# Milk Has Bad Aftertaste



## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Unfortunately, my doe Prim has off tasting milk. I did a lot of research on the forum and I understand that this can be very tough thing to figure out why, but I guess I am hoping to make sure that I'm not doing something wrong without knowing it.

The taste is very hard to describe. I wouldn't say goaty, salty, or barny. Maybe a bit sour at the end. I tested her for mastitis which she was negative. 

I am thinking it _might_ be mineral related because she didn't have access to the mineral feeder for about a week when she was in the kidding stall. I gave her replamin this past friday, and she now is back to have access to the minerals, but I have no idea if she's eating them. If it is minerals, how long would it take for the milk to stop tasting? 

I can't even mix it in with my other doe's milk because the flavor affects all the milk when mixed and doesn't even taste diluted. 

The only thing that is different between the two does in the way I'm handling the milk is I am using the same bucket and strainer to milk her. So that milk residue and the used filter from my first doe has sat there for maybe, two minutes until I get Prim on the stand. 

Any advice?


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Minerals are a good place to start when mastitis has been ruled out...sometimes they get a metallic zip to it when they need copper.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I agree. Start with minerals.


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## Nashville Nancy (Feb 11, 2021)

I couple of things to look at also is what type of weeds are growing in her pasture? Some wild onion, if she likes them, and make the milk taste off, for example. Also I have found that alfalfa hay truly helps....see if you can get some and try that. They don't seem to like the pellets as much. And make your milking as clean as clean can be. Are you using a teat dip? That will kill off bacteria on the outer skin so that it does not touch the milk. You put on the teat dip, let it sit for a minute, then wipe off, and use a different damp paper towel to wipe the residual off. Then remember to squirt out 3 squirts of milk or so and discard that. Look at how intensely you are cleaning the milk lines or jars. Just a bit of an area that is not super clean can make the whole amount of milk taste off.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Nashville Nancy said:


> I couple of things to look at also is what type of weeds are growing in her pasture? Some wild onion, if she likes them, and make the milk taste off, for example. Also I have found that alfalfa hay truly helps....see if you can get some and try that. They don't seem to like the pellets as much. And make your milking as clean as clean can be. Are you using a teat dip? That will kill off bacteria on the outer skin so that it does not touch the milk. You put on the teat dip, let it sit for a minute, then wipe off, and use a different damp paper towel to wipe the residual off. Then remember to squirt out 3 squirts of milk or so and discard that. Look at how intensely you are cleaning the milk lines or jars. Just a bit of an area that is not super clean can make the whole amount of milk taste off.


Thanks for the advice, Nancy 🙂. I'm not using a teat dip, what product would you recommend? I'm pretty sure I've got my milking supplies clean enough since it's only the milk from this doe that tastes. I would love to get some alfalfa hay, but I just can't seem to find it anywhere that's not too expensive. Pasture plants are probably not it either because it's been raining the past few days and they haven't even been on pasture and still her milk tastes. Thanks again for trying to help me. I really appreciate it. 😘


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

My goats eat alfalfa pellets just fine. Every goat is different. Best to start looking at supplements like copper and selenium first. Do you have a cobalt block out? That is another one.


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## Nashville Nancy (Feb 11, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Thanks for the advice, Nancy 🙂. I'm not using a teat dip, what product would you recommend?


You can get a teat dip from tractor supply or most farm stores.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

ksalvagno said:


> My goats eat alfalfa pellets just fine. Every goat is different. Best to start looking at supplements like copper and selenium first. Do you have a cobalt block out? That is another one.


I give them alfalfa pellets on the stand and they actually really like them, so it's not like they aren't getting alfalfa. Copper she should be set on. She got a copper bolus at the beginning of last month. I've been giving her Replamin weekly for the past two weeks since I started milking her. I do not have a cobalt block out, but I'm going to look into that. I fear being unable to find one, since my farm stores are generally a bit lacking in their product availability.


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

One time a feed store sold me a bag of old feed - I think it was almost a year old! I didn’t know it until one of my does’ milk started tasting super weird. The other doe wouldn’t eat the feed, and only ate her alfalfa pellets when she was on the stand, so it didn’t affect her. But Hasi ate the pellets AND the old feed, and her milk was godawful until I finally found a date on the bag and figured out what had happened. I threw the feed away and after a few days her milk was back to normal.

