Dairy goats - browse and milk flavor?

[LizFM]

I am still in the 'goat investigation' stage. There is one specific topic I don't see addressed directly...and that is "if you specifically want the milk to be good for *drinking* (not cheese, soap, lotion, etc), what do you need to know/do about browse and milk flavor?"

I know that strongly flavored milk can be dependent on the individual goat, whether the milk is cooled down immediately after milking, etc. I know that for cheese making a lot of people *want* strongly flavored milk to make the cheese taste stronger. And everybody knows that if Bossy or Nanny gets into the wild onions the milk is gonna be fit for nothing but "green onion flavored cheese" or dip ...

Everyone I've spoken to stresses high quality hay and grains for their dairy goats. I get that. But so far I've seen little if any discussion on whether/how much browse effects milk taste. Specific plants to avoid. Plants to encourage. General info. Do people just not let their goats out in the pasture when they specifically want milk for drinking? (that seems unproductive)

At the moment we live in Arizona, so most people here seem to have either dry lots or scrubby looking 'pasture' (just desert brush plants, no grass) unless they have irrigated pastures (usually just grass for horse properties). The desert southwest is so much better ecologically suited to support goats than cows, but all the info I seem to find on goat dairies in the region are people producing cheese or soap, so they don't talk about milk flavor and browse. (as an aside, it's very frustrating that milk sales from producer to end consumer are so over regulated!)

DH grew up on a dairy farm (cow) and we farmed with them (I milked) the first 10 years we were married. I see lots of information everywhere about how to manage pastures for cows as *grazing* dairy animals. But I don't see much, or am not looking in the right place, on what is important to know about *browse* ...how to manage a pasture for browsing by dairy goats (for optimal milk taste).

Oh, and while I live in AZ at the moment, there is a small chance that we will return the the family farm I referred to, which is in the midwest, so I'm interested in general info and not *only* in AZ desert specific stuff...

Thanks

 

[ksalvagno]

Different types of browse can definitely flavor the milk. Alfalfa hay is a great one for sweet tasting milk. Goat pellets also won't flavor the milk. My goats are out on pasture but it is mainly grass so that also doesn't flavor the milk.

 

[Queen Mum]

I'm currently in Texas. My dairy goats get to browse on the desert Cedar and the live oak here. My Mama has yet to let me down. I like her milk and I drink it, and make cheese with it. She eats pine, cedar, grass, live oak and whatever else she can find. Cedar makes the milk sweet! Then they are fed hay and the usual other stuff. Wild herbs are pretty much what will flavor milk. So if the herb has a very strong smell the goats milk MAY take on a slight scent, but actually the goats will usually avoid bad smelling herbs. They prefer sweet herbs and that means, in general, sweet milk. The worst thing for goats milk is being around a buck.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

There is 1 goat feed(pellet) that will affect the flavor of the milk, Noble Goat. We found that our doe's milk had a back of the throat taste like raw almonds when she was on Noble Goat, 24 hrs after being off Noble Goat her milk tasted normal again. We think it is the cocci medication in the feed that was messing with the flavor of her milk.

 

[Chaty]

I agree with Queen as mine go out to browse each day and havent had any problems with my milk being off tasting. Most wont eat bad weeds unless its all they have.

 

[LizFM]

Thanks everyone! I just thought it was a little odd that most books/websites/whatever will talk about hay and grain and mention that if goats get into certain plants it will flavor the milk...but when it comes to grazing, for dairy goats, mostly all they say is "goats are browsers rather than grazers"...well, yeah I understand that but it doesn't help me figure out what I need to know about proper pasturage

In Arizona, for instance, there might be a lot of creosote bush, palo verde, mesquite...but I never see mention of them as goat browse for a dairy goat. I know lots and lots of dairy goat folks in NM and AZ have their goats browse anything and everything, but it seems like they almost universally sell soaps or cheese, not fluid milk, so I didn't know if taste was affected or not.

 

[wannacow]

Hoegger's sent out a list of plants not to let the goats eat as it flavors the milk. 1 of the plants was honeysuckle. My goats LOVE honeysuckle and we didn't notice the flavor of the milk change. We enjoyed the milk all summer. DH likes it better than cow milk now. My goats didn't have access to onions, though.

 

[Queen Mum]

Onions - wild ones, affect the taste of milk. Garlic has the same effect. Actually anything in the allium family affects the taste of milk. It seems strong flavored herbs can have an effect on milk but goats aren't prone to eat large quantities of any herbs OTHER than onions.

OK, they will eat garlic, but not that much, that I know of.