# Nasty milk!



## firecattx (Nov 18, 2010)

I am so discouraged! Long story short, we have 6 nigerians who we adore but don't give the amount of milk we need. So, we bought a nubian about 2 weeks ago. She kidded 8 days ago. Tonight, we tried the milk for the first time.....ew yuck :down
Since we have had her, she has been fenced in, away from any poisonous plants etc. She is eating alfalfa hay/pellets and sweet feed. We are slowly switching over to a COB diet with BOSS added. She eats the same as our nigerians who have wonderful tasting milk! We milk, filter, cool etc. exactly the way we do for our other goats...what could be the problem? :help


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Have you done a CMT on her milk yet? Her colostrum should have been done by now, thats blucky!
Tam


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## firecattx (Nov 18, 2010)

I haven't done a CMT on her milk. We used our strip cup (same as we always do) and nothing looked "off"....


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

Cathy, I also switched from Nigies to a Nubian and LaMancha. The only difference we noticed in taste was it was just not quite as rich in cream, but it is still good. We are not able to drink the milk until about day 14 after they kid because we can still taste the colostrum or whatever. I would not call it nasty because it doesn't taste sour or bitter or gross, just has an off taste. It's been that way with all the goats. Some people think it's tasty at a few days, but we are very particular about the taste.....and it's 2 weeks before it's perfect to us. So don't be discouraged and maybe wait a few more days.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Yep, I agree with Monica, we wait two weeks.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

Same here, I wait at least 2 weeks before I drink the milk. Longer if the kids have been pulled.


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## Hollybrook (Jul 17, 2009)

I bet its colostrom too if you do a CMT it will be false positive we had FF that tested pos CMT for 6-7 wks but the lab said no growth. Is her Udder uneven, warm, red? Her milk is Yuk how? Salty? Some goats just make off flavored milk time will tell the tale


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I've had three does who had terrible milk for a few weeks after kidding and I never have been able to figure out what it was. It is not normal in our herd. Some of our does colostrum tastes like ice cream..(I start trying their milk right away as I am looking for weird flavors..trying to figure out when they start, stop, etc.) Last year I had a doe kid with quads and people were waiting for her milk as we had dried everyone else up but we could not use her milk for almost a month. She never had a problem before that and had been wormed, got alfalfa pellets, same grain as always, etc. I gave her several doses of calcium gluconate after kidding as she was a small doe and the kids were large and I was afraid of her crashing....she did great however. I thought maybe it was the gluconate, but really have no idea. Colostrum does not always tastes "off" in our herd so I don't really attribute off flavors to colostrum. It varies so much from doe to doe and kidding to kidding but bad tasting milk is gross! I'm sure it will change. Another thing that could cause off flavors is stress and since you just got her, this might be part of the problem. It will get better.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

I am surprised at these stories blaming colostrum for odd flavors.
Colostrum is creamy and has a high fat content so can carry lots of flavor but ours just tastes rich and rather nutty like it has some frangelico in it :biggrin 
There is only active production of colostrum in goats on a decreasing plane for approx 48 hours so if you have poor flavor of milk for 2 weeks you have some other issues. It can be personal to the goat or hygiene or handling of milk- how much rough foaming you do when you express into the bucket. The most common cause of off milk is elevated bacteria levels in the udder. Try handling your milk as gently as possible and make a goal to produce as little foam as possible. The fats are your flavor carriers and if you denature them with rough handling you are setting yourself up for off flavor sooner than normal deterioration produces. We save colostrum for 2 days and then start using the milk. This is because of the value of the antibodies not because of flavor.
Lee

Sorry modified to say 48 hours- meant two days actually. That is the average. 
Dead head here- not as bad as a customer that ordered 8 of something and meant 2. Boy was she surprised at her bill!


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

Could a mineral deficiency cause the flavor to be off?


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## Laverne (Apr 4, 2010)

Have you tasted each side separately to see if there's a difference in sides?


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

Our milk is not tasting off from bacteria or anything other than it being the does just came into milk. I am positive because the taste goes away by 2 weeks and is wonderful the rest of the year. Like I said before, it's not a horrible taste, but it's off and it could possibly be described as a "nutty " flavor I've had the milk tested in that first 2 weeks by the lab in LSU and it's fine by them. I think we are just very particular about our milk taste  .


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

So maybe you just get used to the way it tastes after 2 weeks of testing?
I guess I have not tasted that much little goat milk...it may be different than big girl milk 
So what do you do about the 2 weeks of milk you don't drink?
Is it worth being that picky? I mean if it isn't icky can't you use it for smoothies or culturing or making butter or??? I am featuring you dumping gallons and gallons of super nutrition!!! :/


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

The OP and I both switched to Nubian and I had the experience with Nigie, LM, and Nubian breeds. I have no doubt it's because we are being very picky. It is defintiely not because we got used to the taste. Sometimes I go 2 or 3 days between testing it and it only takes a swallow to know. I have 4 children taste-testers and no off taste gets by them. I can taste it, too, for sure, but they are the REALLY picky ones ;o). I have always dam raised, so I have not had a ton of extra milk in those first 2 weeks. I wouldn't pen the kids up at night until they are 2 weeks old. What I do milk in those first 2 weeks gets frozen for soap making or to feed kids in an emergency.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Most of the articles on the composition of goat milk are on pay for research sites but here is a short quote that explains what I was trying to say about disturbing the fats and causing off flavor. Since early milk is very high fat this could be happening. 

Quote: Goat milk has a higher content of the strong smelling caproic, caprylic and capric acids in its milk fat, with good milking practices they are enclosed within the fat globule membrane. This membrane is, however, more fragile in goat milkfat than in cow milkfat, is easily broken during improper handling, insufficient cooling and repeated rewarming, and then enzymes are liberated that can produce odors. End Quote.

Now don't be offended-I am honestly interested in this...... Is it a good idea to make "different" equal 'negative'. Why does the way it tastes equal 'bad' in flavor? Do you pasteurize? Do you mix all the milk together or just drink milk from one goat at a time?

What I am trying to say is that natural products vary in flavor all thru the year- apples- spinach- milk-everything really. Why is it 'bad' and not drinkable because the flavor changes to something else later? What about during heat cycles? What about when composition changes for summer and again at the end of lactation? If it is different to you in the beginning it must be different all through the many changes of extended lactation. 

I have met people who say they can taste the herbs that sheep graze on in Mediterranean countries in the cheese products. Can you taste food changes in your milk? I am so interested in this and hope you will talk about it more. It has been one reason goats have had a bad name in the dairy industry for so long. Modern dairy practices and lines of animals have been selected to avoid transfer of feed flavor and radical changes in composition and flavor. 

Firecattx-I would suggest that perhaps your sweet feed is adding sulfur compounds from the molasses. Molasses has been blamed for off flavor in commercial dairies that use it to keep dust down on bulk feed mixes moving thru automated systems. 

Thanks for more input on this topic.
Lee


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## Laverne (Apr 4, 2010)

In the spring and summer when my LaManchas start to eat more grass I can taste the grassiness in the milk and I love it, it is my favorite time of year for milk.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

"Little girl" milk is definitely creamier and sweeter than "Big girl" milk, even when the big girl is a Nubian. My kids can definitely tell the difference between Kinder milk and Nubian milk, but we're drinking all of it by 1 week. The difference in taste is probably even greater between a Nigie and a Nubian.


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

Nigie milk is definitley richer and creamier, and we think it's more delicious and so do most of the taste-testers we've had. I just can't spend 4 times as much time milking the Nigies for a gallon of milk.

As for taste, we do not notice a taste difference year round when they go into heats, but yes....we mix the milk of a couple goats so it may not be as obvious. I would say some days we do say it's just exceptional and other days it's just milk, but not sure if it has something to do with what we've just eaten or if they ate something which made it better those days. Every once in awhile......I might have a jar which tastes just bad and I blame it on the jar maybe not being clean because those times are isolated and few and far between.

