ice and stirring it until it reaches 32 degrees and then pouring it in a glass jar and placing it in the back of the fridge.  Is this rediculous?  Is this overkill?  Is this necessary?


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## Griffin's Ark (Jul 25, 2011)

Bedste said:
			
		

> I bought goat milk from walmart months ago and it was HORRIBLE and goaty.  I have not tasted goaty milk yet but I am milking and running to the house and filtering milk and putting it on ice and stirring it until it reaches 32 degrees and then pouring it in a glass jar and placing it in the back of the fridge.  Is this rediculous?  Is this overkill?  Is this necessary?


Take some of your milk, cool it, then warm it up, then cool it, then warm it up, then cool it and taste it.  You will then have a reasonable facsimile of store bought goat milk.  

We have a filter that goes with us and we filter as soon as it leaves the goat, but then we just put it in half gallon jars, label it, and put it in the fridge (set at 36 deg. F).  

Keeping the buck scent out of the milk is as easy as washing the udder well when the buck is in rut, and washing your hands anytime you touch the buck.  If you can smell buck when you are milking and the buck isn't around you might get some funny tasting milk.


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## Emmetts Dairy (Jul 25, 2011)

Store bought goats milk is NOTHING like fresh goats milk...FYI.  Its totally differant.  Keep things clean as stated...and try fresh goats milk...you'll love it.  I dont know how they make it so yukky...but I have had the same expirence with store bought goats milk.   I have 2 does who are in milk right now and thats all I drink!!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jul 25, 2011)

Bedste said:
			
		

> I bought goat milk from walmart months ago and it was HORRIBLE and goaty.  I have not tasted goaty milk yet but I am milking and running to the house and filtering milk and putting it on ice and stirring it until it reaches 32 degrees and then pouring it in a glass jar and placing it in the back of the fridge.  Is this rediculous?  Is this overkill?  Is this necessary?


ME TOO!!!!  When I first was thinking I'd do the goat milk thing, I tried the kind from WalMart-EWWW!  Tasted like a buck smells!  But fresh and chilled quickly and NOT milked in the vicinity of a buck=YUMMY!  I did not go through all of that to chill my milk-I kept small glass jars in the freezer and let them get cold and then poured the filtered milk into them-they chilled nicely and I had not off flavors.


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## freemotion (Jul 25, 2011)

Bedste said:
			
		

> I bought goat milk from walmart months ago and it was HORRIBLE and goaty.  I have not tasted goaty milk yet but I am milking and running to the house and filtering milk and putting it on ice and stirring it until it reaches 32 degrees and then pouring it in a glass jar and placing it in the back of the fridge.  Is this rediculous?  Is this overkill?  Is this necessary?


 I've never had goat's milk other than from my own goats.  The only thing I can relate it to is pork products.  We raised our own pigs for the first time last year and now I know that it is pig crap that I sometimes smelled when cooking with store bought pork.  I bought a few blocks of lard to make soap and boy-oh-boy it smelled like I'd scraped it out of the pig pasture.  My home rendered lard is pure and odorless.  Goat's milk should be like pure, clean milk.

I don't worry about cooling it fast.  It takes me 30-40 minutes to get all four does milked and get the milk in the house and filtered.  I just put it in the fridge and don't try to cool it quickly.  It keeps just fine.  Those rules are for commercial dairies  where employees might not be as careful as we are with our own food and the quick chilling keeps bacteria down....bacteria that doesn't get into my milk in the first place.


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## wannacow (Jul 25, 2011)

I'm only milking 1 at this time, so I cool mine quickly.  I use a frozen juice jug in cold well water.  My jar sits in the water with the strainer ready to go.  I pour the milk directly into the jar and let it set in the cold water while I finish the rest of my chores.  I also pour the evening's milk into the morning's milk.  Again, it is set up in the cold/ice water.  Like I said, I am only milking 1 right now, so my routine may change next spring when I'm milking 4.  I have no problem with goatie milk.  We drink it and DH likes it better than cow's milk.


