There sure is an awful lot of great info out there about raw cow’s milk. I think y’all might like to know about goat’s milk too. It’s so good for you and can be used in cooking and to make cheese. Here’s more than you probably wanted to know but sometimes when I get on a roll it’s hard to contain myself. Hope you enjoy.
The flavor and quality of goat milk varies widely depending on the breed of goat and the methods used in the handling of the milk. For these reasons, many folks are a bit leery of giving goats milk a try. However, when raised on quality pasture with lots of attention and care dairy goats can produce some of the best tasting nutritious milk on the market. Nubians are especially known for superior flavor and quality.
The goat milk brands generally found at specialty markets like Whole Foods taste very different from cow milk and can be hard to get used to. Nubian milk on the other hand tastes so similar to cow milk that some of our customers say their children can’t even taste the difference.
Nubians are a particular breed of dairy goats know for their large size, roman noses and beautiful long ears. They produce less than other breeds but their milk is superior in butter fat, nutrition and flavor.
Here’s what Nubians look like.
Nubian goat milk is slightly richer than whole cow milk because it has a high butter fat content. I took this photo of milk from our goats to illustrate the rich butter fat content of Nubian goat milk. As you can see, some of the butter fat rises to the top and can be skimmed off for making butter or stirred down. We just shake the jar and pour. The high concentration of butter fat is actually good for you.
Goat Milk vs Cow Milk Comparison
Goat milk fat has a much higher concentration of medium chain fatty acids (33%) verses cow milk (17%). These fatty acids protect against disease and stimulate the immune system. They contain glycospingolipids which prevent intestinal distress, and conjugated linoleic acid which has strong anticancer properties. (Campaign for Real Milk Web Site a project of The Weston A. Price Foundation – What is Real Milk Web Page).
Compared to cow milk, goat milk provides 13% more calcium, 25% more vitamin B-6, 47% more vitamin A, 134% more potassium and 350% more niacin. Goat milk is also higher in chloride, copper and manganese and contains none of the controversial bovine growth hormone. (GOAT MANAGEMENT: Alternatives in Dairy Goat Product Market By George F. W. Haenlein, Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist University of Delaware)
References obtained from: http://www.fiascofarm.com/dairy/rawmilk.htm#goatmilk
Milking 101
We begin milking our does two weeks after kidding. In the evening we put the kids in a separate stall so their dam’s utters are nice and full the next morning. We milk first thing in the morning and always leave enough for the hungry kids. After milking, we walk the does back to the barn and let their kids out to eat. The herd stays together the rest of the day until we latch the kids up for the night.
It cannot be overstated how important a clean milking environment is. I have outlined the basic steps we go through when milking each day but keep in mind we wash our hands many times during this process and use disinfectants on all surfaces before and after use. Milking equipment is always thoroughly cleaned after each use and sanitized before the next use as shown below. This information is provided for the purpose of illustrating a general outline of how we milk our goats and is not meant to serve as an exhaustive guide for “proper milking procedures.”
Step 1: Prepare Sanitizer
We sanitize our stainless steel milking equipment and our glass milk jars with a bleach water solution. The ratio is 2 tablespoons of bleach to 1 quart of hot water.
Step 2: Sanitize Equipment
The equipment is sanitized with the bleach water solution and rinsed with hot water.
Step 3: Set Up Strainer and Filter
Out in the milk parlor, we set up our sterilized glass jar and stainless steel strainer with filter.
This is what the set up looks like with the filter in place.
At this point we go get our doe from the barn and get her on the milk stand.
Step 4: Wipe Teats
Each doe’s teats are wiped with a disposable sanitizing towel prior to milking.
Step 5: Strip Teats
The first one or two squirts from each teat are removed and discarded.
Step: 6 Trap Milk in Teat
Trapping is achieved by squeezing thumb and index finger together at the top of the teat.
Step 7: Squeeze Milk into Pail
Gentle but firm pressure is applied to the teat with the next three fingers, causing the milk to flow from the teat into the pail.
Steps 6 and 7 are repeated until the doe is finished milking. Then her teats are dipped in a sanitizing solution and allowed to dry before returning her to the barn.
Step 8: Dip Teat
Step 9: Strain Milk
While the doe’s teats are drying we strain the milk into our sterilized glass jar.