I don’t shop at that feed store anymore, lol. If it’s one or two mistakes in a blue moon I can understand that, but after several bad bags (and then they tried to sell us expired medicine KNOWINGLY), I avoid them unless there’s an emergency.

Anyway, not likely your problem unless you have a feed that one of them is eating and the other isn’t. But just in case, I figured I’d share!


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Feira426 said:


> One time a feed store sold me a bag of old feed - I think it was almost a year old! I didn’t know it until one of my does’ milk started tasting super weird. The other doe wouldn’t eat the feed, and only ate her alfalfa pellets when she was on the stand, so it didn’t affect her. But Hasi ate the pellets AND the old feed, and her milk was godawful until I finally found a date on the bag and figured out what had happened. I threw the feed away and after a few days her milk was back to normal.
> 
> I don’t shop at that feed store anymore, lol. If it’s one or two mistakes in a blue moon I can understand that, but after several bad bags (and then they tried to sell us expired medicine KNOWINGLY), I avoid them unless there’s an emergency.
> 
> Anyway, not likely your problem unless you have a feed that one of them is eating and the other isn’t. But just in case, I figured I’d share!


Gosh, I just don't know how feed stores can get away with stuff like that 😤. I don't think that's going on as far as I know. We thought the taste was going away, but we were wrong. I can't wait to taste it after her ivermectin withdrawal time is over. I hope it taste good because she's giving a quart and a half a day, and it's a shame we can't drink it!


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

If you can’t get a cobalt block locally, Amazon.com has them. That’s where I had to get mine.


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

How did the milk taste after the withdrawal time was up?


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

singinggoatgirl said:


> If you can’t get a cobalt block locally, Amazon.com has them. That’s where I had to get mine.


Thanks for the link. I do think that I found a store close enough that would sell one if I decide to give it a try.



MadHouse said:


> How did the milk taste after the withdrawal time was up?


It is slowly getting better. It's still not like Bella's milk (which is just a dream), but I _think _the taste is less. I used to not be able to drink it even when mixed with Bella's, but now I'm at 50% mixture and it's just fine. I hope it gets perfect soon because she's producing a quart and a half a day right now with once a day milking. I've got to learn how to make cheese or soap or something because we are getting a back log of her milk, since I don't want to force the rest of my family to drink it if they don't like it.


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

I’m glad it’s improving! Making cheese will just concentrate that off-flavor. Soap, bottle kids, feeding chickens/hogs/calves/dogs are the best ways I know to deal with off-milk. 

I love making soap with goats milk. It does not use tons of milk per batch unless you’re making large amounts of soap in quantity to sell. One gallon bag of frozen milk cubes lasts me about half a year of soap making for just my family and a few Christmas gifts.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

singinggoatgirl said:


> I’m glad it’s improving! Making cheese will just concentrate that off-flavor. Soap, bottle kids, feeding chickens/hogs/calves/dogs are the best ways I know to deal with off-milk.
> 
> I love making soap with goats milk. It does not use tons of milk per batch unless you’re making large amounts of soap in quantity to sell. One gallon bag of frozen milk cubes lasts me about half a year of soap making for just my family and a few Christmas gifts.


Well then I guess I've got enough frozen milk to last my whole soap making career! 😄


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

I’m glad it’s getting better!
Maybe try making yogurt. It’s easy to do, and if it’s off flavoured you can feed it to the chickens. It is very good for chickens.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

MadHouse said:


> I’m glad it’s getting better!
> Maybe try making yogurt. It’s easy to do, and if it’s off flavoured you can feed it to the chickens. It is very good for chickens.


I've always wanted to try to make yogurt. I'm a huge yogurt fan. Have you every made it?


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

It’s so easy if you have a crockpot! Sterilize all utensils/bowls ahead of time, plus the surfaces you’ll set them on. Not sterilizing risks adding wild yeast to your yogurt which can make it slimy or stringy. It won’t kill you, but it’s not my favorite texture (not that I would know from experience...)

Pour 1/2 gallon milk into a crockpot 2 quart crockpot. Heat on low 2.5 hours. turn off crockpot. Leave cover on and let sit 3 hours. Remove 2 cups warm milk into a separate bowl. Put 1/2 cup of your favorite brand of yogurt with live and active cultures in a bowl. Gradually mix in 2 cups of the warm milk from the crockpot. Pour the yogurt mixture into the crockpot and stir thoroughly. Put the lid back on the crockpot and wrap in a thick towel or two. Leave overnight or 8 hours. Now it’s yogurt! It will probably be thinner than say Yoplait yogurt, but that’s because they add thickeners. You can add thickeners or try straining it with butter cloth (tighter weave than cheese cloth) if you want to. I like mine with honey.


