Goat milk

[Southern by choice]

I noted several posts about freezing the dairy items. Do most things thaw relatively like the fresh product or does it separate some?

We have had it thaw both ways... why ? I am not sure. When it has thawed separated we pitch it.

I have heard that some types of feed can make a milk taste off and that bucks can cause milk to taste bad.
My experience has shown me that my girls produce lovely milk in spite of being in the same pasture with the boys. Also I feed corn oats and barley daily on the stand and that does not make the milk bad.
I tried using alf. pellets just to see if there was a difference. I couldn't taste any difference.
Getting them on green grass did make a big difference in quantity of milk my girls produced but the flavour was not changed either direction.
I strain into half gal. jars and pop it in the fridge. I don't worry about putting in ice water bath or freezer.
I think each animal produces a unique milk. That may be where the big difference is.

I agree each goat has a unique flavor to their milk.
On the flip side... and not to be a jerk but there is a reason why so many people that tried goats milk once say "oooo... I tried goats milk and it was nasty"... it takes a lot of educating to get them to try to understand why the milk they tasted may not have been very good.

I cannot tell you why this is other than it is inherited from my mother's side... but I have a sniffer and tastebuds that can detect anything. I can taste the metals in a shopping cart just by pushing it around... needless to say I don't touch many metals.

Well you all already knew I was a bit weird.

Here is the "not trying to be a jerk" part-
Most people get use to THEIR goats milk and to them it taste fine.
I have tried goats milk and goat cheese and goat products from more places than I can count....

Most places- the milk is goaty.
Whenever there is a buck in it IS nasty. NEVER had cheese or milk from anywhere where that was not the case. A buck in and it is gross.
I have had goat products where I was looking for the first trashcan I could find to spit it out in.

Ask my DH and everything taste "fine". Ask me and I will smile but give you the truth. One lady was really offended and I didn't hear from her for a long time. Then one day out of the blue she called and said, "guess what!? I took my buck out of the field and my milk is so different now. I guess I was just so use to it I didn't know any different ... I will never put a buck in again. It is so good!"

The chilling essentially is stopping bacteria from growing.The bacteria may not be at a level that will make you sick but will alter the flavor.

Onions will change the flavor. One reason dairy cattle farmers and goat dairy farmers get it out when they see it.

When goats are in heat it also can change flavor.

If it is ongoing then like @babsbag reminded me once when I was telling her about a friends goat, it could be cobalt deficiency.

I don't drink much milk so I do taste test everything. If it is slightly off then DH gets it or the dogs.
OK that didn't sound right...
DH can't tell so he will say "save that for me then"... I'm not just giving him it because it is off.

 

[samssimonsays]

I was bummed out about my Nubian's milk tasting like cows milk. Less flavor but like cows milk and I dislike cows milk taste. We are in the process of switching out the feed to change that.

It is totally safe and natural to drink the milk. I will be once there is a difference in her milk sweetness and making things such as cheese and butter from it.

 

[alsea1]

I have a pretty acute sense of smell and taste. Our milk tastes pretty good I think. It would be fun to be able to taste test different farms milk.
We do plan to keep the boys and girls separated as soon as possible. So it will be interesting to see if things change one way or the other.

 

[OneFineAcre]

We don't quick chill ours. We just put in the fridge. We aren't selling milk now, but we used to sell quite a bit and no one said anything about it tasting off.

We do sell a lot of chevre and no issues.

We had to go and buy some milk from someone recently because we didn't have enough milk on hand for a cheese order.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Maybe im just not sensitive in the taste department for milk but ive had milk with a buck and without a buck and i didnt notice a difference myself. Everyone has their own things though, like i cant stand any fake sugar at all and i can always taste it. My mom is always trying to slip it in food and i call her on it every single time no matter what kind she uses but she thinks it all taste the same as regular sugar and to her it might. Maybe i'm milk taste blind lol.

 

[babsbag]

My buck isn't with the ladies but they share a fence line and I don't notice a difference. Now if the buck is in rut and rubbing non stop on the does then I can see where the flavor could be imparted just by the udder being contaminated.

As far as pasteurizing it is an age old ongoing debate and always will be. But healthy animals can still have e-coli on their udder and it can still be in the milk. You can't see it, smell it, taste it, but you sure can sick from it. A child can die from it. Many dairies that sell raw milk test each and every tank for e-coli before it is bottled. There is a reason for that. Of course everyone can do what they want and this isn't to try and persuade the educated and informed to change their ways but it is to give a heads up to any newbies. Do the research yourself, don't just do what your neighbor does. Be an informed consumer.

I personally drink it raw on occasion, but if I had children at home I would not give it to them. I also will not sell it raw in my dairy.

 

[alsea1]

E Coli is very serious.
I tried my hand at canning milk in pressure canner for use when the girls are dried up. I had watched you tube video's and they were claiming that the taste was fine.
LOL. Well, it surely is not fine in my opinion. I did 17 pints. LOL They will only get used in cooking.
The color is still a very bright white. But it just tastes cooked. Duh. What was I thinking.

 

[Southern by choice]

@OneFineAcre how big are the jars you store in?

I have found quart size is one thing but once you have 1/2gallon jars and 3 qt or gallon pails there is a big difference.

@alsea1 it is fun going to different farms and taste testing.

I wish I could store each goats milk in different containers because certain goats have the stuff for mozzarella, certain for creamy stuuf like chevre and cream cheese... then there is my favs for drinking milk and coffee.

When I get my big cooler set up I will be able to do this.. but not now.

Also Babs is dead right... just because an animal looks healthy doesn't mean the goat doesn't have campylobacter, e-coli etc.

When I can I will share why educating yourself in these matters could save your life. I am an advocate for being able to sell off your farm and always will be and am not anti- raw but like Babs most really are not aware of the zoonotic issues. Many of these things won't kill you but can paralyze you and or destroy your kidneys and when it happens it is so fast there is no turn around. Often people base things on emotion and raw milk is so good for you well... that really isn't the whole picture. It only takes ONE time for you or your child etc life to be changed permanently.

 

[Southern by choice]

E Coli is very serious.
I tried my hand at canning milk in pressure canner for use when the girls are dried up. I had watched you tube video's and they were claiming that the taste was fine.
LOL. Well, it surely is not fine in my opinion. I did 17 pints. LOL They will only get used in cooking.
The color is still a very bright white. But it just tastes cooked. Duh. What was I thinking.

Yes this is where chilling rapidly is most important. I will say stovetop is far better. I have a pastuerizer and use it but honestly the stovetop is the best because we don't lose flavor and it isn't changed BUT there are a few tricks to it.

We are going to do a different system with the pasteurizer once we move and am better set up... I think then it will make a big difference. Stovetop disadvantage is you can't do a lot of milk at once and you go through a lot of ice.

My friend just bought a mini ice maker machine so she always has ice. Right now she gets a gallon a day but come June she will have probably 2- 2 1/2 gallons...

Still waiting on the type she got as I might get one in the mean time.

 

[alsea1]

We did the stove top method to pasteurize and concluded that we just did not like the flavor afterword.
I did find this site and am planning on ordering some kits soon just to see what there is and is not in our milk.
http://alternativedairy.org/test-prices.html