# weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is yuck



## Coyote Night Acres

So we haven't been selling milk lately because of all the kids that we are feeding and the fact that we cut the herd way back. Anyway one of the doe's we sold had horrible milk, undrinkable bitter. The new family that bought her found this out when they started to milk her and drink the milk. I didn't have any idea what might have caused it, but decided to pull a kid from another doe for the night just to test her milk. Wow :shocked:  same thing and I know these does don't have mastitis the milk is fine, the udder is fine and they have been fresh for 2 months. I'm feeding Noble Goat dairy parlor 16 and they are out to browse on the pasture 24/7 So now I'm turning to the pasture for an explanation. The bottom side of the pasture has a patch of weird almost onion grass, except it doesn't smell or taste like onions. The rest of the pasture is mostly white clover and fescue with what I think is some crab grass. As far as weeds go I never see any, because the goats are so good at weed control. Their is a few cedar trees in the pasture also that the goats have cleared as far up as they can reach. 

I need some help here. The kids are drinking it, but it's not fit for humans. :shrug:


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## liz

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

It may be helpful to eliminate their pasture time for a few days and feed hay instead to see if there is a difference in flavor.
Also, when milking...do you cover the pail when done and get it chilled quickly? I myself have noticed the fats in my does milk looking almost like oil bubbles floating on the top if I don't get it cold enough quick enough...that milk does tend to have a different taste so I use it for soap.


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## Goat Song

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

What breed is she? The European breeds (such as the Saanen, Toggenburg and Oberhasli) tend to have stronger tasting milk. My Saanen cross doe that I have gives REALLY bitter milk. It is just plain bad. I can't even convince my bottle baby goats to drink it.  But I love that goat, so I use her milk to make soap.

Sorry you are having so much trouble with her milk. It is always so hard when you get a new goat and then find out that their milk is not what it should be!


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## StaceyRosado

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

Can't be your pasture if the new owners are having the same issues.

Handling of the milk was always my issue. Chilling immediately solved the problem

The other poster is right different breeds have the potential for stronger tasting milk. Changing to alfalfa can also play a part.


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## Saanens N Alpines

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

My Saanen and Saanen cross have mild, wonderful tasting milk. They all eat the same things, and milk is handled the same. My new Alpine's milk has been strong and not good at all. I have been feeding it to the bottle baby and drinking the Saanen milk!


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## Goat Song

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *



> My Saanen and Saanen cross have mild, wonderful tasting milk. They all eat the same things, and milk is handled the same. My new Alpine's milk has been strong and not good at all. I have been feeding it to the bottle baby and drinking the Saanen milk!


Lucky you... :wink: I love the way Saanens look, and have tried keeping a few, but their milk just didn't taste the same as my Nubians (obviously, there is a difference in Butterfat %. But still...) I had an Oberhasli a couple years ago, and I LOVED her! She was so sweet; but again, we couldn't get past the bitter, mastitis tasting milk (she didn't have mastitis and had never had it before), so back she went to the breeder.  I think it just depends on the individual goat. I think Alpines tend to be really variable. Some give excellent milk (I had a wonderful Alpine doe once) and others, like yours, don't do so well...


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## Coyote Night Acres

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

She is a sannan Alpine cross and the other doe that we sold was a purebred Alpine. Both first fresheners. After about a week being at the new owners place the Alpine started improving a lot. So has to be something they were eating here. I haven't collected milk for taste test again, but i'm not sure it would be any different. Pulling them up to dry lot isn't an option right now either due to our hay situation and finances.

So if I were to look at the pasture. Anyone had tainted milk from white clover? how about fescue or crabgrass? I'm thinking I can rule those out, but want to check first.


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## comingsummers

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

Well my poor girls are always on drylot because the only other option here would be sagebrush for browsing, and that's not going to happen, I can't imagine how aweful that milk would taste. So, that being said, I have noticed that goats who are on pasture can sometimes get a grassy taste to their milk. I think the same is true of cows, but goats a little more so. I'm not sure if it's a particular grass or weed, or just how certian goats metabolize what they eat. The other food related thing that I have noticed is that when my girls start needing copper their milk will taste a little off, so that might be something to consider. Also, like everybody else is saying, evaluate your milk handling. That can play a big part in flavor. I hope you get it figured out!


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## lesserweevil

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

I dont think white clover should be an issue - there is clover in my goats' fields and their milk is sweet.

