cowey tasting milk?

[Shades of Gray]

I made my first batch of butter last night from Mabelines milk, and the result is very golden yellow, cowey tasting butter. Same with the milk, it tastes like a cow. I was expecting it to be more like store milk with just tons of cream.
Ya know when you take store milk and let it get warm and it gets that milky smell, well that's how this milk is really cold.
And I was informed my my mother today that "Nobody is going to drink it when it tastes like that, so why even save it? Just give it to the chickens".
I'm ----ed.
Does the milk get less perfumey the longer she is milked?

[springvalley]

She hasn`t been milking that long give her some time. I`m sure it will get better, don`t get in such a hurry. Good things come to those who wait. sometimes what you feed them will make the milk taste differant also. > Thanks Marc

[Shades of Gray]

She is getting only2nd cutting bright green Alfalfa hay, I milk her while she's eating. I'm hoping that maybe she still had some colostrum and that's what we were tasting.
I just didn't know if it starts off like this and gets better or if it's like this all the time, and I figured the people on here you milk all the time would know better than I.

[springvalley]

I have never had a bad tasting cow, now goats on the other hand. I think she will get better, how many days did you wait to use it?? > Marc

[Callieslamb]

Are you refrigerating it right away? You might also want to check your cleaning routine. If there's milk (or worse) left somewhere, it can cause an off taste or hte milk to go 'off' quicker than normal. The oldest milk we have had around here has been 11 days and it was still really good.

[springvalley]

Callie is right and cooling it quick is also good, I have had customers keep milk two to three weeks. Keep your milk as cold as you can without freezing it, and keep your jars full with as little air in it as passible. Keep your milk in the coldest part in your fridge also. But clean equipment is your friend. >Thanks Marc

[scholtefamily]

We have had cowey tasting milk. I'm the only one in the family that notices. We put our milk in the freezer for about an hour to cool it quick........and we leave the cap off while in the freezer, which seems to help with the cowey taste.

[Shades of Gray]

I only waited 24 hours as that's what I read on the net for the time to wait before drinking it. I take the milk from the back quarters and leave the fronts to the calf. I'm hand milking and she has really short teats, so my thumb meat cramps up alot. I have a big stainless steel milk can, but I can't keep it under her as she picks up her feet alot, not really kicking, more like brushing at her udder. But she does it quite a bit, like everytime I start milking again from taking a break. I've had to just milk one quarter at a time into a quart mason jar held really close and then dump that into the big milk can.
Thats the cleanest way I know to do it until I can get a proper milking machine.

We put our milk in the freezer for about an hour to cool it quick........and we leave the cap off while in the freezer, which seems to help with the cowey taste.

I was wondering if that would work....that's what we do with the goat milk.

[MARYDVM]

You were probably drinking colostrum. The udder is full of colostrum at freshening, but it doesn't all vanish after 24 hours unless the calf empties all 4 quarters or you milk it out.

[springvalley]

Bingo Mary. > Marc

[willow_girl]

Most commercial dairies don't use the milk until the 7th milking after the cow freshens. (Assuming you are milking morning and night; the start of the 4th day's milking would go in the tank.)

It won't hurt you to drink colostrum, but I imagine it would be a little ... different!

Had a heifer freshen the other day whose colostrum was ORANGE!

[Ronney]

No wonder your milk and butter tasted cowey. As Willow says, 4th day the milk goes into the vat but I take it a bit further out than that and wait until the 7th - but that is for my own use, not commercial and because I love milk but can't stand the taste of colustrum.

Be a little patient and let the calf have all the good stuff. Also keep in mind that as a first calver she is probably not going to be the highest producer, so be careful not to run the calf short. She's a big girl and within a month or so you could well find she cleans up all her mother produces leaving little for you.

And as an aside, I like the Jersey/Friesian cross. They make for good milkers and all that I have owned seemed to have taken on the best of both breeds.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[BlackWillowFarm]

It sounds like your cow is recently fresh? I might have missed that somewhere.

Give her some time to clear out the colostrum and get to the really sweet milk. Our cow took close to two weeks after freshening before the milk leveled off and tasted good.

Sometimes ketosis can cause the milk to taste like the cow. Are you certain she isn't ketotic?

[Shades of Gray]

Had a heifer freshen the other day whose colostrum was ORANGE!

That's how hers was!

Well today's milk was a definite improvement! It still had a little smell but we just made chocolate milk and couldn't even tell the difference!

I am milking twice a day, and averaging a gallon total, on just the back quarters. I'll probably end up knocking it down to milking just once a day when she gets a bigger appetite and I'm sure she's hitting all the faucets.

Had to look up Ketosis. I Don't think that's it, she isn't producing an awful lot and she is fed very well. She just doesn't match any of the symptoms other than recently calving. So I think I'll just give her more time to get completely cleared out!
Thanks guys!!

[linn]

We don't use the cow's milk until the fourth day after freshening. Make sure to leave the lid off the jar for several hours after refrigerating. You are probably getting colostrum since your cow just calved.

[Shades of Gray]

You were all right!
The milk today was delicious, even the thick cream layer tasted great, not a hint of anything funky.