Help !!!!

[ITsaZOO]

I am sooo confused.
I have a dairy goat La Mancha. NEW TO DAIRY GOATS . Her milk is awful and Im so distraught I have her listed for sale. I have tried this and that. It seems the more I ask people = the more Im doing wrong.
I have changed her feed several times. Heres my questions:
When you all talk of "Alfalfa Pellets" are you referring to the kind people feed rabbits? Or is it the blocks of cubed hay in bag for sale @ TSC???? Can I use those in place of hay? I feed my goats ( I also have Angoras and a Nubiana? Alpine.) hay in a hay feeder and the majority of it is tossed on the ground. Wasted. I get the BOSS. Currently I am feeding Mare and Foal pellets, whole corn and some BOSS, I also have a goat lick, loose Golden Blend Goat Minerals. Im not putting the loose minerals on her grain, dont want to over do with the pellets. Or should I? Her milk is goaty no matter what. I have her in a pasture with just grass, however, she can climb the no climb fence and eats some twiggy stuff. I dewrom about every 3 months, Ivermectin. Any and all suggestions welcome.

[nehimama]

Zoo, my first suggestion would be to examine your milk-handling practices. I have found that, if the fresh milk is not chilled almost IMMEDIATELY, there will be a goaty flavor. I like to strain the milk into glass jars, then place the jars in a bucket of ice water. They set in the ice water about 30 minutes, coming down to about 42 degrees, then into the fridge.

How are you chilling the milk?

NeHi

[steff bugielski]

Also what are you milking into? Is it clean, by clean I mean sanitized clean. If it has milkstone build-up it will cause bacteria to hol;d on there and can cause your milk to taste bad.
How are you cleaning the udder and teats prior to milking? I wipe down the udder and wash if dirty with an udder was. You can get one at TSC or warm soapy water works. As for teat dip TSC has a one gallon from Dairyland it is blue works good.
All of these things plus cooling down the milk quickly will help.
If not get a sample sent to a lab . She might have some sort of mastitis

[Alice In TX/MO]

Alfalfa pellets are simply alfalfa pellets. NOT rabbit pellets. Get your feed store to order the right thing.

Mare and foal feed, if it has molasses in it, can make her milk taste funny. Gradually change her over to only oats and BOSS. (Plus alfalfa hay or pellets free choice)

Milk into sanitized stainless steel or glass. Filter the milk. Chill QUICKLY!

She is climbing the fence because she is hungry for real goat food. Goats eat leaves and twigs and browse, not grass.

Are you washing her udder and teats, squeezing the first squirts into a small container to check for lumps and blood? Dipping her teat in teat dip after milking to prevent mastitis?

Get a milk sample container from the vet and have her milk checked for mastitis now.

Worming three months insures that the worms become immune. Many worms are now immune to Ivomec. Take a fecal sample to the vet and find out IF you have worms and what kind. Come back here with the results, and we'll tell you what to use.

If you've been changing her feed rapidly, without transition, her rumen could be upset, too. Make feed changes over the course of a week, decreasing the old feed, increasing the new.

Do some reading .....

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/milking.htm

[ITsaZOO]

Hopefully this isnt a repeat. Had to sign in twice...
I milk into a stainless steel milking pail with lid I purchased from Hoaggers Goat Supply. I bought the kit. Strainer, teet dip, udder wash, balm and spray. I strain the milk and immediately put in fridge or freeze into ziplock baggies. I Rinse the pail in cold water first and then hot soapy water and 1 wk bleach. Air dry. I do not change her grains over immediatley, was told they can colic like horses so I do a tablespoon at a time.
No grain mills, sold and now a coffee shop. Nearest grain mill has no pelleter. So I rely on TSC and or Family Farm and Home. The off taste isnt immediately its like a short while after you swallow. Very pronounced in the cheese. So Im thinking of eliminating maybe first the corn? Just mare and foal and boss plus hay?????

[Cannon_Farms]

If your shopping at tsc, your spending way too much money on the feed you are using and we have allot of more economical ways of feeding goats.
one, BOSS which is the black oil sunflower seeds, those are important, however you can cut your cost greatly by doing several of the following using our products from tsc.

