Who milks goats and does not pasturize

[Backyardherder]

Today my husband put raw milk in his coffee for the first time... he looked at it and took a deep breath, like "Oookaay... well... let's hope I don't die from it" *drinks* LOL.

I understand that on a government level it's impossible to check which animal is healthy, how clean milking conditions are, how meticulously everything is handled, etc. But on a small homestead or farm it's quite easy to be safe with raw, and reap all the health benefits of "living" milk!

 

[verkagj]

I use raw milk. When I tried to pasteurize, I always ended up scalding the milk and that tastes awful. I do sell some milk and chevre cheese and I tell my customers that it is raw milk.
I found that raw goat milk doesn't do well for yogurt, it comes out too thin. I know recipes say to add powdered milk to make it thicker but when I tried that, it all clumped into a gooey mess at the bottoms of the jars. So I make kefir instead, its easier anyway.

For a couple of days, the milk wouldn't go through the milk filters so I took a sample to the vet to do a culture. She didn't find any bad bacteria but she did find way more fat cells than she expected. Doing fine now.

 

[lovinglife]

looking forward to making Kefir with fresh raw milk, and can't wait to get my cheese making up and running. I have lots of people asking me if I am going to sell the milk, probably not, but if I do it will be as animal or pet food, even though we will drink it and eat the cheese, although some cheese is heated past the point of pasturization....

Guess your husband is still alive after his first taste of raw milk?

 

[GLENMAR]

For thicker yogurt, we use the pain yogurt from the store as a starter in the goats milk, and have a yogurt maker.
Comes out thick every time.

Cheese takes practice.

 

[OneFineAcre]

We drink our milk raw.

But, as regards to making cheese, my wife makes a lot. A simle Chevre and a very sharp cheddar.

She brings it to a certian temperature, I can't remember what but its pretty hot and you keep it there for like 30 minutes.

For all intents that milk is pasturized.

Which you want for cheese making because you want to control the wild bacteria and add specific bacteria.

Edited: Asked my wife, 145 degrees for 30 minutes.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I've done both. Tastes the same either way so long as you do it right and don't scald the milk. With the kids being young, I only give them pasteurized just as precaution. Goat milk is awesome though, and we prefer it to cow's milk now.

 

[Queen Mum]

I use both, pasteurized and unpasteurized.

Clean milking technique, clean equipment, clean everything and unpasteurized is JUST FINE! I pasteurize when I am thinking there might be a little bit of "stuff" in the milk from milking.

 

[lovinglife]

I am so excited to be getting back into the fresh goat milk! My wonderful husband is building me a "milking parlor", it is a stand alone building just for milking. It will have a sealed floor that I can vacuum, sweep or hose out if I want depending on what the girls decide to do in my parlor. So this will be awesome for milking and keeping everything super clean. The girls are watching him everyday as he works on it, almost like they are think well hurry up, its almost time!!

 

[SkyWarrior]

I pasteurize. I bought a pasteurizer and honestly it's the only way I could convince my husband he wouldn't die from drinking goats' milk. We enjoy our milk knowing that even if I slip up, the milk will be safe to drink. Our pasteurizer only "lightly pasteurizes" the milk; that is, we do not ultra-pasteurize which really cooks the milk.

That being said, I think drinking raw milk is a personal choice, and a choice that most informed people should be allowed to make. There are risks with raw milk, just like there are risks with poorly handled pasteurized milk. The milk from my does is every bit as delicious pasteurized as it would be raw. It's the best milk EVER and I'm so glad I have dairy goats.

I know raw versus pasteurized is a bit of a hot button for lots of people. I think it's a choice people should make for themselves. If you wish to drink raw, that's great. Just do your research on both sides and make an informed decision.

 

[Vumani]

We drink raw, filtered milk. Our state offers licenses to sell raw milk if the goats are tested for Tuberculosis and Brucellosis annually and they test the milk 4 times (in separate months) every six months for bacteria counts (standard plate, coliform, and somatic cell). My children and I have always loved it by until we did the testing as part of the state licensure program my wife was very nervous about it. And to be honest it offers some peace of mind that my process is clean and my milk is safe. It always was before but now I know.