# What should goat milk taste like?



## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

I'm reading a book about keeping dairy goats and the author says that goat milk should taste exactly like cow milk. Is that true? I had a friend once tell me that goat milk has a bit of "gamey" flavor as an after taste. Nana's milk tastes...well, goaty. What should goat milk taste like? If goat milk isn't supposed to taste goaty then how can I get it tasting like cow milk? Thanks!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Yep...I know that most think grocery store milk is the devil, but just like making bread and trying to get it soft and gluteny like grocery store bread....there should be no difference to the mouth and tongue from grocery store milk and any raw milk. Visually you can see butterfat on the top of your cereal etc... butterfat also will glug now and then out of the milk jug...but taste? No, milk is milk. 

Our 4H club also did taste tests and my daughter did a science fair project on this...it was pure guessing when someone said they knew it was nubian milk, instead of alpine or lamancha milk when blindfolded....now everyone thought the boer milk was nubian milk  You can feel the butterfat thickness on your tongue. But that is shortlived as their kids age and they wean. Vicki


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I don't think it should ever be goaty or bucky or barny or bitter. To me these can (but not always) indicate illness or cleanliness problems. Like Vicki said, sometimes the fat can blob up here and there just because the milk is not mechanically homogenized, but the flavor should be "good". Sweet, pleasant, no yucky aftertaste. Sometimes it tastes like store-bought cow milk and sometimes it is much more delicious.


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Having both cow and goat milk on the farm, the goat milk should be sweet and creamy when milked cleanly and chilled correctly. The cow milk as it is heavier has what I call more body to it which can be attributed to the butterfat differences. never should goat milk taste goaty or off in any way, that would indicate high bacteria coming from poor practices or an ill animal. The difference we have found with the cow milk is that when a cow is determined pregnant and still lactating, her milk becomes noticeably less sweet. I can only say that perhaps the hormones of pregnancy play a role in that. Having only one cow, you did taste a difference. I am not sure if the goat would be similar.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

A brave newcomer in our church gave goat milk a try for the first time yesterday. After taking a sip he said "Hey, it tastes like milk!" lol That said I can for sure taste a difference between cow and goat but most don't.


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## lonestrchic23 (Jan 7, 2011)

My brother SWEARS he hates goat's milk, due to a taste of goaty milk that was the result of unsavory milking & handling procedures at a farm he visited in HS.

He typically drinks store bought, whole cows milk. Stayed with me for a week, unknowingly drank goat's milk the entire time....made comments on how great the brand of milk I was buying was (I put goat milk in a plastic jug I got from work, looks like a gallon jug from the store).

At the end of the week I told him he'd been drinking goat's milk his entire stay 

It should not taste goaty..... I've only had goaty milk when I didn't sterilize properly.... I now use a 3 step sanitizing system from Hoeggers & haven't had goaty milk since....


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## sarafina (Dec 26, 2009)

The only goat's milk I have tasted is Vickie's and it is absolutely DELICIOUS! Rich and creamy and no "goaty" or gamey taste at all.


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## Oat Bucket Farm (Mar 2, 2009)

All of our goat milk always tasted wonderful. We had one doe that would have a goaty after taste to her milk when she was at the height of her heat cycle. It only lasted for a day or two and always went back to delicious and wonderful afterward.


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Audra, that would give a little credence to the hormonal influences, though I think family lines may play a role as well.


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Goat milk is usually consumed raw around our farm. You must be very clean with goat milk as bacteria will break down the milk releasing that "goaty" taste into the milk. Our milk will usually last 2 weeks before tasting "goaty". 

There is a difference between cows and goat milk but most won't taste the difference. One fall as our goats were drying up, someone needed our milk for a baby. I put whole cows milk (from the store) into a glass jar and took it into the house. The next morning, my wife had the cows milk in her cereal. She immediately said, "Tim! There is something wrong with the goats! This milk taste awful." Then after the next bite she said, "This is cows milk isn't it?"

So you can taste the difference and most people that I have challenged in a blind taste test preferred the goat milk over cows milk.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

We drink ours raw, too and the only time we notice is a difference is in the fall. Not the entire fall, but sometime in the fall for a week or so. However, I really like the cheese better out of the fall (or later lactation milk) than I do early in the lactation. So go figure. More fat, I guess.


