I bought some milk goats 4 weeks ago and they were fed alfalfa. I have never ever fed alfalfa to a milk goat because of the bad taste it leaves in the milk. How long will this taste linger? They have always been fed this and they are 2 and 3 year old goats. I pastuerized the milk, but that taste was still there. I have made several different types of quick cheeses with it and it tasted so bad, no one would eat it. Any suggestions? Will the alfalfa taste wear off as they continue to eat the sweet feed? It isn't as strong,but still, bleck!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 17, 2001

Answers

Cindy, I suspect there is something else flavoring the milk. We feed all six of our milkers alfalfa day and night and the milk tastes fine. I am fairly particular as to taste. Have they just recently freshened? If so, it takes about two weeks for the "off" flavor to go away. The colostrum milk is really strong. I don't know if milk flavor varies by breed. We have Nubians and the milk is always rich and sweet regardless of whether they are being fed mainly alfalfa or grass hay. We're in the Pacific Northwest and our alfalfa comes from Eastern Washington. Is Oklahoma alfalfa different? More questions than answers.

Skip in WA

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), June 17, 2001.

If your goats are not pasturing on some unusual weed, ie. mustard or wild leeks, then try increasing their intake of vitamin E and check to see if their selenium intake is on the money. Occassionally oxidation in the milk due to insufficient levels of these last two is the culprit in icky tasting milk production (goat, sheep or cow). Hope this helps.

-- Sandra Nelson (Magin@starband.net), June 17, 2001.

I have always believed that alfalfa hay was the hay of CHOICE for milking animals. I am confused by your refusal to feed it. I have had jersy cows and nubian milk goats fed alfalfa hay and had wonderful sweet milk and like Skip, I am picky. Perhaps your goats need worming. I have read that off flavored milk can be caused by parasites.

There are some milk goats that just produce off tasting milk no matter what you do. I had one once and ended up selling her.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), June 17, 2001.

I grew up with milk goats and no matter where we lived (Dad in Air Force, we moved alot) if we fed them alfalfa, the milk had this same taste. The people we bought them from said it was time for worming, one came in heat, could that cause it? Maybe it is the brand of alfalfa? I am not sure....We have bought milk from these same people before we bought the goats, one gallon would be fine, the next, this same taste... They don't eat the grass etc that they have in the pasture, picky eaters these two. I will see about the vitamins..hadn't thought about that. What is the best percentage of selenium? These are horse salt blocks that we buy, can't find ones for goats. I don't know what kind (horse, cow whatever) salt block that the goats got when I was growing up as I was not the one to buy it. What can I plant in the pasture that they will eat? They have fresh oats coming up from where they kicked the feed bucket, but they won't eat that. I have taken them around to other places in the yard, but they won't eat anything that is growing out of the ground. They do love the oak leaves though!! My last milk goat loved those two and we didn't have off flavored milk, we got very nice, sweet milk! yummy!!! I blamed it on the sweet feed that she loved so much. Thanks for the suggestions!!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 17, 2001.

Oh..when they were eating the alfalfa hay that the owners brought with them to tide them over , getting used to what we feed etc..they would only eat the leaves of the alfalfa hay, could that be it?

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 17, 2001.

Those oak leaves may be the culprit, if nothing else is -- they have tannin in them, which may impart a bitter quality to the milk. At this time of year, we have (Ozarks) a bitter, oily herb in the field, as well -- it has a daisy or chamomile-like flower. Only a single bite of this plant, locally called "dog fennel" can flavor milk for days, and if the animals are eating it continuously, it can even migrate to the meat (ask me how I know). Very bitter and nasty.

Finally, to add to the earlier poster's comments, Toggenbergs can sometimes have a stronger flavored milk.

-- Anita Evangelista (evangel@atlascomm.net), June 17, 2001.

Hi Cindy, I also give alfalfa after milking. But I would bet the culprit here is the molassas in your sweet feed. Anything approaching 10%, and better is 6% in molassas makes the rumen very acidic. Molassas is also very high in iron which will leave an aftertaste in the milk. You also have new goats which are stressed, needing to be wormed after the stress of the move. I would give them a chance to become acclimated before worrying about their milk taste.

And yes, if the milk tastes bad right out of the doe warm, it will taste bad cold, pasturised and oh especially in cheese where you have condensed it down further!! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 17, 2001.

Hi Cindy, My guess would also be the molasses. You could offer baking soda to balance the acid, it could help with the taste.

-- Julie (julieamc@eagleslair.net), June 17, 2001.

Well..I grew up on goats eating sweet feed and oak leaves, so I am still ruling that out. Our last milk goat was fed the same thing and she had wonderful milk. I do think that perhaps that different salt block and the move is a culprit. I also saw one of them happily munching away at a purple flower that eventually turns to goat head stickers. Sitting here typing and thinking, I remember our other goat's milk tasting bad for awhile, but yet the flavor improved as the summer got hotter. That is when these flowers turn to stickers. Hubby went out and was pulling them out of the ground from the pasture area. Hopefully that will help. We worm them tonight, plus give tetnes shots. I am changing the salt block back to the brand I was using before too. But after seeing them munching those flowers...grass everywhere that they won't touch, but they were eating those...that is probably it. I haven't been cutting the oak leaves for them, trying to get them to eat the pasture grass...so they haven't had much of that. Thanks for giving my brain a boost and giving me ideas of things to watch out for!!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 18, 2001.

