Dairy goat owners, I have a question.

[ohiofarmgirl]

i'm guessing its the feed also. even if they are nibbling around they could be getting some kinda weird grass or weed. or maybe there is something in the hay?? since the nubian was new and then she changed.. has to be something environmental.

cutechick - great info, thanks for posting

 

[cutechick2010]

Your welcome.

 

[henrymilker]

If I had to eat goat cheese or drink goat milk that had that stink (I know it well because I had plenty of it as a child) I just would not drink it or eat the cheese. It is not a good taste to me.

Your milk will not have that STINK taste if you
1. Keep your doe and buck separated (BUT especially during rutting and in-heat times).
2. Keep the goat's living area absolutely clean. This is a must.
3. Feed a balanced diet with a quality concentrate. (only pasture and roughage will not produce a quality, stink free milk/cheese)
4. Before milking, clean the teats and udder properly.
5. Always strip or pre-milk out of the bucket before collecting milk!
6. Be sure that you protect the milk bucket or milk container from any hair, goat poop, hoofs or anything else. It's not good enough to allow all of that "stuff" into your milk bucket and later strain it out. It is contaminated.
7. Get the fresh milk cooled down immediately (or drink in warm and fresh)

Anyone of these conditions will lend to Stinky Milk. I love goat milk and goat cheese that does not stink.
Mike Henry

 

[henrymilker]

Your experience is very sound support for the absolute need for a complete diet needed for dairy goats. I hope you can get back to the sweet, delicious tasting milk you know your goats can produce. Milking goats is much more fun when you can look forward to quality milk. Keep after it, it's in the feed!
Mike Henry

 

[jenjscott]

When we were in Mexico, my daughter complained about the cheese, I think it was grated on refried beans, we asked and it was goat cheese. To me it was fine. I have tried to sneak goat cheese in on her a couple of times, but she always knows.

 

[PattySh]

I am milking 2 goats, a Nubian and an Alpine/Oberhasli. Neither milk tastes "Bucky" although my alpine buck is in rut and in pretty close proximity to my barn right now tho outside of it in his own shelter/pen. I use very clean milking regimne(unscented baby wipes, squirting first milk, milk filters, canning jar with plastic top right after straining which I do in the barn right after the milk leaves the goat, and fightback on the goats after milking. I have had excellent luck with my fresh milk and yogurt and soft cheese(which we flavor with garlic and chives),and custard style ice cream none being "bucky" in taste and accepted by all family members and most friends who have tried it(some balked because awwww it came from goats!). Actually the yogurt(crockpot style) is awesome mixed with our homeade jams and strawberry rhubarb sauce!The ice cream also extremely good! The Nubian milk being a bit sweeter(tend to use that for ice cream) than the Alpine but both taste rather like cows milk. I have tho had trouble with my first batch of hard cheese being rather tasting like um...................male goat nards!!!!!!!!!!LOL, not sure what went wrong. Aged for a month as directions say. Quite disappointing. We made farmhouse cheddar but I am thinking possibly kept it at too low a temp in a refrigerator to age. Our second hard cheese just made is being aged on a top shelf in the kitchen as it's been rather cool here. We'll see. Looking forward to my Jersey/Holstein heifer being bred this Feb to mix goat and cow milk together for a hard cheese. Next try is soap, have all the ingredients, only lacking time!

 

[PattySh]

I should have mentioned my goats diet which is mixed grass hay at all times, pasture and mixed browse (tree leaves a fav. apple leaves and what I call swamp maple not sure exactly w hat it is but they love it). For grain I have used several because being rural the farm stores sometimes run out. Both a dairy mix pellet and sweet goat feed and originally even a horse pellet and the milk always tastes the same. My daughter works in a restaurant environment and brings home kitchen trimmings which for the goats includes pieces of cookies, cinnamon buns and scones in very small quantities.Also celery, carrot, fruit and lettuce is small quantites. They always have more than enough fresh water at all times, buckets scrubbed out often. I think water is a huge factor in milk production. The girls have heated buckets in the winter.So I think they eat alot of things that could flavor the milk but we don't notice any changes. I only use 3 day old milk or less tho for family use and we drink raw milk anything older goes to the pigs or chickens. I noticed years ago when we pasturized all the milk was a bit goaty. I might also add that I am feeding an orphan litter of 6 pups right now on raw goats milk and they have surpassed any pup I have ever fed puppy formula. No problems at all, and with formula a host of problems, flaky skin diarreah etc. They are gowing well and thriving. I love my goats!!!!!!!!

 

[Aegipan]

Just thought I would stop by and let everyone know that adding the minerals back into the goat's diets solved the problem.

I previously did everything else pretty much "by the book"

Diet - goats are getting mixed pasture with plenty of browse, some alfalfa and goat feed during milking. Mostly pasture, though.
Milking - clean udder with soap/iodine water, dry thoroughly before milking. Wash & dry teats after milking.
Mastitis - None. Been using Molly's Mastitis balm when I had some signs (tested "clean" on mastitis test but had a bit of clumping and blood occasionally). Molly's cleared it up within a week.
Milk - milk into clean glass jars, strain and put in fridge or freezer immediately. (Does not seem to affect taste if I put it into the fridge - milk still tastes fine for a week or more.)
No bucks on site.

Within a day or two of giving the does their minerals again the milk was back to normal taste.

So this just is more evidence that a balanced diet with minerals is highly important to the taste of the milk.

So glad for the knowledge and information here!!

 

[Aegipan]

By the way - a note on feeding milk to puppies - if they are a large breed like Pyrenees, you should not give them the milk. The reason is the excess calcium causes the bones to grow too much and they can develop joint disorders such as osteochondrosis, and hypertrophic osteodystrophy.

We did not know this and fed it to my Pyr/Akbash puppies and now one has a pretty bad limp.

I am not sure if this is a problem for smaller breeds.

 

[_sonshine_]

Glad the milk is back to normal!!