Goat's Milk

To all you Goat Milkers , Your milk must be covered in the fridge , It will pick up oders from other un-covered foods !!! BUT MY question is ? How to make Goats milk Butter ? It takes forever for cream seperation and I have had little success !!! Reply all please ......... ALAN B .

Just skim off the cream and keep in the freezer until you have enough cream. Then slowly defrost in the fridge. I use my stand mixer to make the butter.

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Tonya B.
Mystic Hollow Farm
ADGA Nigerian Dwarfs
HandCrafted Goat Milk Soaps & Sundries
http://www.freewebs.com/mystichollowgoats/
mystichollowgoats@yahoo.com

Goat milk is not the best choice for butter, unless you have exceptional goats. If you CAN get enough cream, the churning process is exactly the same as for cow butter. But goat milk has smaller fat globules, so it's almost naturally homogonized.

Madfarmer

I just take a quart jar out of the refrig and start to shake when my arms get tired I have a 5 and 3 year old boys that love to make it with me. I get about 1/3 cup butter from 1 quart unless I skim some other quarts and add in the cream ( Nubian Milk high butterfats) You will start to see crystals in ths side of the jar you will know it is working. Keep going until the crystals start to attach themselves and you will see almost like a curdled milk clump when you remove it from the jar put in ice water to wash off mashing with a fork to get all the milk off (VERY IMPORTANT) I only make a little at a time as I like to use it within 1 or 2 days I use store bought butter for cooking all I use this butter for is spread on biscuit or toast. I use the leftover buttermilk to make a buttermilk pie ( YUMMY!! had never had before I started to make butter) and the actuall butter is so smooth and creamy ( It will harden up a lot in frig)

That's the first I've ever heard that. My Saanens have wonderful milk (except for one, more about that in a minute) as does my Alpine/Saanen doe, and her Alpine dam before her. I have read that Toggenburgs were bred to have a stronger-tasting (not off) milk for cheese-making.

I have a yearling Saanen FF whose milk I sent in for testing as it was so awful - test came back negative for any infection. Talked to a friend of mine who's been breeding goats for 35 years and he suggested taking her off of the dairy pellets. Sure enough, two days later, her milk tastes just fine.

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"Crivens!"

Half Caper Farm - breeding Saanens, Boers and Nigerian Dwarfs

I think milk taste does vary with breed, and individuals within the breeds also have very different tasting milk. In general, supposedly the best milk is from nubians, pygmies and kinder goats.

We have a kiko/nubian cross doe who everyone calls "the goat who laid the golden egg" lol. We can use her cream and milk after 4 weeks in the fridge. Don't know how much longer we could go, it's never lasted longer than that to try it. This is milk that was milked, strained, cooled in the freezer for a couple of hours then put in the fridge. Makes me wonder what straight kiko milk tastes like.

I can't stand a hint of an aftertaste. No breed (haven't had lamancha or kinder milk) has lived up to the nubian's milk for me. Pygmy milk has been good for me but way too much trouble to get.

We have Alpine and LaMancha's...our raw milk tastes awesome and we haven't had a complaint!!! Everyone so far just LOVES our goat milk and they're all pleasantly suprised with what they have! I personally think that it's the management, what they eat (if they're on pasture, their milk is going to taste like the weeds that they eat!) and the sanitary conditions of the milk area/system.

Be imaculately clean with this whole process! I don't know if I buy into the different breeds having different milk tastes, but I can say that our alpines/lamanchas are doing great

Raw goat milk IS more fragile. You have to go into it knowing that it probably won't last more than a week...it should be good for at least 4 days though.

Jenna
www.femininefarmgirl.blogspot.com

I've had milk well over 10 days in the fridge and it's been fine. The only time I've had milk go funky was some from a goat on antibiotics. I was saving it for making soap, but didn't get around to it and it smelled odd. Which makes sense - the antibiotics would have killed off all the "good" bugs in the milk as well as the bad.

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"Crivens!"

Half Caper Farm - breeding Saanens, Boers and Nigerian Dwarfs

My Milk is good in the fridge (covered) for three weeks or more , longer than Store -milk !!! The little bit of butter I was able to churn , (A Tablespoon full) tasted marveless , I think I had too high of a milk to cream RATIO !! I have had all kinds except A KIKO ... Tell me what they are like ? , I've yet to see any in my area of California !!! Advise me please , If you do E-mail I'm bebop@i10net.com .... Thankyou , . ALAN B .

My Alpine doe has excellent tasting milk, and like ALANB, I have kept milk for several weeks.

And no, I am not going to thrash other breeds...it just aint rite.

All of the above is why I milk nubians.

None of it can technically be true, but it's perceived even by customers. Vicki

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Vicki McGaugh
Nubian Soaps
North of Houston TX
www.etsy.com/shop/nubiansoaps

A 3 decade dairy goat farm homestead that is now a retail/wholesale soap company and construction business.

Nobody "thrashed" any breed, they just noted their own personal experiences and perceptions.

Does the compostion change as time passes? I breast feed all my kids and after 5 years of it I know the composition of my milk changes from when the baby is 2 months then when the baby is 12 months. So I'm assuming the flavor would change too due to different milk fat % and such. Any thoughts? Wouldn't this carry over to other mammals?

No?

I call that "thrashing" two breeds.

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"Crivens!"

Half Caper Farm - breeding Saanens, Boers and Nigerian Dwarfs

It is weird how it goes But i know that my friend said her lamancha did gave her goaty taste and I told to give her some copper bolus and it went away. Who knows why. But I have tried to taste saanen's milk and Lamancha's milk. I found that my husband and my children ONLY likes is NUBIAN'S milk.. I do know that there is a lady live close to us. She got 200 of saanen goats. I did buy her milk and my kids and my husband always said it taste like watery. I am like that is funny how they notice that! And I did tried my friend's saanen's milk that made for cheese. I dont like her cheese. I dont know why.. She sells cheese and stuff... She is a business woman. I dont understand why. I rather to use my nubian's milk to make cheese. We are weird huh??

We did a blind taste test on our various breeds' milk. Everyone like the Alpine best.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

I wonder if the watery taste is because of the high butterfat in nubian milk? I LOVE my nub milk but I also can not stand 2% or skim milk. The nub milk is almost like Vit D milk and Half and Half mixed, it is so creamy!!!!!! and YUMMY!!!!!!!!

Our Mini-Mancha's milk is like that.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Thanks Pooks. I kinda felt the same way.

I believe the taste of the milk has everything to do with what they are fed.
I think a person could have a Nubian, La Mancha, Alpine, Saneen, whatever...and their milk will change with their diet.

I feed my goats the same everyday. They are not in a pasture where they can sample whatever they come across. They get all the pellets they can consume and 2 flakes of hay per goat.

It has everything to do with diet, goat health, and handling of the milk.
But different breeds milk will differ somwhat no matter what they are fed. I've NEVER found a breed of goat who had bad milk. But just like in cow breeds, the milk isn't exactly the same. It differs in breeds and in individuals of each breed. Not a lot, but some.
My family was never told what breed I had saved house milk from when we were milking the commercial herd. But in a blind taste test, they *always* picked the Nubian and Lamancha milk over the Alpine and Saanen milk. It was all very good, but the Nubian, Lamancha milk was a bit richer than the Alpine, Saanen milk. Since my family grew up on Jersey milk, they will always choose the creamier milk if given a taste test.
It was all good. But all the same? No.

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Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence