Will bucks taint the milk?

[freemotion]

I have always "known" that keeping a buck with your milking does will give the milk a "goaty" flavor. Now I wonder if that is an old wives' tale.

Who has REAL LIFE experience with this? Who keeps a buck with does that are lactating and has perfectly sweet milk, even when the buck is in season?

I also know that what the doe eats will flavor her milk. Looking for buck cologne info here, please!

BTW, I don't have a serious dairy situation here, just a couple of does and I am considering getting my own buck so I can keep a closed herd. But I live in suburbia. How bad does it get?

 

[Chirpy]

It was AWFUL! I had to bring a buck here last December to breed one of my does who has silent heats. I was milking her at the time - I ran him with her for a full month to catch her heat cycle. We, literally, couldn't drink the milk because of the bucky/goaty taste. Her milk actually continued to taste bad for a full day after he left... boy, did we miss that month of milk. My dogs and chickens and cats, on the other hand - have asked to have the buck brought back so they can have all that milk again!

Not to mention how badly my barn smelled while he was here. Just walking into the door was enough to have us making faces. I had already known that I didn't want a buck here permanently that just confirmed my personal thoughts.


When I took my other doe to a buck to be bred her milk was also off/goaty for almost two days after she came back here.

IF, I ever decided to have a buck here I would have a totally separate barn/shed for him that was a llllooooonnnnngggg way from my girls!

 

[freemotion]

Whoa, I think that confirms it!!!! Thanks!

 

[miss_thenorth]

So, just to clarify on FM's post and add a question of my own--if the buck was penned up separate, but near the does, would that beclose enough to taint the milk, and only introduce the buck for breeding? How far away does the buck need to be??

Miss, gonna get goats soon, and also want a buck.

 

[freemotion]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking, too.

 

[Chirpy]

So, just to clarify on FM's post and add a question of my own--if the buck was penned up separate, but near the does, would that beclose enough to taint the milk, and only introduce the buck for breeding? How far away does the buck need to be??

Good questions. My personal experience was with having the does IN with the buck. However, I have multiple breeder friends who all milk and they all keep their bucks either in separate buildings or one keeps her buck at the very furthest end of the same building (and that one is a large barn).

I also know that people don't generally milk their does anywhere near a buck because the milk can actually take on the bucky flavor from it just being in the air (just like milking near a stack of hay can change the flavor of milk).

So - I'd guess that you should have at least several pen widths between them if you are going to milk; and then, make sure your milk stand isn't in the same part of the barn or in the same barn.

Hopefully someone with personal experience with a buck and milk does will chime in here.

 

[doo dah]

I hang out on a goat forum and some of the people there keep their bucks with the does (dairy) with success. The trick is to milk the does away from the buck and any bad smells, once milk is out of the doe it picks up bad flavors easily from strong smells. I myself asked about the milk being off-flavored by food, they said the only thing they've noticed making bad milk is wild garlic.

 

[helmstead]

I have never had a problem - doing all of the above (from a doe in milk being in with the buck for breeding, to the fact that they all live in close proximity). The milk is always sweet.

My bucks, though, aren't especially stinky. Yeah...when they're in rut you can tell, but you can't tell from very far away. You pretty much have to be right next to them. Dunno if that makes a difference.

 

[Chirpy]

helmstead said:

My bucks, though, aren't especially stinky. Yeah...when they're in rut you can tell, but you can't tell from very far away

That could possibly make a difference. The buck I had absolutely reeked... I could smell him really strongly just opening the barn door and he was 45 to 50 feet away AND around a corner! He was an Alpine breed.

 

[kstaven]

Our Toggenburg buck doesn't have a strong odor and runs with our does year round. We have never had an issue with off-taste or smell in the goat milk.

So I would have to say it is case dependent.