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

We make ours like this:
Before milking time we get out the cooler and put a wool sweater in it. Put cooler in a warm place. Boil 2 quarts of water and fill two quart jars with the hot water. Place in the cooler, put another wool sweater on top. Get a clean quart mason jar ready with about 1/2 cup of live culture yogurt from a container that has only been dipped in with clean spoons. When the fresh milk comes in from milking, filter straight into this mason jar, close and shake up well. Place in between the two hot water jars inside the cooler, adjust the wool sweater around all three and close lid. After 12 hours take out and let cool on the counter. It may be thin but may thicken as it cools in the fridge.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Thanks you two! I do have a crock pot and some wool sweaters so maybe I'll give it a shot! Honey would be great too since I've got a lot of that to use too.

Question: should the yogurt you add to the milk be room temperature or doesn't it matter? And I assume unflavored yogurt should be used for the cultures?


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

MellonFriend said:


> Thanks you two! I do have a crock pot and some wool sweaters so maybe I'll give it a shot! I like noosa brand yogurt which is really thick so I'll probably like homemade yogurt. Honey would be great too since I've got a lot of that to use too.
> 
> Question: should the yogurt you add to the milk be room temperature or doesn't it matter? And I assume unflavored yogurt should be used for the cultures?


Yes, use only plain yogurt. When ours comes in from milking, the milk is warm. If you take it from the fridge, you would have to warm it up to 110* F.


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

I used cold vanilla bean yogurt from the fridge the first time. That’s why I temper it with warm milk before putting it in the crockpot. It doesn’t mix well otherwise, and might help keep from shocking the good bacteria to death that you’re trying to culture. I used vanilla bean because it’s a neutral flavor that I already had around. After the first time making yogurt, you can use your own yogurt to culture future batches.


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

singinggoatgirl said:


> I used cold vanilla bean yogurt from the fridge the first time. That’s why I temper it with warm milk before putting it in the crockpot. It doesn’t mix well otherwise, and might help keep from shocking the good bacteria to death that you’re trying to culture. I used vanilla bean because it’s a neutral flavor that I already had around. After the first time making yogurt, you can use your own yogurt to culture future batches.


Is your vanilla bean yogurt sweetened? Just curious.


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

Yes. Not the super sweetest yogurt, but it is sweetened.


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

singinggoatgirl said:


> Yes. Not the super sweetest yogurt, but it is sweetened.


I didn’t know it would work with sweetened yogurt!


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

All you need is live and active bacteria. You could buy dried powdered bacterial cultures instead of yogurt someone else made. The sugar in your culture does not change much in my experience.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

@MadHouse, I made yogurt yesterday! I think it went pretty well. It's runnier than I probably want it so next time I might play around with a thickening agent. But it did actually turn into yogurt! Yay! 😃

I used the crock pot method and I found it super easy. I can't wait to try flavoring my yogurt and make it again.😄


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

It is like magic! Like... Aloh hamora, tada!


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## josephgoatlover (Apr 30, 2021)

MellonFriend said:


> Unfortunately, my doe Prim has off tasting milk. I did a lot of research on the forum and I understand that this can be very tough thing to figure out why, but I guess I am hoping to make sure that I'm not doing something wrong without knowing it.
> 
> The taste is very hard to describe. I wouldn't say goaty, salty, or barny. Maybe a bit sour at the end. I tested her for mastitis which she was negative.
> 
> ...


I don't know if you are feeding her black sunflower seeds. I found it had an impact on the milk. When I fed her sunflower seeds, her milk had a nice and sweet taste as first impression, but aftertaste was kind of sour as you described.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

josephgoatlover said:


> I don't know if you are feeding her black sunflower seeds. I found it had an impact on the milk. When I fed her sunflower seeds, her milk had a nice and sweet taste as first impression, but aftertaste was kind of sour as you described.


I am feeding sunflowerseeds, but her milk actually tastes great now. I think it was probably a mineral deficiency she was dealing with. Thanks for the suggestion though. 😉


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