[MamaDee]

It's day 8 since freshening and Lightning's milk still tastes yucky! I'm getting so impatient. :flame: Is this normal? I've heard of people drinking it at 4-5 days. I think it's better than it first was but it still has a kind of rotting, off taste to it.

I keep milking her and waiting........she gave a pound and a half just this morning. It's not wasted b/c I'll give it back to her buck once we pull him off and bottle feed him. But when can WE drink it?

Deel

 

[HomesteadBaker]

I gave it 2 weeks, because from what I have read here, the milk can taste "off" for that long. I have a part alpine that her milk was "off" tasting for the first 5 weeks! Now it is great.

Kitty

 

[Caprice Acres]

I wouldn't drink it any earlier than 2 weeks, as colostrum is produced for quite a while in some does.

Also, how fast are you chilling this milk? Try filling a ziploc baggie full of water and freeze it. Then put that in one bucket. Milk into another bucket, and strain it into the bucket with ice. Until I did this, I was getting nasty milk, too.

 

[MamaDee]

It's getting milked right into a bucket with a ziplock full of ice. Then we put it into the freezer for 45 minutes or so right when we get back to the house. So....it's cold soon enough. I did taste some I let sit on the counter for a bit and that was reeeeeally nasty. At least the ice cold stuff is only slightly nasty!

I hope it doesn't taste off for five weeks. I have customers waiting, too, besides myself. She is part alpine, though. Hmph.

Dee

 

[ChickenMom]

Mine is Alpine/Spanish and we drink her milk after the 4th day.

What are you feeding? I can't stand mines milk if she has anything with molasses in it for some reason. I feed equal parts mixed of corn, oats, barley, and beet pulp. She also gets free choice alfalfa pellets at night.

Is she a first freshener? That could have something to do with it too.

 

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Did you worm her the day she kidded? Is her udder shaved and you clean your hands and the teats, udder and belly before you milk? Are you milking into a clean...without detergent left on it, container? Are you covering the container after you milk and taking it in the house to chill, and not leaving it out in the barn air?

There is no goat that continues to have colostrum after 3 days, colostrum fills the udder about a week before the doe kids until 24 hours (although does have fluid in the udder before this week, it's very difficult to bring them into milk much before a week before kidding, and it is watery fluid, not thick colostrum), after that it is colostrum diluted with milk...transitional milk...so the only way she has colostrum is if she is a poor milker, has a congested udder where you can't get the udder milked out completely, or you aren't milking her.

There are does who obviously don't have good tasteing milk. I think the best thing to do is to wash your hands, clean the teats and milk some of the milk into a clean glass jar and taste it warm. Warm milk should still taste good. If the milk tastes good right out of the doe than you have something wrong with your technique. If it tastes bad right from the doe, start with health issues first, then sell her to someone who wants kids to nurse, not milk for the house. Vicki

 

[MamaDee]

Did you worm her the day she kidded? Is her udder shaved and you clean your hands and the teats, udder and belly before you milk? Are you milking into a clean...without detergent left on it, container? Are you covering the container after you milk and taking it in the house to chill, and not leaving it out in the barn>>>>

I did Hoeggers Herbal dewormer. We are on day two of the first three day treatment and then will go to once a week. I did that b/c people say to deworm. I realize that Hoegger's stuff is not a treatment but a preventative. But her poop looks fine. Her udder has not been shaved b/c the milk stand freaked her out enough--I was going to hold off on that for a few more days. Although she doesn't have alot of hair getting in the way like my old lady Kinder. I am milking into a clean, sterilized container with a ziplock bag of ice in it--same way I do my other girls. The container is covered after we milk. It is not left in the barn and it goes straight to the freezer for 45 minutes. It milks out and gets cold and stays cold. We wash her teats and our hands before we milk.

The milk at this point tastes a bit like when she first freshened only not nearly as strong. I assumed this was just transitional.

How often do you get a doe that gives bad tasting milk forever? Didn't realize that happened.

Dee

 

[susanne]

please do a fecal check or have a vet doing it. if you read the board carefully you will have read that the herbal wormer is not working in most parts of the country. poop only looks fine if you have checked it under the microscope .
the herbal wormer can be the reason why the milk taste off.

 

[MamaDee]

the herbal wormer can be the reason why the milk taste off>>>

I thought of that...but her milk has tasted like this since day one after freshening. I only started the herbal wormer yesterday (day seven). Her milk is slowly tasting less off--I was just wondering how long it might take. I'll do the warm milk straight out of her test, as Vicki suggested.

Dee

 

[MamaDee]

Tonight after milking we noticed a every so slight pink tinge to the milk. Can this be from the herbal wormer, too? It is a brownish pink color (the wormer, that is).

Can it be a sign of mastitis? She hasn't had any issues up to know. She hasn't been engorged. She is a bit lopsided due to the kid nursing only on one side, but we milk out both sides completely twice a day. She doensn't have a warm udder nor was there any flakes, blood, clumps, etc. in the strip cup.

Are there any hormonal things going on at one week post kidding? I know that's when they supposedly start a discharge. Could this affect milk color?

Thanks!

Dee

 

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Pink and even red milk is perfectly normal. As she starts milking more she will burst small capilaries in her udder, this can make the milk pink. Later as this heals you will see a brown residue in the bottom of chilled milk as dead blood settles in the bottom on the jar.

