Bucks and Milk

[Naturaldane]

Im posting this for some one who can not post yet on the site, with hopes that you will share your opinions with bucks and milk for human consumption.

things I believe where said was that it will taint the milk flavor by having one near or in the pasture with them.
Bucks can be a not so pleasent companion and can be alittle "dirty" the smelly thing isnt as big of an issue with her.

I personaly dont ever plan on having a buck as I have the ablity to breed to the person I bought my goats from, I dont plan on having any more dairies either, but if you could advise that would be great.

Her plan is to buy two milkers (breed undesided) and breed one in the spring and one in the fall to have milk all year.

[Gate Keeper]

we've not had a problem with keeping the does and bucks together. the only time milk would become taint is if the buck had access to the milking area.

[susanne]

when i have a buck in with my does, it does not affect the taste of the milk at all, not even a hint of off tasting.
of course i don't rub my hands over the buck and then grab the udder for milking. i also have a lid on the bucket at all times.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

I don't know how it couldn't if you are hand milking. Washing the udder and all is still leaving the doe with buck smell all over her. The older your bucks get the worse this is. She may want to think about getting a young buck each spring and using him that late fall, then late winter and selling him after the second doe is bred...purchasing or growing out her own spring buckling each year, this way they dont' smell. Vicki

[steff bugielski]

If you are washing the udder and your hands the smell can not taint the milk. My buck runs with my adult girls 24/7. Never had my milk taste anything but sweet.

[LaManchaPaul]

Each person has a different level of sensitivity to the "taint" of buck in goat milk. That sensitivity lessens as one becomes accustomed to the input. My mentor has a passage way separating the milkers and the bucks. Sometimes he moves the does down that passageway and the bucks and the does sideswipe each other through the cow panel separators. At times I clearly taste buck in his fresh milk and as it stays longer in the ref. the stronger the tang. He has a much lower sense of taste for the tang or even the strong buck smell. A buck in rut nauseates me. (I can not drink store bought goat milk...uck!)

A farm north of here has a wooded branch separating her milkers from the bucks. She never has a tang to her milk.

Each to his own. I love fresh, cold goat milk. As a former goat-snob, I would advise that if one offers delicious fresh goat milk to a neighbor, you'd want to be sure the milk is served to his/her sensitivities rather than to yours. IMO. Paul

[Naturaldane]

Thank you for your imputs, Im glad I didnt lose my mind and I did read that the buck could taint the milk.

She still cant post, I have no idea whats going on, but how far or well would she have to keep them apart just in case I cant talk her out of getting a buck.
I personaly found out it was more expensive to have goat milk than to buy cows milk with feeds as high as they are, so I opted for the less healthier choice.

[Niamh]

The breeder we bought our goats from keeps her bucks separate from the does/babies, but in a pen right next to them. I can not stomach either her milk or anything made from it, the taint is so bad. She milks with a machine.

[mamajohnson]

My buck pen is actually within my larger pen, where the girls are free to roam. However, the milking area is a pretty good distance from the buck pen.
I do on occasion taste that 'goaty' bit in the milk, but usually only when it is a week old or older. We mostly use up the milk before then.
I do share my milk, and have been told it is sweet.

I think that good hygiene is key. I rarely pet my buck, I talk to him, but don't touch him unless I must. ESPECIALLY when he is in rut.

[LaManchaPaul]

I think that it becomes more than a hygiene issue with buck musk. The smell fills the air and is absorbed in the milk when the bucks are within close proximity. It doesn't take a wine tester to detect musk presence in goat milk or products. Again, IMO. I have read nothing on this, just observations and friendly discussions. Paul

[whodunit]

My experience is bucks anywhere near the does taints the milk. Such a strong oder permeates everything.

BUT I bought a doe earlier this year that ran with a buck and her milk was buck flavor free. However she STANK for months after we got her of the buck smell.


So maybe its a case by case bases?

[DixyDoodle]

I think that it becomes more than a hygiene issue with buck musk. The smell fills the air and is absorbed in the milk when the bucks are within close proximity. It doesn't take a wine tester to detect musk presence in goat milk or products.