Step 10: Record
While the milk is straining, we record production levels.
Step 11: Date and Chill Milk
After straining the milk is dated and rapidly chilled to 38* F.
We thank our does each day for the milk they give us. These lovely creatures give so much more than they receive in life. For this reason we pamper them in every way we know how. Please consider how and where your food comes from and support humane treatment of livestock by buying from responsible animal friendly farmers.
This post is part of the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop hosted by GNOWFGLINS.
JenE
Jul 14, 2010 @ 18:09:53
Great post!! I’m putting saving this to my WAPF folder for when I own goats someday : ).
Jen
Abbey
Jul 14, 2010 @ 18:29:10
We found a local goat farm and have been buying goat’s milk for over a month now. They have several different breeds of goats, but none of them have much butter fat (cream). Thank you for posting the process. As a child, we lived on a cow dairy farm so I sorta remember how it was but it’s great to see your photos and explanation of the steps.
Barbara Grant
Jul 14, 2010 @ 19:41:07
I also have Nubian goats. We love their milk. My sons say it just tastes like milk. I have tasted store bought goat milk. It is not even similar to fresh. Goats convert all carotenes in their diet to vitamin A. Goat milk butter will always be white, therefore. The cream does not rise to the top like cow milk because it does not contain the enzyme that cows have that causes that. Only a little will rise, but, boy is it tasty!!! Sadly, I have to sell my goats due to a change in our lifestyle, but someday I might have them again.
outlawfarmer
Jul 14, 2010 @ 23:05:28
I just love everything about goats including their wonderful milk. It took me the longest time to even try it because I thought it would be funky. How silly. Thanks for reading my blog and for your interesting comments. And to Jen, I really hope you give goats a try one day!
Anita
Jul 15, 2010 @ 01:18:25
Hi outlawfarmer,
I get Anglo Nubian goat milk, & LOVE it:) Great goat-milking primer.
Interesting to hear how it tastes so similar to cow’s milk- our teenagers can’t tell the difference:)
BTW, raw goat’s milk makes the best Kefir.
Tamlynn
Jul 15, 2010 @ 05:03:51
Excellent post! My mom raises Nigerian Dwarf goats and we love visiting her to drink the yummy milk.
Mom
Jul 15, 2010 @ 12:43:30
We have been raising Nigerian Dwarf for some time, and love love love their milk.
It creamy and just makes you feel good after a big drink. I love your sight its great!.
We treat our does and bucks with lots of love because they in turn respond to it, even the goats that are kind of standoffish will come around with good care. Their is nothing sweeter then sitting in my goats pasture and having the girls come up and want to be loved. I also groom them and keep the under coat, some day I want a hat out of their under coat.(Cashmere) won’t that be wonderful. My daughter and I are going to try and make cheese next month, we’ll let you know how it works.
Sincerely a long time goat lover Pam
outlawfarmer
Jul 16, 2010 @ 14:35:46
Hi Mom,
Do you know about http://www.fiascofarm.com? It is a great website about raising dairy goats and has many tips on making cheese. We make cheese a lot because I’m addicted to it. I think direct culturing is the easiest and makes the best tasting chevre. We take our “cheese milk” straight from the goat to the kitchen (without chilling it), stir in the culture and sit it out over night. The next morning, we bag it up and hang it from the cabinet. The whey drips into a bowl on the counter. You can make bread with the whey or feed it to your pets. I would love to hear how your cheese making goes!
outlawfarmer
Jul 18, 2010 @ 01:53:26
I meant to direct you to fiascofarm.com rather than fiasco farms. They are two different sites.
Lacie
Jul 16, 2010 @ 19:15:40
Wow this was a great post. I love how you explained the milking process and showed pictures for each step, very informative. I would love to have access to raw goat’s milk, I think it might be easier for me to find than cow’s milk. Eventually we plan to move out to the country, and we have considered raising our own goats. Thanks for all of the info!
Meagan @ Mutritious Nuffins
Jul 16, 2010 @ 20:52:20
Raw goat milk is delicious.