LW


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## Coyote Night Acres

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

I don't think it's my milk handling. I'm very picky about the quality of milk humans drink. Sanitized equipment, ice bath to chill quickly etc.... Plus last year I had no problems with my milk taste. I keep going back to this weird onion grass looking stuff. It's not onion grass and it likes really wet areas, only growing in the low spots that hold water. I noticed this stuff all around a pond we went to fish at yesterday. So it likes water for sure. I think if I can get some dirt brought in to fill in the low spots it should take care of it. Last year didn't have this problem, but it's been a wet year this year.

I get it figured out sooner or later I guess.


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## lesserweevil

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

could it be wild garlic? that stuff is really strong smelling!!! looks a bit like tulip leaves

LW


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## Amos

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

Wild onions, leeks, chives, garlic, etc. all have a distinct flavor. Perhaps you should go out and nibble on a plant a little? Can you take a picture of it for us? That would help ID it. Crabgrass, clover, and fescue won't affect the taste of the milk like that, so you can rule those out.


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## jduwall

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

my mom is having the same trouble with her Alpine...Her milk last year was wonderful, this year..not su much. it has also been very wet here. she is also not eating any grain(well very little) she is so thin...bless her heart..she has triplets on her too...they are almost weaned thank goodness...but now her milk is nasty...rough year for mom...


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## GoatJoy

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

When I want to drink the goat milk, I put the girls up in a pen that has been recently mowed and I put hay in there along with fresh water. I also make sure that I milk them completely out that night and then in the morning I know they havent eaten anything but what I've fed them. Then I give them sweet grain along with some alfalpha pellets to eat while I milk them. this really seems to help because the weeds in our area are uncontrollable. We have that silverleaf nightshade stuff and milk weed everywhere. I've been pulling it up as much as I can, but they still get a hold of stuff that tastes nasty in the milk. One of my does is an oberhasli/togg/saneen mix too. Her milk tastes great when handled properly and when I keep her away from the pasture for a spell. Good luck :thumbup:


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## Itchysmom

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

I hope you find out the culprit that is making your milk taste off.

I hope you don't mind if I butt in here! My pasture has alot of St Johns Wort...will that taint the molk and make it nasty tasting?


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## Amos

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

St. John's Wort shouldn't affect the milk.. I'm actually envious, I can't find that anywhere. It's a great medicinal herb.

After some thinking and the mention of wetlands, is it perhaps crab/couch/witch grass? Or maybe cat tails?


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## Goat Song

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

Yup, the St. John's wort shouldn't affect the milk taste. We are utterly swamped with the lovely herb during summertime, so Amos, you just need to take a little road trip our way if ya' want some! :wink:

I don't think the crab/couch grass would have an effect either; half of our pasture is entirely that kind of grass, and our milk tastes fine.

Lesserweevil, your tulip leaf shaped mystery plant sounds pretty suspicious... If you catch your goats munching on that, you might have your answer there.


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## Amos

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is *

Ugh. Wanna dig some up and mail it to me? Please?

And I definitely agree, most of our pasture is crab grass and our milk tastes fine, I don't know where I was going with that.. Cat tails shouldn't have that affect either.

LWE, garlic smelling tulip leaf shaped plant.. Sounds like leeks to me. And I'm completely envious, again. Why can't I have leeks and St. John's wort??


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## liz

*Re: weeds pasture plants that taint milk. Help this milk is*



lesserweevil said:


> could it be wild garlic? that stuff is really strong smelling!!! looks a bit like tulip leaves
> 
> LW


We have a wild oinion type plant here thats plentiful in Spring called "Ramps"...very similar to a leek.


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## julia

my doe had a bad taste in her milk for months 
tried by process of elimination all sorts of things
in the end a vitamin B injection and a 
tiny daily ration of Cobalt in her food did the trick.
also, half a teaspoon of brewers yeast in her food has done her well.
it took her a few weeks to get used to the brewers yeast though, but now she does not mind


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## starrlinn

Julia, 

Where do you get Cobalt and how to you administer it? Same for the B injection and brewers yeast? I'm having the same problem.

Thanks


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## Di

You can get B-complex at your farm supply store. You should have that on hand, anyway. Are they still eating the Cedar trees? That would be my guess. Lucy Alpine was eating the arborvitae trees near our pasture fence. Her milk last year was a little "off" tasting. Hope it's better with her on the other side.


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