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## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

When I tell people we drink the goat milk, they all ask the same question.
What does goat milk taste like? I tell them, milk. There are times when it
will have a different flavor, but almost every time it has happened, it was
because of something I did. Either didn't get the udder cleaned well enough,
didn't get the milk chilled quick enough or something. We can tell when our
girls eat something out of the ordinary, because the milk tastes a bit different.
(I know many will poo-poo this, but you try drinking milk after your goat has
eaten wild onions) 

Depending on whether you are used to whole milk from the store or 1%, there
is a bit of a different "mouth feel" to it because of the fat content. Other than
that it should taste like milk. 

Super clean everything and chilled as quick as you can.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

To me cows milk taste a bit "cowy".

My does milk taste piney after they chow down on pine needles.


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## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

Depending on my mood, sometimes I am not very nice when people say
"Oooh, I had goat milk once and it tasted like goat!" I look them in the
eye and ask them how they know what a goat tastes like, have they ever
licked one? :really


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## sarafina (Dec 26, 2009)

NWgoats said:


> Depending on my mood, sometimes I am not very nice when people say
> "Oooh, I had goat milk once and it tasted like goat!" I look at them in the
> eye and ask them how they know what a goat tastes like, have they every
> licked one? :really


 :rofl


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Aw, Michele.... Actually, we have friends who had goats before. The milk was definitely stronger tasting than what most would prefer, and as one of them said, "It tasted like I drank some milk and then licked a goat." Apparently, it was that particular line of goats and not a cleanliness issue. But he likes our milk just fine, though he was afraid to try it at first.


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

I love it when people at market say "I love goat cheese but I dont think I'd like that flavor in my milk..."

I ask them "does your cow milk taste like cheddar?"


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## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

I could tell the difference between my Alpine milker and my Saanen/Nubian milker.
Their milks do have a tiny bit of difference in flavor. Although it may have just
been the difference in butterfat, I don't know. And my current Miniature Saanen
has the best milk of them all, IMO. So, I do understand how someone could be
unhappy with the flavor. 
I can't honestly say I have "licked" a goat, but I have tasted plenty of goat hair,
meds and the occasional hoof trimming. (Got to learn to keep my mouth SHUT
when I am working with the goats! :nooo)


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

We've milked both cows and goats, I like cow's milk fresh (hate it from the store), but LOVE goat milk fresh. It is sweet and does not taste 'goaty' at all (I like the cheddar comment up there!!!) To get my family 'weaned' over from cow-goat I did the same thing as mentioned in another post: put it in a cow-milk jug and no-one had any complaints. Now my kids are in college and all of them chug the goat milk when they're home, one of them always takes a bottle back.

On the taste problem: there's a recent post about it, because I remember reacting to it. I posted then that I heard that Vit. B deficiency in a goat results in bad tasting milk, so you could try to up minerals in general and give Nana a shot of Vit. B complex. Copper was also mentioned and a well balanced ration plus minerals never hurts. 

I hope you can figure it out, 'cause good goat milk IS delicious. I did on the other hand taste some incredibly expensive store bought goat milk once, and it was embarassingly BAD!!! Told the person who bought it to forget what it tasted like, because if my milk tasted like that I'd run it down the drain.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

The brand of goat milk they sell in the stores (walmart and albertsons) here is very goaty. So is the chevre. Over-processed, I guess. 
I can taste different flavors sometime that are not bad, like little blue stem or other native plants. More browse=varied flavor, at least here at my place.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Well imagine all that milk sloshing around in the tank on the truck. It's gonna get goaty!


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Ugh. You're right. That would sure mess up the flavor.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

More important than diet is handling of the milk itself. 
The more damage to the fat molecules the more readily they go rancid even with sanitary handling. It is not bacterial but a result of
rough milking- rough pouring- sloshing-anything that stirs it up will speed the deterioration of flavor which is in your fat molecules. This is why as Ashley mentioned trucked milk is so gross.
The more times you transfer something from one container to another the more times you pour from a container- just all kinds of activity with milk that is raw will change flavor and shorten that sweet fresh tasting time.