Alex@amoderatelife
Jul 19, 2010 @ 05:56:17
Wow! what a wicked awesome site! I love the outlaw farmer vibe! Whooo hooo! I also adore your post on goats milk and love that you shared with us how you care for, love and keep your amazing nubian goats. I get raw dairy and have access to goats milk, but because I NEVER liked the goats milk at whole foods, I haven’t tried the goats milk from our farm club. I certainly will ask them what breed they use and then try some! I grabbed your RSS feed and I hope you come visit me at A moderate life. I would also like to share this post with my readers in my thoughts on friday link love next week because I always share cows milk info, and its about time the goat got the focus! 🙂 Thanks again for a great article and take care. Alex
outlawfarmer
Jul 19, 2010 @ 16:32:34
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the good vibes and for reading my blog. Feel free to repost anything on here. I would do that kind of thing more often but I don’t know how to yet.
I’m happy to hear you’re going to give goat milk another try. Let me know how you like it.
LeeAnne Carlson
Aug 11, 2010 @ 15:56:32
I just discovered your blog, how fun! But…the reason your Nubian’s milk tastes as good as it does is their diet, health and general care given to the process–we milk LaManchas, Nubians, Alpines and now some recorded grades and have tasted each on it’s own and in all honesty, once you take into account variations in lactation curves–given the same conscientious care–it all tastes great!
LeeAnne Carlson
Aug 11, 2010 @ 15:58:15
Also…the milk at Whole Foods–has a very high hurdle. The milk is pooled from large farms (less quality control), is homogenized and HTST pasteurized. Perhaps the question isn’t why does it not taste good, but why doesn’t it taste worse than it does?!
outlawfarmer
Aug 12, 2010 @ 15:24:45
Hi LeeAnne,
Thanks for reading my blog and for your great comments. Goats RULE!!!
Lawana M
Mar 13, 2011 @ 20:13:57
I enjoyed your posts. I have been dairying with a small heard of Lamancha/Nubian/oberhasli cross goats for about 6 years now. I am having to stop keeping goats for a season. (Health and lifestyle interference that I hope is temporary). I am looking for a homesteading family who might be interested in this kind hearted, gentle natured group of goats. They are smaller (I bred for that) with 2nd freshening production around a gallon a day. These goats are guaranteed to win the hearts of the right family and make lots of milk on good alfalfa hay. I can’t afford to give them away, but to the right person or family, I could let them go at a sacrifice. They are not certified organic, but raised holistically . Thanks for helping folks get raw milk in Montana!
mirandasoap
May 05, 2011 @ 14:37:25
Thanks so much for this great post! I just posted about goat’s milk, but lacked the excellent info you provided. Thanks so much.
My husband and I will be raising goats in the next few years: our breed of choice is Kinders. Nubians crossed with Pymies. We’ll also be adding a sheep and a Pygora goat eventually for fiber. The Kinders give a lot of milk and have the qualities of high butter fat from their Nubian lineage, with the smaller body size of the Pygmies and high yield of meat when slaughtered. We’re totally stoked!
Bookmarking this page!
mirandasoap
May 05, 2011 @ 14:37:52
PS, please visit my other site: AnAustinHomestead.blogspot.com.
outlawfarmer
May 05, 2011 @ 15:42:33
Hi Miranda! Thanks for your comments. I must admit I can’t imagine life without my goats. They are loud moths though and always getting into mischief. Good luck with the Kinders. I look forward to reading about them on your blog.
Jill @ The Prairie Homestead
May 05, 2011 @ 17:42:36
A very helpful and informative post!! We have a herd of dairy goats and I love goat’s milk. I also love surprising people who think that all goat’s milk is disgusting. The look on their faces is priceless when they take their first sip and realize that… well, it tastes like… milk!
outlawfarmer
May 05, 2011 @ 17:45:38
It took me at least a year to try milk from our goats. How silly is that? Now I can’t imagine life without it. Thanks for your comment.
Kerri
May 05, 2011 @ 19:14:29
What a wonderful post! We have two Alpine/Nubian crosses and two Nigerian dwarfs. At present we also have 5 babies from the Alpine/Nubians. Lots of goat loving going on here! One thing I have not made yet, is cheese. The only goat cheese I’ve tasted has that ‘goaty’ taste to it. DOes your cheese have that goatiness to it? I can’t stand that taste, and therefore have not embarked on cheese making.