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## Griffin's Ark (Jul 25, 2011)

Several people have stated that they don't worry about cooling the milk quickly. I suppose it depends on a persons idea of quickly. Yes, as my husband said earlier, we put our milk in 1/2 gallon jars, label them and put in the fridge. (on the bottom shelf). However, when it's 95 degrees outside we keep a cooler in the milking paddock and put ice and water in it before we milk. Each jar is placed in the ice water when it gets full.  Our milk has never tasted anything but delicious. And as has already been said - proper sanitation is most important for good goat milk. If you are cleaning everything properly and still getting a goaty taste, this is something you may want to try.
Hope it helps.


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## Bedste (Jul 25, 2011)

Thank you everyone!   No more running to the house with my fresh milk and standing over an ice chest cooling and stirring after I filter.... boy..... I have been spending about an hour a day making brine, cracking ice,  stirring and cooling...... etc....  FREEDOM!


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## Our7Wonders (Jul 26, 2011)

We do notice a difference in milk that hasn't been chilled fairly quick.  I worked at a dairy last summer.  I got to take home goat milk as part of my "wages" for working (I also worked off two dairy does).  I would milk by machine and then filter the milk and bottle it.  It would then go straight into an ice water bath in the fridge.  I'd clean the milk machine and tidy the milk room up - maybe 30 minutes total spent wrapping things up.  I'd then take the not yet cold milk home - about a 20 minute drive.  The milk was ok.  I wasn't super thrilled about the taste but it was tolerable.  And since I wanted fresh raw milk from a naturally raised, grass fed animal if I had to sacrifice a little on taste, so be it.  

I was pleasantly surprised to find that once our goats were here and we could chill it much faster the milk tasted MUCH better.  We milk (about 10 minutes or so) and then take the milk immediately into the house, strain it into half gallon jars and put in my freezer for 2 hours.  I set the timer on the stove so I don't forget.  Then into the back of the fridge.  Creamy, yummy, goodness!  I didn't have to sacrifice on taste after all.  

So, for us anyway, chilling quickly seems to be an important step.  But I keep it simple - nothing complicated.  From goat to freezer, freezer to frigde.  Easy.


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## DKRabbitry (Jul 26, 2011)

Weeeeellll When I first got goats, I was a bit clueless.  I had gotten a doe in milk, but she was possibly bred, so I let her dry up for a couple months, then when no kid, I just started milking her again.  She came back into milk and it tasted horribly goaty.  I milked her for a good while before trying to drink it.  I was soooo bummed when she was finally producing enough to save because I thought that was what goat milk tasted like and it was gross.  But then I got to reading and I was feeding her straight sweet feed from TSC.  Apparently too much mollases or something can mess up the taste of the milk.  So now I water down the grain with oats to about 75% oats, 25% sweet feed, and after a couple days the goaty taste was gone and I enjoy my goat milk much more


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## Okie Amazon (Jul 26, 2011)

I have noticed a difference in taste this summer when the goats are eating much more browse/grass. It's just a little less tasty than in the winter when they are eating only hay and goat ration.


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## kstaven (Jul 27, 2011)

Too much grain will give goat milk an off taste also.


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## homesteadapps (Aug 1, 2011)

We pasteurize our milk to 161 degrees for 30 seconds and then use a ice cream maker in the sink with cold water running in the bucket instead of ice.  About 15 minutescooling per gallon and the milk is cold and tastes great, even pasteurized.


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## Squirrelgirl88 (Aug 1, 2011)

So is it ok if you are milking two goats to combine the milk? Or should you keep them seperate? 

Do you mix milkings from different times? (AM milking with PM milking) (Monday's milk with Tuesday's milk)

Our girls aren't bred yet, but just want to get a good idea.


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## Terry (Aug 1, 2011)

Bedste said:
			
		

> I have heard many different answers from friends.  What is the secret to keeping the goaty taste out of milk?  Is it important to cool it to 32 degrees as quickly as possible?  Please share your experiences.  I am new at this and learning from you all.  Thanks.....


