[Rosarybeads]

I have a question. We have had milk goats for about a month now, our first ever, and I have been milking two of the nannies.
So question 1:

"I want to get cream from these guys so I can use it to make butter, whipping cream, etc..., but can you use a cream separator? I saw a cheap (20) plastic one on eBay and thought I would give it a try, but I am not sure if it would work for a goat. Any thoughts?"

Question 2: "My goat's milk tastes a little bit goaty, and being pregnant, I am really sensitive to it and can't drink it. Any ideas as to why it tastes like this? We do have a young just able to breed billy with the nannies, along with a ram and two ewes. I milk by hand, keep it pretty clean, and filter & chill the milk quickly. They are on pasture, which has weeds/grass/trees/juniper tree in it, and we give them cracked corn while we are milking them. The first day we got them I had a glass of milk and it didn't taste like that, so I can't help but feel I am doing something wrong. I think they have gone into heat too... I saw the ram breeding one, and the billy too."

Question 3: "We do have the ram with the nannies, and he did breed at least one of them, is this a problem? We also have the billy, who also bred at least one. I would hate to have to separate them, but if I have to I have to (just more fencing work to be done)"

Thanks for all your help, we are really new to goats!

 

[suzyhomemaker09]

well I'll address it as you posted...

about the cream seperator...if you found one on ebay for $20 you either were extremely lucky or you bought a gadget that will collect dust in your cupboard.

as to the flavor...what type of goat do you have?
I have been assured that this varies greatly from goat to goat. I have a lamancha doe and she has milk with a very good flavor..no goatyness at all.

we let her forage the pasture,give her alfalfa pellets free choice and give her a mix of goat chow,sunflower seeds, and oats as we milk.

hope this helps

 

[Rosarybeads]

Well, the cream separator on eBay doesn't hold a whole lot, only a gallon I believe, and it is plastic, but I haven't gotten one yet. Just been eyeing them. I think it is worth trying out...

As far as the goats, I think we have two nubians. They may be crosses, though, but they do have the floppy ears. One has a beard, one does not. I think a couple may have toggenburg in them as well.

 

[Galloping Goats]

I can't answer about the separater or the Ram thing(weird) but the milk probably tastes off because of the buck being in with the does. The milk can really absorb that smell. It sounds like you're handling the milk properly, or at least as properly as I do, and mine tastes great. I have heard that running your buck with the does can give the milk an off taste.

 

[kathy H]

Couple Ideas, lose the buck[ move him ] also I would try keeping them away from the juniper for a few days and see if taste goes away. Also make sure you are using stainless steel to milk into and that it is clean[ maybe rinse in a little bleach]. Also try dunking just milked milk in ice water in fridge to cool down faster. If these dont work might be the goats.

 

[Sarah J]

Couple Ideas, lose the buck[ move him ] also I would try keeping them away from the juniper for a few days and see if taste goes away. Also make sure you are using stainless steel to milk into and that it is clean[ maybe rinse in a little bleach]. Also try dunking just milked milk in ice water in fridge to cool down faster. If these dont work might be the goats.

I agree. The buck can really affect the flavor of the milk, as can the feed that they're getting. With fall coming on rather rapidly turning into winter, the changes in the browse can also affect the flavor of the milk. But I would look to that buck first as the main culprit!

The ram - get him out of there. IF, I repeat, IF he manages to actually settle your doe, you won't have a live birth...and it's a wasted pregnancy. If I recall correctly they are not really compatible but have been shown to breed together with icky results and only one live offspring in ?how many years of reports? that only lived a few weeks. But he *can* breed her and settle her and then you're back to square one with a potential complication of a half-breed abortion...

It's sad - I ran my sheep and goats together, too, but they were all female. Now that I have a ram they are separate.

The other complication you're dealing with is a ram and a buck during breeding season. Both of them will go into rut and both will try to fight each other for the female in heat (weird, but I've heard it). The way I understand it is that the buck will rear up to bang the ram on the head with his horns (or forehead if he's disbudded) but *while he's in the air* the ram will literally ram straight into the buck and can break ribs or gouge big holes in his chest. NOT a pretty sight.