You need to fecal the doe or worm her with something other than the herbal wormer. Then if you must use it, use it after worming her. Worming her with a chemical wormer after kidding, and at least once in the spring and before breeding her, will go a long ways in keeping her healthy. You can see only tapes as visual worms in the eggs, so looking at her poop does you no good. By the time you see diarrhea from blood sucking worms, you have a dieing goat. Vicki

 

[Shazza]

I have just found out that to fix off tasting milk give the doe Cobalt....we give it in a cobalt/salt lick.

 

[goatkid]

What is the doe eating? Sometimes, when they are on browse, they eat things which can affect the taste of the milk. I've been told rose bushes can do that. My hubby doesn't care to drink our goats milk until they are at least a week fresh. He claims he can taste traces of colostrum in it before that. Commercial dairies use milk after three days.

 

[MamaDee]

What is the doe eating? Sometimes, when they are on browse, they eat things which can affect the taste of the milk. I've been told rose bushes can do that. My hubby doesn't care to drink our goats milk until they are at least a week fresh. He claims he can taste traces of colostrum in it before that. Commercial dairies use milk after three days>>>

She is eating the same thing everyone else eats, so I don't think it's that. Maybe I'm just picky. My daughter can drink it fine--but she's the only one.

I did do the straight out of the goat test. I could still taste a trace of that "first milk" taste to it--not bad, but it's there.

Dee

 

[MamaDee]

I found this on Fias Co's website--I hope it applies to us!




<<<<<<
If your goat's milk is "off" there must be a reason.
Reasons the goat's milk is not tasting correct could be:

The goat kidded recently and still is producing colostrum. A doe can continue to produce some colostrum in her milk for up to two weeks after kidding>>>>>


I know, Vicki, you don't agree with this. But have others had this experience also? It seems it could be the case here as the milk was much stronger early on and is getting better.

Dee

 

[BlueHeronFarm]

I was always told once it foams, it's milk. That's the point when we drink it, and so far we've not had anything yucky. ...but then (and I'm sorry Ruth isn't here to get in on this) we DO have Nubioans with great tasting milk.

 

[Feral Nature]

I still wonder what the doe is eating :shrug:

I chill my milk for 2 hours, then put it in the fridge...ice crystals are visible or i use a cheese thermometer to check temp and make sure it is right above freezing.

I make sure that not one drop of milk squeezed from the teat runs across my skin and into the container. If I mess up a batch of milk by some running over my hand and into my container, it goes to the dogs or if not really dirty for hubby and I to drink (and not for anyone else). Microbes are carried into your milk that way and microbes mean off-taste and odor among other things.

Are you using a new ziplock bag for your ice each milking, it would be difficult to sterilize the old one each day....just my opinion. I don't use this technique myself.....again, the microbes.

I don't use sweetfeed either.

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

Are you air drying the containers for the milk? Do not dry with a cloth, especially not a kitchen towel!

 

[Charleen]

Just a few things that we do (and notice the difference if we don't):

Always milk into stainless steel, do NOT use a plastic milk bucket. No matter how clean you think plastic is, it's not.

We clean our SS bucket with a milk stone remover & acid rinse solution. Let air dry.

Filter milk immediately.

Store in clean glass jars in the fridge. Again, don't use plastic.

Store milk in the coldest part of the fridge. The door is NOT the coldest part, just the most convenient.

Keep the udder shaved and keep the buck out of the barn.

 

[MamaDee]

I chill my milk for 2 hours, then put it in the fridge...ice crystals are visible or i use a cheese thermometer to check temp and make sure it is right above freezing>>>>

Yep, when we get to the house the milk goes straight to the freezer. Then to the fridge after it just starts to freeze. .

<<<Are you using a new ziplock bag for your ice each milking, it would be difficult to sterilize the old one each day....just my opinion. I don't use this technique myself.....again, the microbes>>>

Yes, we use a new bag each time. Are you talking microbes from a used bag that's been washed or from a new bag?

<<<I don't use sweetfeed either>>>

No sweetfeed here.

<<<Are you air drying the containers for the milk? Do not dry with a cloth, especially not a kitchen towel>>>

Yes, only air drying.

<<<Always milk into stainless steel, do NOT use a plastic milk bucket. No matter how clean you think plastic is, it's not>>>

Yes, we only use stainless steel.

<<<We clean our SS bucket with a milk stone remover & acid rinse solution. Let air dry>>

Same here. Special dairy soap with a brush and sanitizing spray. Acid wash once a week. Air dry.

<<<Filter milk immediately>>>

Yes, we do.

<<<Store in clean glass jars in the fridge. Again, don't use plastic>>>

Yep.

<<<Store milk in the coldest part of the fridge. The door is NOT the coldest part, just the most convenient>>>

Didn't think about that one, but we do. Top shelf all the way in the back. It starts to freeze a bit back there at times.

<<<Keep the udder shaved and keep the buck out of the barn>>>

Udder shaved. No buck.

I just don't know what else. We are doing everything with this doe that we do with the other three. Their milk is fine and always has been. They all eat the same thing, too.

We are sending off a sample from each side of the udder tomorrow for mastitis testing. See what that brings. I hope she's not just like this.
Hubby thinks it will just take more time. He's convinced it's just from her freshening--his reasoning is that if it was mastitis the taste would not be getting better, which it is. Ever so sloooooowly, but it is. It doesn't taste like it did at the beginning. I still wouldn't drink it, though. I sure wouldn't sell it.

Dee