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## lonestrchic23 (Jan 7, 2011)

doublebowgoats said:


> The brand of goat milk they sell in the stores (walmart and albertsons) here is very goaty. So is the chevre. Over-processed, I guess.
> I can taste different flavors sometime that are not bad, like little blue stem or other native plants. More browse=varied flavor, at least here at my place.


I've tried Chevre from Albertson's & HEB.... 3 brands total...2 were very dry & gritty with a strong "goaty" taste.....the other wasn't gritty, but was horribly bitter. Thought Chevre would be on my "do not like" list along with feta until I tried some awesome Chevre at a goat dairy in Bonham....That stuff was amazing!!!!

What is that brand of goats milk at Wal-Mart....something like Meyburg Farms? That is absolutely foul stuff....It smells absolutely horrible!!

I have a friend who drank it & liked it (shocking eh?) until I let her try fresh, raw milk......she could not believe the difference (she's lactose intolerant, but hates soy milk, hence the store bought goat's milk). Liked it so much she went out & bought her a Nubian/Lamancha & an Alpine cross....


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

It's Meyenburg. They have a plant in my town which is funny. One of only two in the country. The other in California I believe. Yup, nasty tasting milk.


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## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

Wow, thank you all so much for your input! I will be looking into providing Nana with some vitamins and supplements. I know she need selenium and copper, I'll add Vit b along with that. I also need to find a reliable person to supply me with alfalfa. 

I try to be very clean with all my milking supplies and equipment and I cool her milk down very quickly. These are all things I learned about from the farmer I apprentice for on Saturdays. Unfortunately, he doesn't have goats so he can only give me advice on cows.  He did tell me that if her milk was off then something might be lacking in her and I'm glad you all confirmed that.


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## sarafina (Dec 26, 2009)

Ashley said:


> It's Meyenburg. They have a plant in my town which is funny. One of only two in the country. The other in California I believe. Yup, nasty tasting milk.


I buy it and make soap out of it. I was so glad to taste Vickie's goats milk and find out how good it can be because I was worried it all tasted like Meyerburg's. I was having second thoughts about keeping dairy hosts but not anymore.....


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Sometimes goats milk just tastes bad, like after kidding. We've had goats take up to a month after kidding for their milk to taste good. This is not normal, and I don't think it has anything to do with cleanliness here since it's always been just one doe and then it clears up. Goat milk should taste clean and sweet. Cow milk, to me, tastes "heavier" Pasturized milk tastes kind of like the plastic carton. You should not taste any yukko taste or bad flavor, even when testing warm milk straight out of the goat. I can taste more sweet in the milk at various times, but if it tastes yukko it goes to kids or chickens, depends on whats going on with it.


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Last two years prior to this one, my oldest doe had milk that would go "off" after 3 days in the fridge. I made sure to use it before the goatiness set in. I made cheese, soap and yogurt out of that milk and just drank fresh milk every day. I dont know why it went slightly goaty after 3 days, but I didn't like it....This year however, I dont know if it is my goats maturity or what, but my goats milk never tastes goaty. I cant even make goaty tasting chevre! And I LIKE goaty chevre!  I can pastuerize, make cheese and yogurt and drink the milk after 10 days in the fridge and it is so yummy. Previous 2 years I was milking into an iced container, chilling immediately, using all the hoeggers sterilizing stuff, etc etc, trying to get rid of that 3 day goatiness. This year, I am totally "whatever" about it all, I just throw my milking stuff into the dishwasher everyday, and toss the milk into the freezer after milking and its all good. So yeah, it shouldnt taste like a goat. It should taste like cow milk, only WAY better.


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Also, I have to say, that my feeding has changed this year. I no longer feed COBB. I feed purina and mare&foal mixed with some beet pulp and boss. My goats look a lot better on this feed than the other diet. They look gorgeous, filled out, beautiful. I realize now in retrospect that they were probably too thin when on the cobb I was feeding. So, for us, it seems that feeding the commercial diet has helped. Both in health and milk flavor.


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