Off-Flavor Goat's Milk

I'm on a mission. A fairly important one too. We've recently experienced an off-flavor developing in the milk of our dairy goat doe. If this milk were to be my first impression of goat's milk, I too would be one of the many that balk at drinking goat's milk due to an unusual taste. It is even obvious when combined with espresso in my morning mocha. We are currently only milking one doe, an Oberhasli, who started off our milking season with her characteristically wonderful, sweet milk. But over the course of the last week, the flavor has changed. Now to figure out why.

A little research indicates a few basic reasons as to why this could be. It is interesting to note that an article in the Tri-County Goat Newsletter published by the University of California Cooperative Extension, Tulare County ranks possible flavor offenders as 80% feed related, 5% due to oxidation, 5% rancidity, 3% from chemical residues, 3% related to hygiene, and 4% from other causes. Here is the list I formulated to research the possible cause in our case:

1. Keeping a buck on the premises - No buck here, so ruled that out.

2. Bacteria laden milk - Performed California Mastitis Test, and all clear.

3. Unsanitary milking conditions - I personally perform the milking and know that the udder is being cleaned, the milking is done into a sanitized pail, and promptly cooled in a glass container.

4. Foodstuff that is imparting a distinctive flavor - Several weeks ago we did purchase some local hay to supplement on normal Eastern Oregon orchard hay which was of a lesser quality than the does are normally accustomed to. Suspect #1



5. Possible vitamin B-12 cobalt deficiency - Possibility although we do provide goat-specific free choice minerals. Suspect #2

6. Administration of routine vaccinations or antibiotics - Nothing here

7. Too early in lactation cycle and milk includes colostrum - This would be the doe's fourth month of lactation.

8. Chemical residual - We did recently worm her with Eprinex which does have a zero day milk withdrawal, but perhaps there is a possibility there. The timing did coincide somewhat with the off taste. Suspect #3

9. Residual tastes in milking/storage containers - Due to research I came across today, I just started using a dairy quality acid detergent to remove any possibility of off flavor associated with milkstone in our stainless milking pails. Suspect #4

10. Toggenburg breeds known for stronger tasting milk - This is an Oberhasli doe and her milk has always been acceptable in the past.

11. Unpleasant ambient odors can impart off flavor within 15 minutes of milking just by being inhaled by the doe - Not in conjunction with the off taste but because of pen switching, I have started to milk this doe on an outside stanchion as opposed to in the barn but the taste was present before and after this move.



Another interesting bit of information from the Tri-County Goat Newsletter was defining the unpleasant taste of the milk - rancid, bitter, strong, minty. This I am finding hard to categorize in our case. The closest descriptive term might be rancid, I believe, which is said to resemble a bitter, soapy taste. Perhaps not using an acid detergent did leave behind residue that has been affecting the milk as a cause for rapid deterioration of the milk.

In other words, I have four different suspects as outlined above. Being a scientific minded person, I plan on:

1. Checking milk taste now that stainless pails have been sanitized with acid detergent. Also tasting the milk immediately after milking will determine if milking containers, our cooling process, storage jars, or shelf life are affecting the taste.

2. Comparing taste of milking doe's milk to that of other does still with kids to see if the unpleasant taste is there as well indicating that it could be their intake of the different hay. I will also compare the milk taken before feeding in the a.m. to that taken in the p.m. after feeding.

3. Purchasing B vitamins in injectible form to combat any potential deficiency, and reviewing mineral content of their supplement.

4. And lastly, if the taste suddenly dissipates regardless of the above, perhaps residual from the wormer was the cause.

Stay tuned...and wish me luck. I miss my morning goat milk latte!

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