Goat's Milk

Thank you Emily for your input.

My understanding is that toggenburgs are bred for high protein milk for cheese making. If milk has more protein than fat, it doesn't taste so hot, but makes good amounts of cheese.

The most important things for good milk are:

-Health and diet of goat
-Handling of milk
-Goat's diet

Milk should be CHILLED very very quickly. I milk into a stainless steel bucking sitting in a plastic bucket with ice in it. If you are buying milk from someone else, I would want it frozen. This way it doesn't sit in their fridge for a few days before you come along and buy it.

Milk should not taste goaty. Talk with the person you bought it from, they will want to know so they can fix it, as it will hurt their sales.

I have a toggenburg who doesn't make the greatest tasting milk (her dam's is great though). If I mix in some nubian milk, it will taste a keep great. So I assume it's because her milk is high protein low in fat, so the nubian milk makes up for that. I had some last 11 days in the fridge recently and still taste good, could barely notice the slightest off flavor (don't usually have milk long enough to see how long it stays good!).

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General Brown : I pick on you because you are the last post !! Tell me about the Kiko's , I've never even seen one , Regarding Milking , Probably the "Boer" is the worst , (low butterfat) Ive milked all kinds , some times out of necesity , from lost kids But now in my "maturity" and low income , I'm doing it to be Self sufficient which I'm really learning to enjoy !!! answer back anyone ... I'm your newest Member , Thankyou ..... ALAN B .

My Alpine's milk is great and even better about the 3rd day. I can only speak for my Alpine's and Nigerian's milk but the Nigierian milk is VERY good, even after 5 days it tastes fresh as day 1. I make sure to chill it FAST and keep it cold in canning jars with plastic lids.

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Cloven Trail Farm
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Boer milk is actually really high in butterfat.

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

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

I've never had fresh goat's milk, so this thread is VERY interesting to me.
I've not had a Nubian doe in milk yet, so we will see how I like it. I tried fresh cows milk as a kid and did not like it - but who knows what type of cow it came from, how it was handled, etc.

I am sure there is a difference in taste for breeds since the comp. of fat and other things vary by breed, it would only make sense that taste would have to vay, but I'm sure this applies as well in individual goats of the same breed that have different feed, etc, so I am hoping we have a breed that we will like the milk from - lol!

I cannot understand how anyone could feel saying a breed of goat's milk is best for cheese is trashing the milk or the goat. One could turn it around and say they are trashing the other breeds for not having that type of milk suited to cheese, in that case.

I will repeat the quote <where they want that off flavor for the cheese> It is my understanding that Toggenburgs were bred to have a stronger-tasting milk for cheese. Alpines and Saanens were not. Their milk does not have an off flavour. It may not be as rich and creamy as Nubians, but it is perfectly fine milk.

It's like saying Holstein milk tastes "off" because it doesn't have as much butterfat as a Jersey.

Capiche? (where's the pirate smiley?)

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"Crivens!"

Half Caper Farm - breeding Saanens, Boers and Nigerian Dwarfs

The clarification does not change that saying they believe the milk is off flavored to make better cheese does not equal trashing the milk of the goat or the breed. If that is so, then you would have to find the statement about Toggenburgs to be trashing that breed because, though reworded, it was essentially saying the same thing about that breed - their milk is better for cheese. "Off" is how I would think of a milk making cheese since cheese usually - more often than not - if it is real has what many would call an off flavor, IMO.

It boils down to a personal preference, I'm sure. I'd bet in a universal taste test, there would be a majority go for a certain breed more often or not, as with anything, but there would still be a strong following behind each breed.

I know when I've had store goat milk, I found it vile. I am hoping that isn't the case with ours when we milk them. If it is, no big deal. . .I will continue with cow's milk then.

First of all, it is erroneous to say that Alpines and Saanens were bred for making cheese, and that they have off-flavoured milk. It just ain't so. Second of all, to say that Toggenburgs were originally bred to have a stronger-tasting milk is not trashing the breed - it is a fact.

Saying that the milk tastes "off" is the same as saying it tastes "bad" - and I get tired of people saying "ewwww, goat's milk! Doesn't it taste nasty?" It is perpetuating a stereotype. If your meat, for example, tastes "off", are you going to eat it?

The flavour of cheese has as much or more to do with the cultures used to produce it, the conditions under which it has aged and the length of time it has aged as the milk used to make it. And, no, I don't consider cheese to taste "off".

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"Crivens!"

Half Caper Farm - breeding Saanens, Boers and Nigerian Dwarfs

Trashing is making a derogatory remark. Saying you like one breed's milk over the other isn't trashing. Saying one breed is specifically bred to be strong tasting for cheese isn't trashing, especially as it's a documented characteristic of the breed.

Saying milk that's eleven days old has a slight off flavor is not trashing.

Words mean things.

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

Every time I've had goat's milk from the store, it has tasted "goaty". Now, I don't mind that taste, but DH does. We had a discussion about it and he said "You can get a milking doe if you want, but I won't be drinking any goat milk."

Well, I got my Petunia, a grade Saanen doe, and her milk tasted... like milk! No "goaty" taste whatsoever. I was almost disappointed. DH now drinks her milk with gusto, and I make lots of cheese, yogurt, kefir, and ice cream which is all wonderful!

When we were on vacation for about 9 days, I did notice the milk that had sat in the frig all that time tasted a bit goaty. And there was one time that Petunia ate leaves from a tree we'd pruned that gave her scours and made her milk taste "off" for a day. But other than that, her milk is consistently good.

Since I copper bolused her, her milk is richer with more butterfat, and there's more of it!

Yes, the composition of 'any' goats' milk can taste 'off' if the nutrition is incorrect, which is why the so much attention needs to be paid to what one is feeding.

Also, how is the milk being handled? Rhetorical questions to ask are 'is the milk going from strainer to jar and directly into ice water/refrigerator?', 'is the milk being moved from container to container after it is chilled, in possibly a rough manner?'- One thing to note is that if milk is handled roughly after it is chilled, the fat globules can break. This can also cause milk to taste off as the composition breaks down- then caproic acid starts to form, then off taste.....

Yes. I know. I have a University degree in English.

To say something tastes "off" is to say it tastes bad, nasty, rotten. My Saanens' milk and cheese is none of those things. If milk goes "off", it usually gets poured down the sink.

If you substitute the word "bad" for "off", the quote would read as <where they want that bad flavor for the cheese> Does that sound like something you want to hear people saying about your breed?

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"Crivens!"

Half Caper Farm - breeding Saanens, Boers and Nigerian Dwarfs

All that I can say further is that my Alpine has great tasting milk that can hold in the fridge for well over a week and still tastes the same. I milk, bring it to the house, strain it, and in the fridge it goes. Even in plastic containers.

I still believe diet has the biggest input.