Hi All,

I have my goats free to browse in a weedy area. As more weeds are poking up, I am finding their milk to be more and more unpleasent to drink. Almost like a strong "nutty" after taste.

Is it the weeds that they are eating doing this, or could it be something else?

Thanks,

Betty Jo

-- Betty Jo (amaroq@bmts.com), May 09, 2002

Answers

Yes, it could be the weeds. However my goat eats weeds and it has not affected the milk's flavor. Do you have baking soda where they can eat it when they want? I just leave a half cup or so in the feed trough and when they want some they can get it.

-- VickiP. (countrymous@webtv.net), May 10, 2002.

Yep...could be the weeds, and some individual "family" lines of goats are more susceptible to strong tasting weeds. Years ago when I had Saanens, I had to be very careful what they browsed on and I almost constantly was fighting strong tasting milk. Now I have Am. alpines and they graze on just about everything...including acorns and wild onions...and the milk is always sweet tasting. I even keep a buck with them through most of the year!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), May 10, 2002.

Feed taste will definitely come through in milk. There was about a fortnight every year in spring when we couldn't drink our cow's milk, because the "capeweed" (feral African daisy) was blooming, and they ate it. There was another week or fortnight each side of that when the taste was not good, but bearable.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 10, 2002.

Baking Soda? Why????

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), May 10, 2002.

novina-baking soda helps regulate the ph balance in their stomachs. it is good for them. i throw out a box about once a week for the 5 milkers and 2 headed for the freezer wethers. i empty the box into the trough and throw the box away, by the way, not just put a box out there. betty jo-could be the weeds, are you cleaning them before you milk, and the utensils very well?? basic, but you'd be surprised the people who just milk and rinse the bucket w/out cleaning the goat or actually washing the bucket. the jars you put the milk into need to be really clean, too. i have a friend who bleaches hers every week in hot water and then rinses them really well. i bleach mine every 2 weeks and have no odor or taste problems,

-- laura (okgoatgal@hotmail.com), May 10, 2002.

Thanks everyone,

About the handling...............well, I used to bragg about how good my goat's milk tasted because of my good handling practices. The milk taste has gotten stronger, and my handling has stayed the same. Got to be the weeds, or one particular kind that's out there.

Thanks again to everyone,

Betty Jo

-- Betty Jo (amaroq@bmts.com), May 11, 2002.

Hi Betty, We have had one or two goats out of the herd develop a strong taste to the milk when out on pasture. Is it possible it is not your whole herd, and that you can find an individual goat or two in your herd whose milk you can drink while you wait for the problem to go away with the rest of them?

-- Dianne Wood (woodgoat@pacifier.com), May 11, 2002.