Angora Milk???

[DMC_OH]

Is angora milk good for making butter and cheeses. I feel a little silly asking. I have three angora goats I bought for fiber use, and I am now a little curious about the milk....I have none that are bred or milking at this time.

[susanne]

thats an interesting question and not silly at all. i guess they will not have enough milk for making cheese. maybe a little bid for drinking fresh and the rest for the babys. i've never heard of somebody milking their fiber animals.
susanne

[NewlandNubians]

When your angoras are milking, wait a week after they freshen (to let the colostrum completely pass out the milk) and milk some out and try it!!! You'll never know if you like it until you try it. If the milk tastes good, anything you make from it will taste good. If the milk tastes "bad", you may be able to make cheeses out of it that will taste good, but I never was too keen on the idea of strong flavored cheeses myself. I've had some strong tasting aged goat cheese that was horrible goaty and some that was not strong and tasted wonderful. I think the difference was the milk. And some people really love that strong stuff...

I've been wanting to bring one of my husband's dorset cross sheep over here where I keep the goats. I want to try milking THEM. He has some ewes that would give my Nubians some competition in the milk pail. Some of them have nice looking udders and lots of milk. I've had to milk some of them out from time to time and got a quart in one sitting. Very impressive! They've got a little Finn in them and my DH says that's why they are "milky".

Just remember, you can milk ANYTHING that produces milk. People milk all sorts of "strange" animals - Yak, Reindeer, horses, etc. I think I read somewhere about some kind of cheese made from some animal that was worth a premium.

[susanne]

[QUOTE=NewlandNubians] I never was too keen on the idea of strong flavored cheeses myself. QUOTE]


do you think the milk will have a stronger flavor because of the breed? i thought how you feed your animals and how you handle the milk plays a rule in the flavor of goats milk.
susanne

[ox]

We've had dairy goats but angora goats have been our mainstay for 25 years.
My thoughts are that some animals are multipurpose and some aren't. Purebred angora goats tend to put a very large amount of their protein into the production of mohair. One glance at a doe with a kid or two on her and you'll see the fleece quality suffer somewhat until they are weaned. If she's a good doe she'll have good healthy kids and a good fleece but it will take her some time to bounce back from her hard work.
In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in developing good quality natural colored mohair. Some of these does seem to have larger mammary glands but I have noticed that they tend to loose that virtue the finer the mohair quality gets with upbreeding.
Finally, I'd say it can be done. Multipurpose animals are not an accident. Good breeding practices and steadfastness of goals could probably bring about a "milking angora" goat. I don't raise meat goat breeds but I must say that angora goat meat, as little as their is, is the best goat meat i have eaten.

[Jen H]

When my cashmere doe was around I got enough milk from her to put in my coffee and breakfast cereal. The milk was really good, not strong tasting at all. I have to say, though, that she produced extra milk at the expense of her underhair. I still have a bit of her cashmere, and it's longer and coarser than the cashmere from her wether and a wether I bought from a different farm.

[DMC_OH]

Thanks for the info!