Blessings,
Kerri
outlawfarmer
May 05, 2011 @ 19:35:54
Hello Kerri, to answer your very important question, no my cheese doesn’t have a goaty taste (although I like goaty cheese) I use a chevre culture I ordered from Hoegger. I pour a half gallon jar of milk right from the goat, which should be around 102 or so degrees, into a sanitized pyrex bowl and sprinkle in the correct amount of chever culture. Then I cover the bowl with a glass lid and let it sit at room temp overnight. The next morning, using a cheese cloth lined colander I drain the curds, pouring them into the cheese cloth. Then I tie the ends of the cloth together and hang it from the handle of one of my upper cabinets, letting the whey drip into a bowl placed under the hanging curds. I give it a few hours to drain, take it out of the cloth and season with cheese salt and sometimes herbs. If you like the way the milk from your goats tastes, you should enjoy this kind of cheese. Sometimes its the culture used that gives goat cheese (or any kind of cheese for that matter) a strong taste/distinctive flavor.
Kerri
May 06, 2011 @ 22:01:58
Oh thank you!!! I was worried about wasting that amount of milk, only to have ‘unfit’ cheeese! Right now we are only milking in the morning and the kids are on during the days. We get almost three quarts from our two goats. That may seem like a lot, but with 9 family members….it goes quick!!! All my kids LOVE, love, love our goat milk.
Kerri
Mindy
May 05, 2011 @ 21:22:56
Very informative – thank you! I would love to have a dairy cow someday, but goats seem like they would be more manageable to start off with for some reason. And hey, we could always have goats and cows, right? Anyways, I am bookmarking this for future reference. Thanks again! Mindy
chris jones
Mar 02, 2012 @ 01:54:22
Thank you kindly for your informative article. The family and I are hoping to get a few nubian goats in the very near future regardless what any ‘authoritative’ stance our region takes. Big brother can suck my ass! Any how, I noticed that you are using bleach as a sterilizer. Doing some research on other topics it has come to my attention that a superior cleaner and less harmful alternative to bleach would be ‘food grade’ peroxide. As the peroxide actually just dissipates to water.Not having done what you do,yet, I was wondering if this is a worthwhile alternative? I also would like to know how you feel about the use of ‘food grade’ shell flour for the goats? This product is an excellent anti-parasite agent , anti-caking agent, and all around great product.We use it for our chickens,pets and even ourselves. I would love to know how someone who keeps goats feels about these ideas as I do plan on getting some goats very soon. Your input would be greatly appreciated as you are already actively involved in raising these beautiful creatures.I would contact a local ministry of agriculture extension agency for their input but they are generally just another typical government agent- conspiring,maligning,treasonous,seditious, treacherous, parasitic lot of human garbage! Thank you kindly for your time and the wonderful article. OUTLAWS TILL DEATH!!!1%
outlawfarmer
Mar 05, 2012 @ 15:38:13
Hi Chris,
Thanks for taking time to read my blog and for your thoughtful comment. I hate to say it, but I don’t have any experience with ‘food grade’ peroxide or with ‘food grade’ shell flour. I would say to use whatever you are most comfortable with and what works best for your herd. You’ve got to be able to afford your preferred methods and have a ready supply of whatever you are using to maintain your farming enterprise. Sometimes I just go with what the dollar store and co-op have cause its convenient, affordable and I don’t have to have anything shipped to my front door. That’s just me though and why my methods sometimes aren’t the most environmentally sensitive approaches. I do like to think about better ways, less harmful ways, to live on earth and improve my techniques so thank you for those suggestions!
meg
Mar 30, 2012 @ 20:09:37
Thank you for your information. We are trying to become as self-sufficient as possible. We bought a couple goats last fall and bred them but of course have no idea if it took or not. They are due in about 5 weeks. One looks like she might be prego, the other I have NO idea. I’m soo hoping they are pregnant so we can begin our goat milk consumption. I was really surprised that it tasted JUST LIKE cows milk, maybe even a bit better! And I want some baby goats around too 🙂
Jill
Jul 09, 2012 @ 14:31:43
Would you have a bit to talk about what you feed your goats??
outlawfarmer
Jul 14, 2012 @ 23:43:49
Sure. I feed hay and a mixture of:16% grain, beet pulp, sunflower seeds, and alfalfa pallets. Plus free choice minerals and various treats like proboitics and nutridrench.