Last week I told you all that I was given a goat and 2 3-day old kids. Her milk tasted awful--tasting it made me want to run brush my teeth and gargle to get the horrible flavor out! So I've been feeding her good hay, good grain, I've wormed her with Safeguard, and toted clean water to her all throughout the day. My fil (who gave her to me) *never* gives his goats water. He says they get all the water they need from the grass they eat! She must have been terribly dehydrated when I got her, having just kidded and not had anything to drink. To the point: after 9 days of milking her, finally her milk no longer tastes bad!! Yesterday it did; today it doesn't! It doesn't taste really good, but I can drink it. I am so excited! Dh built a little pen for the kids, so I can keep them separate at night, and tomorrow I'm going to milk her for us.

-- Elizabeth (e TX) (kimprice@peoplescom.net), February 15, 2001

Answers

I am glad for you Elizabeth. Keep up the good work and enjoy.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 15, 2001.

Please try to educate this person the goats need water !

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), February 15, 2001.

I'm glad that you find it tastes okay to you. I really like it....I am completely stunned that the animals are even alive and able to hold on to their kids without receiving water. How insane.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), February 15, 2001.

Elizabeth, Good for you and good for the goat! Her milk should just get better now that she has a good home. I wish you could educate the idiot who never gives his goats water!!! That is animal abuse although I am sure you can not turn him in for it. good luck

-- Karen (kansasgoats@iwon.com), February 15, 2001.

I cannot imagine being pregnant, giving birth, and nursing babies without water. How awful! Maybe you were SUPPOSED to get her! Have fun with her and the babes...

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), February 15, 2001.

Glad to hear that the milk is tasting ok.It should just get better as time passes.Hard to imagine someone not giving their animals water.I guess FIL isn't exactly a rocket scientist.

-- JT Sessions (gone2seed@hotmail.com), February 15, 2001.

hi Elizabeth, congratulations on your goat, sounds like you're doing well with her. A trick to getting sweet tasting milk is to chill it down really fast. If you pasteurize, sit the pan in a sink of ice water as soon as you're done. I even put a couple ice cubes in mine and stir until they melt(the milk is so creamy, no one notices the difference.) Then let it sit in the ice water for 20 minutes or so, until the ice melts or you get the milk down to 70 or so before you refrigerate. If you are not pasteurizing, you still need to chill it in an ice bath to bring the temp down fast. Just putting it in the fridge doesn't chill it fast enough. Hope this helps. mary

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), February 15, 2001.

That neanderthal should be penned up with no water for a month with only wet grass to suck on.

As for the milk flavor. It's normal for a doe's milk to be very strong for up to ten days after freshening because of the colostrum. We have a herd of thirty goats and all their milk is strong for about a week after kidding. The quality of the feed also affects taste. We had some hay that had been rained on a little before it was baled, but we thought it was okay. The girls didn't like it much, but if felt dry and I couldn't detect any mustiness in it. Whenever they eat it, their milk tastes musty, so now it goes to the bucks.

Have you considered bottle feeding the kids? If you plan on keeping them it makes a tremendous difference in their tameness and is also a good way to monitor their health.

www.sundaycreek.com/nubians.htm

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 15, 2001.

Elizabeth, I agree with Skip. The man needs to be educated on how to care for animals. Its no wonder the milk tasted bad. We always give warm water, with a bit of molasses, in the morning and regular water the rest of the time. They really love this and drink it up really fast. We also fed cob and alfalfa pellets with good grass hay. We found there is less waste with the pellets. We raised Nubians for years, they have the best milk of all. Remenber to chill the milk fast, in a freezer or ice water, that is the key to keep from having off flavor milk. Good luck.

-- Andy Larsen (cabinfever @sisna.com), February 19, 2001.