I have always gotten good milk using these combinations,

Boss, all grain (for horses, its corn oats and barely) and the hay streacher, I dont use the alfalfal pellets we have because they are preserved with animal fat.
My broke method is the sweet mix, hay streacher and boss, however if you use that, you have to provide a very good mineral.
The goat chow seems to be ok, but many of the major producers her use the noble goat in their dairy herds.

The key in any goat diet shouldnt be allot of grain but hay, with diary its preferably alfalfa. 16% protien and 3% fat with fiber being around 30% total is what I look for when Im putting a feed together, alfalfa is generally 16% protien itself and has about the same. Anything over 18% and your goat is going to ---- it away literly.

I am in agreence with the milk handling proceedure and would start there, and make sure you dont have a buck with them. However sometimes a goat just wont have as good of milk as another. my first dairy goat my husband said it always had a odd flavor, every one still drank it, but i always had waste, now, nothing out of my two new goats goes out, its very sweet with no odd flavor.

Might want to look into getting fecals done as well if your only using ivomect.

[pookshollow]

Have you had her tested for mastitis? Even a sub-clinical mastitis could cause off-flavoured milk.

What about copper? Have you noticed any rough hair, pale circles around her eyes, "fish" tail (the hairs at the end of the tail split so it looks like a fishtail)? Some goats need even more copper than they can get from a mineral supplement, especially if they're black.

I have a doe that had horrible-tasting milk - had it tested for mastitis but it was negative. I was feeding her dairy goat pellets - stopped those, put her on a dairy cattle sweet feed, and the milk is much better. You might have to experiment and see what helps.

[nehimama]

You may not be getting the milk chilled enough, quickly enough. I've found that putting immediately into the fridge or freezer just doesn't do it. I've come to rely on the milk-in-glass-jars-in-ice-water first for about 30 min, and then into the fridge.

On the other hand, I've had a goat in the past, who, no matter how the milk was treated or what she was fed - - - the milk just didn't taste good.

Good Luck, and I hope you can get to the bottom of this problem.

NeHi

[LaManchaPaul]

Ohhhhh I'm so sorry your milk is awful.... With all of the tips above I can't add to it except to say that on another HT thread a person said that after they gave a copper bolus that the milk changed in a few days to delicious milk.


I love LaMancha milk. Here's hoping success with your girl.

[southerngurl]

Hay/browse, alfalfa, oats, BOSS, and a quality mineral. Stick to that. No molasses feeds, no blocks. You can put out some baking soda as well. Perhaps copper bolus? I don't know about your area as far as that goes, but I have to bolus here.

Then milk handling, try milking into your stainless steel bucket while it is sitting in a larger bucket with icewater. Strain this immediately and put in the fridge and see how that does.

You might also try giving some beet pulp. I have one doe who's milk isn't so hot unless it's mixed with nubian milk. I suspect she just has high protein, low fat milk, which can also cause a goaty taste.

Lamancha's should have some of the best tasting milk you can get. Just go back to basics, give her some time, chill your milk while milking with the icewater and be clean with your milking technique and see how that does. HTH

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Wash her teats well and simply milk her into a coffee cup, one cup for each teat. Taste the milk warm...now amount of dipping and cleaning and cooling is going to improve the taste of the milk warm from the doe herself. If her milk is awful warm, than it's her and not your milk handling. If it's her, I would send in a milk sample, we have LSU's information in goatkeeping 101 at dairygoatinfo.com call them find out how to take a smaple and how to send it in, the test is free. As specifically for subclinical staph.

Most mare and foals are full of mollassas, is the person who recommended you this feed milking goats, and biggy drinking the milk? Molassas for us down here is simply used to mask enferior ingredients and makes horrible tasteing milk. Why I feed all grains, oats, a little corn, etc... If you can't get alfalfa pellets where you are, than feeding the dehydrated alfalfa at TSC in the thick white plastic cube (not silage/haylage) but 100% dehydrated alfalfa works great, my does love it but alas it is way to expensive anymore with the size of my herd. Our TSC alfalfa pellets are also super expensive, like $3 more per 50 than ordering from our feed store. I can't believe you can't get alfalfa hay in your area cheaper than both. Susanne on here is in your State, certainly she can help you with what to feed...Vicki