# How long does your milk stay fresh?



## Coyote Night Acres

Last spring we started milking for the first time. We picked up some great tips for sanitizing the buckets and jars and to cool the milk quickly. However our milk only stayed fresh for 3 days and on the 4th day you knew you better drink it that day or throw it out cause at the end of the 4th day it would start to get a cheesey taste to it if that makes since. This was our routine:

clean the udder
milk the first three squirts in a dixie cup and toss
milk into a sanitized stainless steel pale (sanitized with clorox and water)
Put a lid on
clean udder again and put some udder butter on the doe
Take milk to the house
strain it into glass canning jars
label jars 
put in freezer for 1-2 hours to cool quickly
sanitize all the milk equipment again
Then transfer the jars over to the fridge

So how long does your milk usually stay fresh for? What do you do to get it to stay fresher longer? Is there anything I can change about my routine to get longer freshness out of my milk? We'll be starting up again in February with milking and have a regular milk customer already lined up. I want to perfect my milking routine before I sell it so what tips can yall give me? :help:


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## goathappy

Customers have told us our milk lasts for about 10 days before it gets a taste to it.

The only thing I see wrong with your list is the cooling part; instead of putting it in the freezer(which doesn't really cool it fast enough, sorry) submerse your jars in an ice bath for about 45 minutes. We have clean 5 gallon buckets that we keep in the house and we just put the jars in the buckets with cold water and ice and thats it.


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## Victoria

I have the same problem, so I just rotate my milk in the fridge, on the third day or so, I transfer it into thr freezer for soap, or what ever. I was having a huge problem until I found two buyers for my milk, now I always have fresh milk for me!! :leap:


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## lissablack

I do what Sarah does, and my milk lasts 10 days to two weeks, although I never keep it that long. Milk quality (grades) is determined by how long it takes to chill to 40 degrees, in the freezer it is something like 8 hours. Just putting it in the refrigerator it takes nearly a day. In a bucket of ice water it is 30 minutes to an hour, depending on if you swilrl the milk and ice water around or not (I don't) and how cold the ice water gets (how much ice you have).

Jan


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## fcnubian

We have had goat milk in the fridge for about 2wks....I was quite surprised when it was still good! Obviously I forgot about it. lol :GAAH:


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## nancy d

Raw milk should last a good 9 days. If you put your jars in the freezer before milking this should help.
You might want to also check the temp of fridge itself. Yrs ago I had one that leaked water in the bottom...milk only lasted about 3 days.


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## Coyote Night Acres

Thanks everyone
I'm writing this stuff down so I can make these changes to my routine before I sell the milk. I'll be milking again at the end of January and really appreciate all your input. :applaud:


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## Coyote Night Acres

:stars: Got some exciting news! We started milking a couple FF's a couple weeks ago, we started chilling the milk in the ice bath and today is at least 7 days the milk has been in the fridge if not 8 or 9 (forgot to put a sticker with the date on it :doh Anyway the milk still tastes great  No cheesey taste or anything. Wooohooo! I just had to share because this is a huge improvement from last year where at the end of the 3rd day you better get it drank or it won't be good the next day. I did as you all suggested by cooling in the ice bath and voila problem solved. I'm gonna start keeping jars in the freezer as soon as I can get a place cleared out for them in there just to add to the cooling process. Thanks again it's amazing how changing one little thing can make such a big difference. Thank You Guys :grouphug:


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## lissablack

Fantastic! Ice bath! I have developed a routine for having enough ice. It's a pain but it's worth it.

Jan


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## Coyote Night Acres

All the preparations are a hassle sometimes, but way way way worth it. Right now I'm just using my other milk pail to keep ice and cold water in with a quart jar in the middle, but once my next doe freshens I'm going to have to get a 5 gallon bucket for the ice and jars so I can fit more than one in the bucket. I now feel very confident about selling our milk and knowing that it's going to last in the customers fridge for more than 3 days. Wooot Woot


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## Dreamchaser

From the research I have done, I have heard that it is better to milk into a jar with a strainer on it, isurrounded in a bucket full of ice if you can. Supposedly, the flavor is supposed to be better that way. *shrugs* Don't have any goats in milk yet to try it out. I was hoping someone else could tell me.


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## milkmaid

Milk going sour quickly can be a sign of subclinical mastitis. It's something to consider.


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