Goat Milk

[WV_RoyalWhite]

Right now my wife and I have sheep and chickens. We are interested in possibly getting some goats. I read in the Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series about using goats for milk. They say some breeds have a higher butterfat content.

My wife has tried goat milk and said it was nasty. I've personally have never drank it. How does it compare to Cows milk?? Is fresh goat milk better than store bought goat milk??

I'd like to try some before making the committment. According to the article, they said it tastes better and is virtually indistinguishable from cow milk if you try and trick someone into drinking it.

 

[chandasue]

Store bought goat's milk is generally

My goat's milk (which we drank raw) was better than store bought cow's milk. Breed can make a difference and even individual goats can produce stronger flavored milk than others. The flavor can be effected by what they're eating in the pasture and feed, but the most important thing is cleanliness during the milking process and being sure to chill it as quickly as you can. You may want to consider getting a doe in milk that you can try the milk before you buy so you know exactly what you're getting. But generally going with breeds or crosses of breeds with higher butterfat gives you creamier tasting milk.

 

[helmstead]

Yep, good fresh milk tastes like cow's milk, but richer and sweeter. I have Nigerians and Nubians. The Nigerian milk is much richer (they have the highest butterfat) .

This is, if you drink it RAW. Pasteurize it and it will taste "off". My kid's pediatrician scared me into pasteurizing, and it tasted SO bad we went ahead with raw milk LOL.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

fresh, raw goat milk is like the cleanest, freshest, best glass of cows milk you ever had - only better.

the only downside is that goats milk does not easy separate to give cream like cows milk.

we are all raw milk all summer... but now, in winter and we arent milking, we have to buy cows milk from the store and it sooooo depressing.

everyone who we 'double dog dare' to try our goats milk has the exact same reaction:

1. realize they have been double dog dared and need to man up and just do it
2. carefully peel lips back like we are making them drink boiling oil
3. squint eyes....
4. take sip..

eyes fly open, then they yell "its tastes like MILK!"

and then we laugh.

 

[Roll farms]

Nigerians aren't listed, but here's a chart I found, % butterfat is the bottom number:

BREED
305 day yield (lb)
305 day yield (kg)
fat percentage

French Alpine
1979
900
3.5

La Mancha
1771
850
3.9

Anglo-Nubian
1618
735
4.6

Oberhasli
1663
756
3.7

Saanen
1998
908
3.5

Toggenburg
1710
777
3.3

Another site I found said "Nigerian milk is usually between 5-8% butterfat.

The ADGA site had this info, look under "butterfat" section.
Nubians:
http://www.adga.org/index.php?optio...d=338:arttop10nubian&catid=913:categoryhidden
Nigerians:
http://www.adga.org/index.php?optio...336:arttop10nigerian&catid=913:categoryhidden

We pasteurize all our milk and I don't think it tastes nasty...neither do folks who try it.

I pasteurize it for the kids / cae prevention....just easier to treat it all the same than it is to keep some seperate for us / some to pasteurize.

I feel rapid cooling / clean handling is essential for good milk taste.

Store bought goat milk is gross.
Generally, folks who've tried goat milk and hated it, either had store bought, or tried it from someone who didn't have their goats on a good diet / keep things clean.

I am the biggest 'food wierdo' there is. I won't eat anything that looks funny, I hate cheese, tomatoes, and noodles. The list of what I won't eat is longer than the list of what I will....I won't eat venison, duck, squirrel, rabbit, etc.
It took me 5 yrs of milking to work up the nerve to even *try* goat milk....but once I did, I felt like an idiot for not trying it sooner.
My lactose-intolerant hubby's been on the goat-milk bandwagon for years, he can finally enjoy dairy products.

We make all kinds of stuff....ice cream, cheese (for my cheese lovin' family), puddings and pies, FUDGE, cake frosting, and I drink it with meals. Sooo many benefits to good goat milk....Nom nom nom.

 

[freemotion]

It is very different from store bought cow's milk. VERY different. We've done lots of blind taste tests with goat's vs store bought milk with friends who say goat's milk is nasty.

They can all, 100% of them, tell the difference between the two immediately. One little sip from each glass.

They say the store bought milk tastes like chemicals. They say the raw goat's milk tastes like the freshest, cleanest milk....one said it was like melted ice cream!

It took me two years to decide to get a goat, after my doctor (ND) finally convinced me that it wasn't very likely that it was milk that was making me sick when I took a tiny sip of store bought milk or dairy product. It was the processing. I couldn't find a source of raw milk nearby, so I got a goat. I took two days off when I took my first sip, expecting to be housebound, very ill, for two days.

I was fine. Now I drink a pint or two every morning for my first breakfast, and we enjoy many dairy products that I make myself...many cheeses, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, dressings and dips, soups and sauces, etc.

I say dive right in. You can always feed it to your chickens until you find a home for the goat if you don't like it. That's what I told myself.

 

[ChksontheRun]

I was a little unsure myself until I tasted the milk of a friends mini nubian. It tasted "just like milk" We are all so used to processed cows milk that we think nothing else can be like it. But boy was I wrong. We milked our mini nub in the fall and I loved it. Now I can't wait till I have 3 does to milk so we can really get some good milk. All are due any time. I can't wait to make cheese and yogurt and ice cream. And to top it all off, my cholesterol went down, I felt great, and I lost weight while on the raw goats milk. go figure. (I really don't think i made any other sig. diet changes.) No claims of this for others by the way, just sayin what happened to me.

 

[julieq]

fresh, raw goat milk is like the cleanest, freshest, best glass of cows milk you ever had - only better.

the only downside is that goats milk does not easy separate to give cream like cows milk.

we are all raw milk all summer... but now, in winter and we arent milking, we have to buy cows milk from the store and it sooooo depressing.

everyone who we 'double dog dare' to try our goats milk has the exact same reaction:

1. realize they have been double dog dared and need to man up and just do it
2. carefully peel lips back like we are making them drink boiling oil
3. squint eyes....
4. take sip..

eyes fly open, then they yell "its tastes like MILK!"

and then we laugh.

We've experienced the same thing with people who've tried our goat milk. We won't touch store bought milk (especially since we live next door to a huge feedlot dairy and see on a daily basis how those cows live out their lives).

Store bought goats milk shouldn't even be available for human consumption!

Same experience here on the Nubian and/or Nigerian milk. Depending on the individual doe, it's definitely the highest in butterfat as compared to other breeds we've owned.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Nothing to add except that I completely agree with the other posters. My dad wasn't able to have dairy for the longest time until he tried goat's milk and cheese. To his surprise- no digestive upset! He was so thrilled to be able to have cereal with milk on it again.

Our Nigerian's milk is so rich and creamy!

 

[julieq]

Nothing to add except that I completely agree with the other posters. My dad wasn't able to have dairy for the longest time until he tried goat's milk and cheese. To his surprise- no digestive upset! He was so thrilled to be able to have cereal with milk on it again.

Our Nigerian's milk is so rich and creamy!

Our three year old grandson has gone through the same thing recently. Severe stomach aches with store bought cows milk, yet he can drink as much goats milk as he wants without any problems. Good stuff!