Confession: all of this is hearsay, but I have learned to trust those I hear from, too! If it was me, I wouldn't chance it.

Good luck!

Sarah

 

[AnnaS]

I'd move that buck too, but...
I just read "Natural Goat Care" by Pat Coleby and she mentions "goaty" tasting milk as a symptom of copper deficency. I had been giving my milk goats cattle mineral and lost the "goaty" taste when I switched them to Super-Gro goat mineral which is supposed to have more copper.

 

[nappy]

More thoughts...

Any time goats are moved to another location they become stressed. This stress increases the parasite load. Since parasites can change the milk flavor, have you dewormed them yet? Any local large animal vet can check a stool sample for the type/amount of parasites your goats might have and then recommend the proper dewormer. And there is no reason that you need to buy from the vet (more expensive). Just get the name of the dewormer and purchase from your local feed store or Tractor Supply. Also, you'll need to collect "fresh" pellets from the group of goats...only one charge for one sample. Then all can be dewormed at the same time.

Removing the buck and ram is really important as during the breeding (rut) season they become rough with each other and the smell gets on everything including the goats you are milking. And, from my own experience, extremely sturdy fencing for the buck/ram is a necessity! Our two bucks are on either side of the fence and have rammed the wire and boards so that it won't be long until the two will be together. Hubby reinforced the barrier last night but I don't know if it will hold. I really don't want the one older buck to breed his daughters who are in with an unrelated younger buck.

All these suggestions are important for responsible livestock ownership. We are sharing what we have learned from our experience. I hope that you will enjoy your animals and keep on learning about them.

 

[debitaber]

you can't have males with females, if you are going to drink the milk. they meust be kept very far apart. so get all males, out of the pen. also it will take a while for the smell to wear off. and feed a good feed, and good hay, and you will be fine. give more than plenty water.

 

[Milking Mom]

I would not run a sexually active Ram with my female goats. Do you have ewes you are breeding to the Ram? If not I would personally sell the ram. I am not sure how old he is, but Rams can get really mean the older they get. I had a 3 year old Ram that tried to kill me. I raised him from a 3 month old baby but he just got meaner and meaner. It is breeding season and in order for the female goats to get bred they have to be with the buck. I am still milking 2 of my does and my buck has been in with the does since the end of September. I do not have smelly does or off tasting milk. My buck will stay with my does until the end of December when I will dry up my does. So, the only other option you have there other than to remove the buck is to be extremely clean. If your buck has a beard trim it off, taking scissors and trim it as short to the chin as you can get it. The Bucks pee on their beard and face and legs during breeding season to "perfume" themselves up to make them more appealing to the does in heat. If he is peeing on his beard and then drinking out of your water source he is getting rutting buck pee in the water bucket when the beard goes down into the water. Then your does drink the nasty water. Using a smaller water bucket, like a 5 gallon bucket with the handle removed and cleaning it out and filling it fresh every day will help with the taste of your milk. Lots of Fresh clean water is extremely important. The feed affects the taste of the milk. What goes in comes out kind of thing. Alfalfa pellets free choice and feeding a dry mixed grain horse feed, no molasses could help. Fresh coastal or alfalfa hay daily also. Keep out some loose cattle minerals with copper in it (not good for the ram). Also, put you out a feeder with some baking soda in it (aids in digestion). Weeds, Juniper will affect the taste of the milk. When milking, take a bucket of warm soapy water and a rag out with you and wash their udders really well. You can also get a pair of those cheap dog clippers at WalMart and trim their udders and belly hair and around the back end . That will help keep it a little cleaner and reduce the chances of a dirty hair getting in your milk bucket. Take a spray bottle and mix up about 4 tablespoons bleach to about 3 cups of water in a regular spray bottle you get at WalMart and spray their teats with this mixture as soon as you are finished milking them. As soon as you are done milking take your milk straight to the house and strain it up in a glass container and put it in a sink full of ice water for about 30 minutes or so to cool it down quicker and then put it in the refrigerator. You can worm your does with Cydectin Cattle Pour On wormer given by mouth orally...Dosage: 1 cc per 25 pounds. You can also worm them with 1% Injectable Ivermectin cattle wormer given by mouth Orally, Dosage is 2cc per 100 pounds. Make sure the milk does not have any clumps or stringy or slimey look to it to rule out mastitis. Even a slight case of mastitis can cause off tasting milk.
Clean water (real important), good feed, wash udders and spray afterwards, worm everybody, trim your goat's beard. Keep barn swept up and clean where the does lay down, good hay, ice down your milk cooling it as quickly as possible after straining it. Keep your does trimmed up and clean. Clean, stainles steel milk bucket (no plastic to milk in or store your milk in), glass jars. Hmmmmm.....that's about all I can think of.

