Milking questions for the experienced milkers

[vegaburm]

OK, I have a few....

I am inclined to keep our milk raw, however, I also have worries. I have 4 children, ages 3-8 and I worry about doing something to cause a problem. For example, today my sitter called to ask where the wipes were because my youngest had an accident. From the description I thought he had diarrhea and my thoughts immeadiately went to bacterial problems, though he has had very little of the goat milk. (We've only had milk for 3 days now) I know I can just pastuerize and ease my worries, but I also really don't want to. Any advice?

Another question....what do you do if the goat gets her foot in the bucket? Do you strain and use it or toss the lot? Or feed it to the chickens? Or do you just pastuerize that lot? This happened the other day and I really wasn't sure what the protocol should be.

On taste, this girls kids are only 6 days old. I am milking her because the kids were not feeding evenly, they were favoring one side. When I tasted the milk at a tasting at the breeders house it was sweet and almost the same as cow's milk. When I tasted milk today it had a faint tang, and a almost hay-like flavor. It was not unpleasant, but different. Could this be because we still have lingering colostrum?

Appreciate all the help you can give!

 

[freemotion]

The tang could be colostrum, but the hay flavor is normal this time of year and should be rather faint. Pasteurizing can make the milk taste a bit "goaty."

For lots of scholarly articles on why raw milk is better, go to www.westonaprice.org and www.realmilk.com.

For the foot-in-the-bucket days, I toss the milk to the pigs or chickens. Too many nasty germs that the milk can't take care of. Raw milk does, however, naturally contain multiple redundant systems for dealing with bad bacteria. Humans don't pasteurize their milk before feeding it to their babies, right?

Pasteurizing damages calcium and protein molecules. The calcium becomes unavailable and the proteins become neuro-toxic. That means your brain....scary stuff. Also causes digestive irritation and mucous production in many people. Raw does not do this.

With good milk handling practices, there is no worry about feeding raw milk to your family. It is actually FAR, FAR better for them. If the baby had diarrhea, it is more likely from a fruit or veggie from the grocery store, frighteningly enough! :/

 

[AlaskanShepherdess]

I'm personally not concerned at all with the bacteria in my milk so long as she is healthy and clean. IMO I have more of a risk getting sick with storebought milk then with my own goats milk because of how healthy my animals are and because of how clean I keep them and their pen.

If my goats foot gets in the bucket I toss the milk and get a new bucket. As clean as I keep their pens, their feet still touch some NASTY stuff.

 

[Chirpy]

Just to add my 5 cents worth:

I have milked and our family has drunk the milk raw for about 4 years now. My youngest were three years old when I got my milk goats. None of us has ever gotten sick from the milk. I wouldn't pasteurize my milk just because of what freemotion already said. If the utensils are cleaned properly, the udder/teats are washed properly, the milk is handled properly (that means getting it real cold, real fast) after being strained... no worries.

To get my milk cold really fast; I strain it and put it in 1/2 gln. glass jars with plastic lids (metal lids can make it taste metallic -- if I have to use metal I put seran wrap between the milk and the lid) and immediately put it in my freezer for an hour and a half. I then move it to my refrigerator. I use tape to put the date and a.m./p.m. milking on each lid so we always use the oldest milk first. If it's really hot outside I sometimes freeze water in a sandwich baggies and put those in the bottom of the milk buckets so the milk is already starting to cool before I even get it to the house to strain it.

If a goat gets her feet in the bucket, even a kick in there... I give that milk to the chickens, cats and dogs. I just don't take that chance with my family. Now, I'm sure that 'stuff' has occasionally gotten in there... but, as I said before... we've never gotten sick from our milk.

I, personally, don't like the taste of my does milk for 1 to 2 weeks after kidding due to the colostrum.

Goats milk will take on flavors due to what the doe is eating (if she's on pasture, she can get into weeds and even grasses that change the flavor), the type of hay you feed (I've found that straight alfalfa gives me the best flavor and better milk production), adding grains (I use Klassy goat mixed with BOSS (black-oiled sun flower seeds) that they get while they are on the milk stand, and even having smells in the barn (especially a buck in breeding season) can change the flavor of your milk.

I keep my buckets covered from when they leave the kitchen until I'm milking and then covered until they get back to the kitchen to be strained. I use large washcloths or hankies to cover my buckets; I hold them in place with four clothespins (not ideal but it works for me) and just remove two of the clothespins from one side, fold the material back so that half the bucket is open and milk into that. I then recover as soon as I'm done.