I agree with that! My bucks have a cloud that can be detected for a good 20ft! LOL I have a very sensitive nose, and often smell things that others don't. My does smell lovely (well, they don't have much of any smell, really) and I want to keep it that way.

My one buck gets so rank, I wouldn't want him in with my does because everywhere he lays or rubs (including on the ladies) leaves a scent mark, and I don't want my does being in that spot after him. Ew. I suppose if they lay where he did, his smell could attach to their udder, right? And who wants to have "bucky stink" on their does' fur while milking? Having it on one's clothes after handling them is bad enough.

[steff bugielski]

I have never had any customer tell me the milk tastes "bucky" it is always sweet and mild. I would not be able to sell 80-100 gallons a month if it was not consistently delicious.
Even in full rut, he lives with the girls. I might not be sensitive but I am sure some of my customers are.

[coso]

I don't let my buck run with the does either. First off they will bug the fire out of them when they start coming into rut. Dropping your milk production. Second when they do come into rut they start peeing on themselves and everything around them. When they rub up against the does it stays there for days, then you set down to milk them and lean up against the does and you smell like it. Shoot it's July and when I go out to feed the older buck and rub him I still have to wash my hands two or three times just to get rid of the smell. When I get through clipping feet on him or hair my wife makes me take off all my clothes on the deck, won't even let me in the house.

[hoofinitnorth]

I am extremely sensitive to tastes and smells. My bucks and does are housed next to each other, use the same runs (just not at the same time), and have a chainlink fence "window" between their stalls where they can touch and smell and talk and interact. I milk about 5 feet from their turn-out areas (the runs they all use). I have had "off tasting" milk precious few times since the girls arrived here. The first time was when the boys first arrived. Since then it has been sporadic but extremely rare. Usually I notice it when someone is in heat or if the diet changes (adding more alfie will send a weird taste sometimes). Usually I notice it the most in milk that didn't get chilled right away or that starts to turn because it has been in the frige too long. My husband almost never notices it unless I tell him first. I can count on one hand the number of times I've tasted or smelled (usually it's smell more than real taste) buck in my milk. Just my experience.

[sgian]

naturaldane,
as far as the posting goes, have your friend check the spam, bulk, and junkmail folders. I had the same problem about not being able to post, and then I realized that my email service thought the registration email was junkmail or something and filtered it.

Second when they do come into rut they start peeing on themselves and everything around them.

LOL, are you sure it is pee? When my buck, Stinker, used to get excited he would ejaculate and spray it all over his legs, head, and anyone nearby. We thought it was pee at first because there was so much of it and for so long, but no. It got to the point that when we saw he was about to do that again, everyone would start running in different directions from Stinker. Scratching his neck or behind his horns was all it took sometimes.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Coso I think it's key that you and I are talking about older mature bucks here. There is no way you can keep an older buck in with a pen of does and sell milk! Everything smells like buck, the does, your hands and clothes, the barn, the milkroom when the girls come in. Ick! Now a young buck sure, even at 2 they aren't like the older boys. Vicki

[steff bugielski]

Once again i must disagree. My buck was 5 stunk like heck even when the girls were not in heat. Yep my clothes stunk and my hands stunk, if I did not wash them. The milk never tasted or smelled bad, unless old. I think many people do not chill correctly or sanitize their equipment every time they milk. All I can say is bucky smelling milk is not a given and does not happen here.

[Naturaldane]

Its always neat to see how many people can have different opinions about the same thing.
Here, there will never be a buck, I went to pick out my finial doe for a while, and I could smell that buck an acer away, granted does aparently where in heat, or he was just being a honey old goat, he was spaying pee and sperm and I personally dont ever want to deal with that. Im learning more and more on AI and it seems to be something that will work for me, going to start a thread on that in a moment.

She has however desided to take and get a young buck, and butcher him after the job is done. My only thought on that is the quality of offspring you can expect off a buck that isnt mature enough to judge conformation on, but old enough to do the deed.

[hoofinitnorth]

I am talking about a mature buck, 5 years old, plenty smelly.