# Brown sentiment at the bottom of milk jars



## Jesse Johnstone (Sep 13, 2020)

We keep getting a slight brown sentiment at the bottom of our jars. We filter first with a milk filter then a second time through a coffee filter. I'll post a picture. We hand milk two of our goats that are dam raising and machine milk our doe whose kids have left a month ago. Are we just not filtering effectively? The amount of sentiment does vary, but the picture is a typical amount.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

When you milk, do you wash and dry the teats then strip out 4-5 complete streams of milk? (Discard that milk.) That removes any old milk that has been sitting in the teats since the last milking. 
Have you tested for sub clinical mastitis? It doesn't always show as lumps in the milk when it is just getting started. A coffee filter has too wide of mesh. The milk filters have a really tight weave. 
You can buy them at Jeffers, 100 for about $7.00.


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## Jesse Johnstone (Sep 13, 2020)

We do wash and dry teats. Not good about stripping. I'll start that and do a mastitis test this evening. We've tried double filtering with milk both times as well with no luck. We live in a very dusty place. Is it possible that the environmental dust is the culprit or should the filters take care of that? Thanks for your help.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

If it's in the milk, the filters should take care of it. If it's in the air, cap the jar quickly!


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## Michaela Van Mecl (Sep 3, 2018)

Have you tried to narrow it down to see if it is one individual goat that produces the brown sediment at the bottom? Or is it a group collection milk pail?

I've read that a slight bit of blood in the milk can settle out and look brown as it discolors. It can definitely be mastitis, but, it can also be normal udder function according to my reading... especially depending on where that goat is in her post-pregnancy journey and what not. Something about the changes in the udder can cause a tiny bit of blood here and there. If the doe's temp is good, udder feels good, no lumps, and the milk smells and tastes good... I may lean towards figuring out who it's coming from, and seeing how long it lasts. 

Your filtering should be more than sufficient. I do not discard either, pretty bad about it.... but I do prewash and a post spray with UdderBac and milk twice a day.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

When a goat is milked, the teat stays open a while . Spraying something like "Fight Bac" helps close the teat orifice.

But oxygen and some bacteria can get into the teat. That contaminates the milk in the teat, which is why you want to discard that milk. Plus, just grabbing a teat and squeezing, will force bacteria from the teat up into the udder. 

Fore-stripping is pretty important. If it wasn't, I sure wouldn't have to squirt 4 or 5 squirts from each teat on 60-65 does twice a day, before putting a milker on. 
I'm not saying that is why you have sediment, but maybe. 

Try putting each doe's milk in its own jar.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I'm going to guess it's blood. Blood separates from the milk and settles at the bottom after 12 hours or so. If you leave it longer, more blood will settle out. It usually looks reddish brown at first and then turns more brown the longer it sits. Sediment would get caught in your filter but blood goes through with the milk. Milk with blood in the bottom goes to my dogs. Bloody milk can be a sign of subclinical mastitis, or it can be caused by burst capillaries on a doe that is either newly fresh or whose udder is full for the first time after weaning kids. If it's just from burst capillaries then it's nothing to worry about. Her udder will soon grow accustomed to being full and you'll stop seeing blood in the milk.


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