I almost got into having my own goat milk, years ago. A lady down the road, close-by, has milked for years. I used to get some from her to drink, as I can't drink cow easily. It was always fresh tasting and yummy. She said the biggest thing is to make sure everything is super clean! Even the container you keep it in. She prefered glass jars to store drinking  milk in. 

Terry


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## Bedste (Aug 1, 2011)

ok.... so... after reading everything and researching...... this is what I do.  

I keep everything clean
I put glass sterile jar in FREEZER
I milk goat
I take the frosted glass jar out of FREEZER
I place the filtering system ON frosted glass jar
I pour fresh milk through filter 
I put glass jar back in FREEZER
I set timer for two hours
I shake jar once or twice in the two hours
I then place jar in back of fridge
DRINK


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## Terry (Aug 1, 2011)

We never put anything in the freezer, but I'm sure there's a few ways our there.


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## freemotion (Aug 1, 2011)

Squirrelgirl88 said:
			
		

> So is it ok if you are milking two goats to combine the milk? Or should you keep them seperate?
> 
> Do you mix milkings from different times? (AM milking with PM milking) (Monday's milk with Tuesday's milk)
> 
> Our girls aren't bred yet, but just want to get a good idea.


Yes, for your own drinking, there is no reason why not to unless one has recently freshened, been dewormed, or is on antibiotics.  I do mix milk from different times, and filter warm milk into jars in the fridge containing cold milk from the previous milking.  I milk four does into the same container.

Relax.  Experiment.  Remember....don't cry over spilt milk!  That also applies to an experiment that goes awry.....it is just one jar of milk that will spoil, after all.  It's never happened here, though.  

I have never put milk or the jars into the freezer, either.  Imagine if you were getting a gallon or two per milking or more.  It would eventually become impossible without a dedicated freezer.


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## Bedste (Aug 1, 2011)

i only leave the jars in the FREEZER for 2 hours.  I use the freezer to quickly cool down the milk.  I shake the milk a couple of times if I think about it and then after 2 hours I stick it in the fridge.

I mix milk with the milk that was 12 hours old.  Sometimes that means last night milk with this mornings.... If I get too much milk...I will get a brand new jug of water and use the water for something and use the jug for FREEZING .  I can put several days in one gallon.  My goat gives between 1-2 quarts at a time.  If I am FREEZING a plastic jug, I will pour chilled milk over frozen milk and put it back in freezer.... until I end up with a frozen gallon..  This worked out great when I got 6 grandkids for 2 days.  Just put the milk in the fridge and the next morning it was like a slushy.  Awesome wonderful fresh icy MILK.


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## kstaven (Aug 3, 2011)

Watch out when shaking goats milk. The fats are very fragile. Try taking a cup of chilled goats milk shaking it vigorously and then drinking it the next day up against some not shaken and you will discover what I mean.


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## Bedste (Aug 3, 2011)

does it change the taste??


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## kstaven (Aug 4, 2011)

Bedste said:
			
		

> does it change the taste??


Big time! It is a quick way to get fresh goat milk to taste like goat milk that is a week old or like the stuff from the store.


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## genuck (Aug 4, 2011)

Now I am kinda worried, I bought some goats milk from the store to try before getting a goat I can milk. I loved it  it was so sweet and nutty compared to cows milk. So what is the milk from my goats gonna taste like?!? Will I be able to handle the goodness lol.


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## Bedste (Aug 4, 2011)

It taste very much like cow except it is sweeter and thicker


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## freemotion (Aug 4, 2011)

genuck said:
			
		

> Now I am kinda worried, I bought some goats milk from the store to try before getting a goat I can milk. I loved it  it was so sweet and nutty compared to cows milk. So what is the milk from my goats gonna taste like?!? Will I be able to handle the goodness lol.


Be careful when you first try it fresh-squeezed from the goat.....you will swoon from all the goodness!