I didn't say an off-taste makes "bad" milk...it's just off. The only negative thing about it is....we have to wait 2 weeks to get the milk we enjoy. When we (my 3 daughters and I) go for a glass of milk, we want the milk taste....not the taste we get in those first couple weeks. It's just a preference. No, I don't pasteurize. I tried that and it tasted cooked.

In the summer, we have ragweed thick and it makes the milk taste bitter. We can tolerate a hint of the taste, but if they eat too much of it, the milk is totally undrinkable. I actually have to pen the milkers up during the summer so we can have good milk which is disappointing since we have a couple of good acres they would prefer to be out browsing. 

We tried switching to a high quality horse sweet feed this summer. We made the switch very gradual and very gradually the milk started tasting goaty. Eventually it was so goaty nobody in the family cared to drink milk anymore....which was completely depressing to me. Why go to all this work and expense of milking goats if the milk is undesirable by the entire family? Finally one day I remembered reading about molasses causing a goaty taste. I switched them back to our previous feed (Purina Noble Dairy) immediately (not slowly) and the milk went back to being delicious almost overnight. It has been great ever since.


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## firecattx (Nov 18, 2010)

I wouldn't think it's the molasses because our nigies eat the same thing and their milk is wonderful. As far as handling the milk, we do the same thing for all 3 goats we milk (2 nigies and 1 nubian). We mix the milk from the two nigies but keep the nubian milk separate (since she is new to us, we wanted to keep her's separate so we can taste any differences etc.). We milk, filter, and cool rapidly same as always. We do not pasteurize, we prefer raw. 
The milk that we tried was definitely not just an "off" flavor or something we didn't like as well as our nigie milk. When my hubby tried a sip, he gagged and spit it into the sink :yeahthat
We are on day 10 so we will wait a few more and try again. We are still trying to work on amount issues as well. She continues to give us 7 and 1/2 cups a day which is surprising. We thought a full-size would have given a lot more. We are working on feed amounts etc.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Your Nubian can be affected by the feed contents differently than your Nigerians.
Just like any one of the Nigerians could be. It is very individual.


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## M.Nivens (Apr 15, 2010)

One of our does freshened with off tasting milk and turned out she had a staph infection. There were no other symptoms other than a bitter taste to her milk..If it were me I would want to test it just to rule that out.


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

I agree....I would send a milk sample off if it tasted terrible.


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## firecattx (Nov 18, 2010)

I'm new to all this...where would I send milk for testing and what would I test for?


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

http://dairygoatinfo.com/index.php/topic,85.0.html

Hopefully that link above works, but if not....it's in Goatkeeping 101 and the post is "LSU Mastitis Lab". It's very simple. I called the lab to get specific directions and they explained it to me. It is free, too.


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## firecattx (Nov 18, 2010)

Can they test for staph infection, anything else I should ask for (test wise)?


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

Well....when I send it off, I'm checking to see if they have subclinical mastitis, which I believe is a staph infection (is it experts?). I just send the milk and they test it for whatever they test for...and I feel good when they say nothing grows. There is not a form to fill out requesting specific tests as far as I can remember. I simply write a letter telling them I would like to have my milk tested for mastitis. You can always call them. They are very helpful and kind.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Testing is a good idea if you are concerned but I can tell you this, the colostrum from my does does NOT taste like ice cream. LOL


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

Oh I'm glad to hear other people have tasted their goats' colostrum too. My mom was over once when I had colostrum in a bottle and she wanted to try it. I thought she was crazy. I wasn't very brave and tried only a drop, but it seemed to taste like nutty rich milk. 

I had a Nubian in milk last year that had strong flavored milk. I'm used to Lamancha milk, so I didn't like her flavor. But not that I think about it she had just kidded, so maybe it was the colostrum still coming through with the milk. I thought colostrum was only the first few days. I never thought to wait 2 weeks before?? My LM's I didn't have to wait but 3 days and then there was plain ol' milk.


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