[tizaala]

I am sure I have read something about the cause of that recently here but cannot remember where. Can anybody enlighten me PLEASE!!!!

[Rosemary]

It's cause it comes from goats, silly 

[tizaala]

Thanks for enlightening and educational reply Rosemary. I think what the missus meant was at the moment it is particularly 'goaty' , the billies are not kept next to the nannies, and they are all grazed in well separated paddocks, the paddocks were all limed a couple of months ago so the grass and thistles should be sweet enough, there has been no changes to their diets apart from seasonal ones. The milk has not tasted this strong ever before .
So now you know tizaala's dirty little secret, split personality or schizophrenia, or just the two of us?

[wytsend]

Basically this awful taste is casued by a shortage of cobalt.

Unfortuantely cobalt boluses are either no longer available or difficult to get hold of because it is being withdrawn from animal feed.

The alternative is very high levels of B12 which the goats synthesize into accesible cobalt.

I will call you later on.... I have a solution.

[Rosemary]

Thanks for enlightening and educational reply Rosemary.

You're welcome - I'm always keen to offer any assistance short of actual help 

[egglady]

Basically this awful taste is casued by a shortage of cobalt.

Unfortuantely cobalt boluses are either no longer available or difficult to get hold of because it is being withdrawn from animal feed.

The alternative is very high levels of B12 which the goats synthesize into accesible cobalt.

I will call you later on.... I have a solution.

can you tell me the 'solution' as well please wytsend?

[wytsend]

Give me a call on 01647 231456 & I will explain what is available.

Bit difficult to describe here at the moment as it I am assisting with a product suitable for goats that will prevent this happening.

[jaykay]

What do you do with the milk straight after milking?
I've found it if goes immediately into the freezer to chill, it's fine, if I leave it while I finish other jobs, it can taste goaty

[mmu]

The faster you chill the milk the less time any organisms in the milk have to multiply.  We used to put out milk in a small churn and put a hose onto a cold tap one end and wrap the other end around the churn. The piece around the churn had small holes drilled in ti so the water cascaded around the churn and chilled the milk inside very quickly.  It could then be stored in the fridge, or frozen for sale. We called this hose with holes in a sparge ring, very easy to make yourself.

[Anke]

If you never had this problem before, and you haven't changed their feed and you have billies on the holding (even not in close contact) I would certainly think your goaty milk (at this time of the year!) is connected to the girls coming into season... I would be careful to introduce any significant mineral doses if you have not needed them before, and discuss with your vet if the problem persists. There was a good discussion thread on this problem a while back on the BGS forum, I cannot remember all of it, the jist is though that you need to test the milk from individual goats and make sure to keep goaty milk separately - it is still perfectly ok for other livestock or kids (of the caprine variety). It may be just one of your milkers who has that problem, and mixing the milk from several spoils all of it.

My GG's have been in season, although not obviously so, only had a significant and very rapid drop in milk yield, which has recovered since. No goaty taste though, I have no male on the holding.