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## kstaven (Aug 6, 2011)

genuck said:
			
		

> Now I am kinda worried, I bought some goats milk from the store to try before getting a goat I can milk. I loved it  it was so sweet and nutty compared to cows milk. So what is the milk from my goats gonna taste like?!? Will I be able to handle the goodness lol.


Ha ha ha  Goat milk in the stores here tastes like the buck was bathing in it.


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## Goatmasta (Aug 6, 2011)

My Dad always says that a good practice is to bring them in and feed them some "good" hay about 30 mins before milking.  He ran a cow dairy many, many moons ago, and swears by smelling their breath.  He says the milk will taste like their breath smells.  When he milked, he said they always saved their very best hay for "snack time" before milking.  I have found some truth in his theory however, most of our milk goes back into babies so I don't get the chance to drink much of it...


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## Ms. Research (Aug 6, 2011)

Goatmasta said:
			
		

> My Dad always says that a good practice is to bring them in and feed them some "good" hay about 30 mins before milking.  He ran a cow dairy many, many moons ago, and swears by smelling their breath.  He says the milk will taste like their breath smells.  When he milked, he said they always saved their very best hay for "snack time" before milking.  I have found some truth in his theory however, most of our milk goes back into babies so I don't get the chance to drink much of it...


Thanks for posting your Dad's "tried and true" experience.  I would think what the goat ate, or cow for that matter, would affect the milk.  But that fast..30 minutes.  Never knew. 

And as always, babies do come first.  Those rotten buggers!     Oh well, they are the future.


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## SDGsoap&dairy (Aug 6, 2011)

Diet can have a huge impact on the flavor of the milk.  Our does browse all summer (mixed deciduous woodland) and one of them got into something a while back that made her milk NASTY.  A few days on alfalfa hay and grain (no browse time) and she was back to normal.  We had a large pine tree come down and they were gobbling up the green needles for a few days- I'm pretty sure it was that.


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## Blue Dog Farms (Aug 6, 2011)

So shaking the milk is bad? Good to know. I have been buying milk from a friend and just finally got my girl home and started milking her. Ive been so excited! So yesterday morning I milked her and put it in the freezer then went to work. DH forgot to get it out so  it froze. Ive been shaking it to try to help break up the ice parts. So finally I pour a glass of my girls milk and EEWWWW!It was awful! I almost cried. The milk Im use to has been wonderful, but this was goaty and salty. So I tried the stuff I got this mornin, still goaty, not As bad but still yuck! HELP! Ive milked my nogerian and its always good. I do the same process with both goats  Milk, strain,  straight to the freezer to chill, then to the fridge. Im so diappointed. My friend had her for a weeek and said her milk was good, what could i be doing wrong? I clean her teats and my hands. Shes a Lamancha should that matter? Could it be the shaking? I have a habit of doing that before I pour a glass.


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## kstaven (Aug 6, 2011)

From the salty comment I would be going out and getting a mastitis test kit.


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## Blue Dog Farms (Aug 6, 2011)

Ok I have one I Will test her tomorrow


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## imtc (Aug 7, 2011)

another thing I was told helps flavor is putting a TBSP or so of Wheat Germ oil in their grains when you get them on the stand to milk.  It's great for their coats too but supposed to "fix" the goaty flavor in milk if you have it.


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## farmerlor (Aug 7, 2011)

My goat mentor actually had a couple of dedicated freezers for her goat milk but then she was running a pretty large scale operation (i.e. we'd fill up the five gallon bucket on the milking machine then fill up five gallon jars and put them in the freezer) and while her milk was MUCH better than I'd been led to expect goat's milk tasted it wasn't really as good as the fresh cow milk I grew up on in Iowa.  I've figured out she was cutting costs by feeding bad hay.  Now that I've got my goats who eat alfalfa and COB and do some grazing the milk is most wondrous.  But we also feed the milk back to the babies on the farm so we're not getting too much of our creamy goodness.


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## Bedste (Aug 7, 2011)

Wheat Germ OIL hmm......  i will try this too


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