 

[debitaber]

I change wormers every 2 months, I get them from the vet. I take the girls to the buck, and don't let him run with them. that is the key, right there. and of course I wash the girls.
when you use bleach ofn the girls 2 times daily, don't they get really dry skin?
thanks,

 

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

I would also worm them, check your loose minerals, and move slowly away from corn at milking to good clean whole oats (more protein for your money, corn is high in energy by is only 8% protein) A small handfull of black oil sunflowerseeds on the milkstand would improve the fat in the oats, and also add good roughage. Without the added carbs from the oats in their diet, the milk can become very acidic, which I guess could be perceived as goaty to the tongue. I have one doe who is a good milker yet is very heavy, she gets very little grain on the milkstand, but she does get some, because her milk will not taste as well with just alfalfa pellets and browse.

Get the ram and the sheep into their own pen. First the nutritional mineral needs of the sheep are far different than the goats, fed the correct amount of copper to the goats, you likely will kill your sheep. The sheep and horse have a closer copper need. The ram will breed the does, the buck the ewes, even in a univeristy setting no geep are born. They do not carry the same number of chromosomes, so once the egg multiplies past a zygote, it aborts. You waste your breeding season with abortions, no milk, no meat and no babies.

It is dangerous for bucks and rams to fight, for the reasons stated above.

I also teatdip with bleach and water. I preclean teats with wetones, for babies, with the herd growing in milkers next year I am going to move to spray and papertowles. Hoards Dairyman has an article on this and you used to be able to get the dilution rate on the inside of all Clorox bleach labels. 1/4 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of clean water. I use this dilution for all my cleaning, dipping inflations, dipping my hands and spraying on the teats after milking. It is such a small amount it does not cause drying. Vicki

 

[Rosarybeads]

Thank you all for so much help. Sounds like we definitely need to move the buck. Right now the does (we actually have 4, two milking, 2 not) are in breeding, so I guess I will have to wait for that, but I will definitely try this. Guess more fencing work in order! Sounds like I also have to move the ram. We do have two young ewes with him, he just bred them both in the last month, so we should have lambs... But sounds like we have even more fencing to do. SIGH

Milking Mom: Yes, we do have ewes, and I know they do get mean. Right now he is about a year old, but I plan on replacing him with an offspring ram when he starts getting an attitude. I grew up with sheep and we always rotated our rams every few years for this reason, plus they start beating up the barns & fencing. Not best for genetics.. but... I will give Billy a barber job.. Interesting note: The milk was fine when we got them, and I bought a sheep/goat block that has molasses in it, and gave that to them a day after we got them, so maybe that is the culprit. Also, the feed we were giving them also had molasses in it. I think I will try this first, giving them a different block.

Sounds like I am processing the milk okay, so I am assuming it is something in their habitat. I do need to worm both the sheep and the goats, I was trying demetrus earth, does anyone have any experience with this?

Vicki: will try oats instead of corn, or maybe a mix...

Thanks again for all your help, you guys are great.