Ok, heres another one. How long does your salt block last? I know I still have a piece of a 50 pound one in the corner of my feeder that is probably 8 years old. No way your goats will consume enough of any minerals from a block, unless they don't need it anyway. You havne't said what breed these are, but I can tell you for house milk my family can tell the difference in the milk from the Nubians and when we had LaManchas. Especially LaManchas that came from more swiss ancestory, less butterfat. I know a friend of mine was having these same sort of trouble, then realized they had never had the opportunity to taste first fresh milk, since they had always fed so many goat kids they didn't taste the milk until the goats were milking several weeks. Well they tasted it just didn't have enough to sit in the fridge for any length of time. I don't keep alfalfa out for my girls 24/7, they get it after milking, and perhaps because of our humidity or perhaps because they are milking Jan thru Oct and the hay is older, but we do get taste from all alfalfa fed does. I still think the change in diet is the problem, and lowering the amount of molassas in your mix with the addition of more oats, alfalfa pellets and Black oil sunflowerseeds, would really help. The only reason for molassas in any mix is to keep the dust down, feeding sweet feed intended for horses is overkill since it is mixed for the owner. Like baby food used to be made for moms, with salt and sugar.

Molassas is also way to high in iron in horse feeds, making the absorption of all of our minerals hard on the goat. So it defeats the very purpose it is used for. In the summers it not only attracts flies but makes the girls rumens work harder to assimilate the same amount of dry grain. Overtime like your other goat, these girls will also be able to milk on this sweet feed. But why not since your are switching things around from their old home to the new, switch to something better? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 18, 2001.

Ok, first, the salt block that I bought was for horses..the sweet feed was formulated for goats. I can't find a salt block especially for goats. This feed is not sticky with molasses, it is just in there. This is also called Goat Chow by other feed stores I have learned by calling around and asking. Honestly, I am not sure how long it has been since these girls gave birth, I believe it was 4 months ago. I haven't been able to get hold of the previous owners to ask them. I am not new to the taste of fresh goat milk, when I didn't have milk goats, I was buying the milk from these same people, or from the grocery store. When I bought it from the grocery store and it tasted so nasty, I called to ask why. They said that the goats were fed primarily alfalfa and that taste bled over into the milk, but most people didn't mind it. As to how often I change the salt blocks, I buy the little ones and they last a couple of months, when they get close to the ground, I replace it. These are 10 lb blocks I believe. I never looked at the poundage on it because I knew I wanted to keep fresh as possible salt out there.

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 18, 2001.

Oh, these are French Alpine, I wasn't leaving that out on purpose, just didn't get it put in.

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 18, 2001.

It must be the purple flowers. After reading the post about things in the pasture changing the flavor, my hubby removed those purple flowers that the goats love so much (we have plenty more in case it didn't turn out to be those). Well, good news!! Todays milk is nice and sweet!! Good!! Thanks for all the help and especially for giving me things to look for to troubleshoot the problem!!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 19, 2001.

Hi Cindy, I've raised dairy goats for over 35 years, milking as many as 30 head for many years, and I've owned every breed. I taught A/I classes at our local college and was a 4-H leader well past my kids are grown up. Alfalfa is the best hay for any dairy animal, goat or cow, they need the higher protein and also the rich calcium. There is no aftertaste based on feeding alfalfa, if you are feeding a MIXED hay then you can get off flavors from grasses and weed.

First I would ask you why are you pasturizing? Unless you are using a professional unit designed for that purpose your milk is going to have an off taste because the prolonged heat breaks down the proteins. Following clean dairy practices and proper storage, raw milk is wholesome and nutricious and should keep fresh for 3-4 days.

Your sweet feed is probably OK, it the protein content you should look at, 14-16%. I always fed dairy cow feed to my milking herd because it was not only higher in protein but had more added vitamins and cost less than goat feed. I would avoid horse feed because of the higher copper added, horses need it, but it can be toxic to goats.

It is true that some individual goats can produce unpleasant tasting milk, I never like Toggenburg milk for that reason. Nubians were my favorite because their milk is so high in butterfat it tastes very sweet. Good luck. email my if I can be of any help.

-- Victoria Smith (smith_v@mail.com), June 19, 2001.

I was pasteurizing the milk because I was told it would improve the taste. My milking area is nice and clean and I can keep the feet out of the buckets most of the time. The feed that I am giving them is 16% protien, I will keep that in mind so that I know what to watch for in case I can't find this feed again. That taste is gone, so it must have been those purple flowers...you know? I am very allergic to alfalfa, does it pass through the milk? I know that when I was giving them the alfalfa hay, I was having to take more allergy meds. How about Bermuda hay? Is it good for goats.

There seems to be a misunderstanding here I have never, ever, ever given the goats horse feed. Only the salt block this last time, it said it was for horses, but it was the only one that was at the feed store, so I went ahead and bought it.This sweet feed says it is for goats. Thanks for the help!

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 20, 2001.

Cindy, I for one, would love to know what the purple flower was so I can avoid it with my own does. If you have a spare moment, could you i.d. it and let us all know? Pasteurizing is a good idea, although more as a safety precaution than for taste. I would be afraid to take dairy products to church dinners or have company over without pasteurizing, not to mention the fact that my kids drink the milk! I am very cautious about cleanliness, but pasteurizing gives me that added peace of mind, which is priceless.

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), June 22, 2001.