# Bad tasting milk - not mastitis



## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Around mid-January I brought home a new milk doe, a Toggenburg. When I got her she had kidded within the last week or so and her milk still had a slight taste of colostrum, but that went away quickly and for the next couple weeks her milk was creamy and delicious. Then about a month ago I started noticing a funny taste; it got worse quickly. It's almost like the milk is sour, and it feels slimy in my mouth although it doesn't look thicker than usual. It also seems to be slightly off-white. Not at all the salty taste of mastitis, and the California Mastitis Test was negative. I've continued to milk her and hope the taste would go away on it's own but no dice.

She's not eating anything unusual; just grass hay, alfalfa pellets, and all stock (which I just replaced with goat chow for higher protein). I've never given mineral supplements before but just bought a bag of Sweetlix to see if that helps. One site I found said that a lack of cobalt can cause B12 deficiency which might create bitter tasting milk - has anyone experienced this? The Sweetlix has 240 ppm cobalt. 

She is in a dry lot right now so not eating any strange plants; I have caught her chewing on the boards of her shed but she's not eating a large amount of wood and it's not treated AFAIK. The only other thing I can think of is that she contracted sore mouth/orf from another goat around the time that her milk started to go off, but I've found nothing to support the idea that it could be related. Her sores are going away and she's completely healthy otherwise - she's been wormed twice, normal temperature, no signs of anemia, etc.


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## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

Do you copper bolus? I have heard that a copper deficiency can cause bad tasting milk. Even though the CMT says no mastitis I would see if you can have your vet check the milk just in case and check for staph mastitis. With staph the only sign is often just bad tasting milk.


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## Rev144 (Jan 22, 2011)

I have some grass hay that anytime ANY of my goats eat it , it will cause a bad taste in the milk. I am not sure why it does that. It is pretty grass hay and not moldy. 

Can you try a process of elimination and only feed her one thing at a time, then if that is clear, add something else back in, keep doing that until you find out if that is your problem. It takes about 2 to 3 days to get the taste out of them milk once I stop feeding it to them.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Does California Mastitis Test detect subclinical mastitis?
If not, you can try this. I have read of this "home mastitis test" in a couple of different places. I've tried it myself a few times and it was never positive...it is supposed to be pretty accurate, even detecting subclinical mastitis.
Here it is: Mix a little detergent and water in a cup, then add a couple squirts of the milk. If the mixture turns viscous, there is mastitis; if it doesn't, the milk is clean.


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