Milking

[NH homesteader]

Somehow I missed that you posted the other day, sorry. Evidently I am not the only one! @babsbag @frustratedearthmother

My inclination is the chances are slim of you having issues with the milk. And pasteurizing helps with many things that could be lurking but I am not as experienced as the others so I don't dare tell you go for it, for fear of missing something and giving you bad advice!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Chances are your doe's milk is just fine, but drinking it is a personal choice that only you can make based on how comfortable you are. I drink our goats milk raw and they have not been tested for Brucellosis. Other folks pasteurize because it is important to them - totally their choice. I posted a couple of links for you on response #14. Those two posts point out opposing point of views. Lots of good information there.

Are you milking her now? If you haven't kept up with it she's probably well on her way to drying up...

 

[Latestarter]

I guess basically it's a choice you have to make. Nobody can really tell you "yes" or "no"... You know your animals and where they came from, their background, etc. Make the decision and go with it.

ETA: was typing while the others were posting... Your call!

 

[Dolorosa]

Chances are your doe's milk is just fine, but drinking it is a personal choice that only you can make based on how comfortable you are. I drink our goats milk raw and they have not been tested for Brucellosis. Other folks pasteurize because it is important to them - totally their choice. I posted a couple of links for you on response #14. Those two posts point out opposing point of views. Lots of good information there.

Are you milking her now? If you haven't kept up with it she's probably well on her way to drying up...

Yes we are twice a day, though a couple times only once because we had a crazy day.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's good - so at least you have milk for whatever you decide!

 

[babsbag]

Pasteurizing the milk will make it safe for drinking. Brucellosis and TB are both killed by adequate pasteurization.

The blood test for CL is accurate most of the time. You can at least get a baseline and then retest in 6 months and if nothing changes then you can safely say that your herd is clean. I only test new goats for CL, CAE and Johnes. My goats never leave my land and new goats are quarantined until all testing is done so I don't worry about new exposure. I don't test for TB and Brucellosis, but I will be soon since I am building a dairy. I believe that if you keep a closed herd that testing once is sufficient but I am still waiting on a definitive answer on that myself.