"Goaty" milk - any experienced milkers with ideas?

[Chirpy]

I've been milking goats for almost two years so I do have experience with the 'normal' issues. This is new for me.. my Alpine doe's milk is off flavor this year. It is the typical goaty flavor but not real strong... just enough that it is very noticeable and we'd rather not drink it. I'm open to any suggestions from anyone who's had this ... here's a little more background on her if it helps...


Her first year she freshened her milk was wonderful!! I milked her for just over a year and then dried her off about 2 1/2 months before she was due to freshen again.

She didn't freshen... she ended up not being pregnant that second year.

Last fall I had the vet look her over, she looked great and there was nothing apparent as to why she didn't get pregnant the year before. The vet put her on two doses of Lutilyse. She freshened with twins in February this spring; a doeling and buckling. The buckling was not quite 'right' and died two days later - the vet had no idea what was wrong (she is a very experienced goat vet by the way). The doeling is doing fantastic.

I started milking this doe about three weeks after freshening. I separate her kids at night, so I get her morning milk and they get her all day and I don't milk in the evening. Once her doeling was weaned.. at about 11 weeks of age, I started milking morning and night (like normal). Her milk has not tasted right at all.

I've given her straight alfalfa hay, klassy goat mix with BOSS. She's not on pasture so all her feed goes through me. She has 24/7 access to loose goat minerals and baking soda.

Any ideas?

 

[cmjust0]

Higher levels of caproic, caprylic, and capric acid are almost certainly the culprits in the milk.. Like the butyric acid that makes parmesan cheese smell and taste just a wee bit like vomit, the three "goat acids" can make milk taste goaty..

So, to my thinking, it stands to reason that she must be imparting more "goat acid" to the milk than she used to..

As to why she may be producing more of the three......no clue....but I do find it interesting that she also has a history of breeding irregularity and had a baby buck who died mysteriously.

Cystic ovaries, maybe? I've read that anestrous (not coming into heat) can be related to hormone imbalances and/or cystic ovaries, and that shots of prostaglandin (lutalyse) can begin them cycling properly.

I've also read that cystic ovaries, if left untreated, can cause a doe to begin acting and even looking "bucky"... Seems to me that, the way most bucks REEK of caproic, caprylic, and capric acid, perhaps a doe with cystic ovaries who happened to cycle and get bred would perhaps produce milk that's a little higher in "goaty acid."

That's all PURELY SPECULATIVE, though..

 

[Chirpy]

cmjust0 - that's very interesting information that I've never heard so it gives me a new direction of research to look into.

Thanks!