During milking season I usually contain my milk does so that I totally control what they eat. My milk keeps the same, wonderful flavor the entire milking season that way.

Here's another great raw milk resource: http://www.rawmilkcolorado.org/about_Raw_Milk.php

 

[Rebbetzin]

When a goat gets her hoof in the bucket, I pitch the milk. I usually don't let the bucket get more than a cup or so in it at a time, I pour it in a glass 1/2 gallon jar where it can start to cool down, because of my "cooling" system I invented that holds ice packs next to the jar.

As for raw milk... it is way better than pasturized for the human body. If your goats are healthy, and the enviroment clean you should produce healthy milk.

I would think heating the milk would make it "goatie" tasting.

The milk does change flavor depending on what the goats are fed.

We do alfalfa and grain, we don't really have a good pasture area for them.

We don't milk does while the kids are small. When the kids are about two or three months old we again milk the doe.

 

[vegaburm]

I am sanitizing equipment before going out to milk, then bringing it in, straining and cooling in an ice water bath in the fridge. From what I have read this is an even faster cooling process than the freezer. From Mythbusters I can even say that the fastest cooling method would be immersion in salted ice water! What I'm not doing is covering my pail in between, though it is only out a minute or two between the goat and the house. My pail is a little tiny Nigerian one, a 2 Quart and there isn't a lid made for it. I could try the clothespin and washcloth trick.

My goats eat Alfalfa and Burmuda hay, they get Bartlett grain with additions of herbs, carrots, BOSS, oats and some other things. I don't think anything strong tasting that would change flavor. They have some browse in their pen, but not a bunch, and right now it's so hot they are too lazy to browse. lol. They just eat what I give them mainly.

I'm hoping the flavor is just colostrum. I've heard it can linger up to 2 weeks. I wasn't planning to milk until babies were 2 weeks old, but had to even her out. I think they may be starting to use that side more, so I may be able to lay off.

Appreciate the help, I just need a little reassurance at times I guess. Especially when I am new to this!

 

[Roll farms]

I pasteurize our milk.

I CAE Prevention raise our (goat) kids on it and it's just easier to pasteurize it all and be done w/ it than save some for us, pasteurize the rest, then end up needing it for the kids, and have to do it again.

It does not taste 'goaty' and I'll issue an open invite to any who want to come and try it.

I have been diagnosed with IBS, ulcerative colitis, spastic colon, and all sorts of other fun digestive issues...until I started drinking goat milk. Unless I eat something I know I shouldn't, goat milk has really helped straighten me out. I think it's just so much easier for my system to digest it.

Might it be better for me if I drank it raw? I dunno...but pasteurized has done wonders.

I can come up w/ plenty of links about the dangers of raw milk...

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm079516.htm

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/milk/a/0807_raw_milk.htm

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1833015/the_benefits_and_dangers_of_raw_milk_pg2.html?cat=5

I'm not trying to argue w/ the 'raw' group, honest...just saying that pasteurizing doesn't ruin it. It is still better for you than store bought, hormone-infested cow milk.

I do agree that CLEAN is the most important part.

If there's been a foot in the bucket, even though I filter twice and pasteurize, that batch is STILL going to the kids.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

There are silicone lids for storage bowls that adjust to fit any size opening. I use a small stainless bucket that came without a lid. I found one of my mixing bowl lids fit it perfectly. I bought a larger bucket with a lid, but I like my smaller one, so haven't even use it:/

Foot in the bucket milk...if not too bad, gets heated, frozen and then used for soap.

 

[vegaburm]

I'm glad to know that my inclination to toss that batch was not off! It seemed like a waste after all that work, but , well, EW! lol. I didn't want to be a freak about it though.

Little man didn't have diarrhea, just a normal three year old I didn't get to the potty in time accident. But the description of my male, squeamish sitter I though he had a major disgusting blowout. Oh well. He's fine. I was most worried about this beginning time, as from what I've read you have to develop some immunities to the possible bacteria, so when you first start is when you are most vulnerable. I don't want to bring up the debate, I KNOW both side can bring numerous arguments to the table!

 

[freemotion]

If your doe is very naughty and the foot goes into the bucket too often, you can milk into quart canning jars, holding the jar with one hand and milking with the other. My first doe was rather kicky that first lactation here (she'd been milked in the past and was rather spoiled....all the does I raised myself are a dream to milk) and that is how I saved almost all the milk. She could still get a muddy foot onto the top of the jar on occasion, but that only ruined 1/3-1/2 of that particular milking, not the entire thing.

You can also milk into a stainless steel cooking pot with a lid.