# Nigerian Dwarf Milk- Taste?



## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

I have raised goats. I never got to milking them, but I had bucks and I can't imagine ever liking the taste of goat's milk. I have tried store-bought goats milk and gagged and gagged. Smelled like my giant nubian buck that used to rub and rub on me while I fed them, after peeing all over his beard. 
Now I'm easing back into the idea of goats, for milking this time. But I'm worried about the taste of the milk. Someone set my mind at ease and tell me that, while extra creamy (I actually want this) it tastes wonderful! Please?


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

The store bought milk is damaged by rough handling. Goat milk deteriorates with vibration!

Nigerian Dwarf milk is HEAVEN compared to that. Creamy, sweet. You'll love it!


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## LearningLife (Aug 11, 2010)

I have never been much of a milk fan. Growing up, we always drank 2% or skim at our house. I just never found the appeal. Now that we raise and milk our Nigerian Dwarfs, I actually like milk. It's rich, sweet and creamy. DH, who has always liked milk, loves our goat milk. There is no goaty flavor. The milk is collected and handled properly and chilled promptly. It is so much better than store-bought milk of any kind!


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## mrs.H (Mar 6, 2003)

My ND's milk is like extra whole milk, if that makes sense. We use her milk for our coffee creamer. If we drink it straight it leaves a coat on our tongue. It tastes fine, just too creamy for our tastes. 

Our alpine however, is sweet and lite. It's our drinking and cereal milk. It's perfect. It's some where between 2% and whole milk with a little sweetness. 

Our buck is running with our does now for an early kidding season. Him being in there with them does not affect the flavor at all.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Store bought goats milk is DISGUSTING. This coming from someone who LOVES goat milk!

If, for some terrible reason, I have to actually BUY milk from the store for our use, I buy whole cow milk. I do NOT buy goat milk from the store. UGH! It tastes like a cross between a buck in rut and a bottle of bleach!

That being said, I have had NDs, and I have Minis, and I have standard goats. To me (someone who grew up on whole milk and never could stand anything with less fat), ND milk tastes like light cream, Mini goat milk tastes like half-n-half, and Alpine milk tastes like milk. (This does vary, depending. I currently have an Alpine FF whose milk is more like a Mini.)

BUT.... my milk is not pumped through tubes, pasteurized to make feces contamination harmless, then trucked (being shaken all the way) to a bottling plant, where it is forced through more tubes into bottles, then trucked again to a store. All of this handling, bouncing, and shaking damages both the protein and lipid strands, causing both the smell and flavor to deteriorate and causes it to taste "goaty". Ewwwwww.

Your milk, from your goats, handled carefully, cleanly, and lovingly, should taste wonderful.


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## dbarjacres (Feb 2, 2004)

Nigerian milk here. I used to drink whole milk from the tank when i was raised on the dairy cattle farm. I call skim milk bulk tank wash. 1% isn't much better. 2% or whole is best. Nigie milk is between whole and cream and sweet and mild. I've tasted store goat milk and gag...tastes like they washed a buck in the tank! I've just purchased and milked for the house for the first time tonite a 82% lamancha 18% nigerian. Looks alot "thinner" which is what I wanted for my drinking milk. Fingers crossed it tastes good tomorrow!


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

We drink a lot of milk between dh & myself & our goats milk is as good if not better than any store cow's milk. I am really going to miss it while she's dry this winter & after I run out of all the milk I've been saving up in the freezer is gone.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I've never tasted store bought goats milk, but my niggies give me wonderful, sweet and creamy milk. It's been such a blessing to me because I'm lactose intolerant and can't drink cows milk, but have no problem at all with my our goat's milk.


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## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

Well this is very good to hear! Thank you! Yes, store bought goat milk does taste like buck+bleach. Gag! I KNEW fresh raw GM couldn't taste that bad, but was still afraid of the buck taste.

We drink sheep milk now (Fresians), and it is very heavy in the cream dept. I adore making my own butter, and would love to get a separator for butter, so high cream is great here. 

My biggest concern was not even so much the drinking of the milk, but fermenting it. We make yogurt and kefir, and it really brings out the "off" flavors inherent in the milk (you can taste the slightest hint of something that makes you smell sheep poop, kwim?). This makes me worry that fermenting/culturing goat milk will bring out the "goatiness." I think goat's cheese tastes like this (HORRIBLE!), so I'm terribly worried that using the milk for anything other than drinking fresh is out of the question. Thoughts?


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## Ford Zoo (Jan 27, 2012)

I have ND's here and love the milk. My yogurt does have just a tad more flavor than drinking the raw milk, but the farmer cheese and kefir I make is wonderful. And I can't keep the family away when I make creamy soups out of fresh milk. While I havn't made any other cheese, I do think that artesian goat cheeses made on the farm and not from shipped milk at a dairy processor is also delicious compared to the goat cheese bought at the grocery store. Those definatly taste "goaty".

Give it a try, I think you'll be hooked!


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Remember that grocery store goat cheese is made from that same bucky bleach milk that they sell. Commercial cheeses are made from commercial milk.

We make a lot of yogurt here, as DH would live on the stuff if I let him. Ours has a flavor reminiscent of cream cheese. 

I have REALLY tried to make hard cheese out of goat milk, but no one here will let the stuff AGE! I go to do a brushing on it, or whatever my recipe calls for, and find the stuff GONE.

My last experiment, using Flora Danica culture and fresh herbs, lasted 4 whole days. I went to get it out, to see how much it was sweating, and it wasn't there.  I asked my DH about it and all he said was, "I really hope you remember how you made that; it was terrific!"

You should ask Pony about the sacred use of goat butter.


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## TriWinkle (Oct 2, 2011)

Do any of you pasteurize? If not, why not? Would doing so affect flavor?


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## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

I would not pasteurize because pasteurized milk is not healthy, while raw milk is healthy. Francis M. Pottenger, MD - Weston A Price Foundation


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## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

Yay! It didn't really occur to me that the goat's cheese I'd tried was made from the same nasty milk. I'm so glad to hear it. Alright. That's it. I'm going to go check out 2 ND does tomorrow. Thanks, you enablers!


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Some folks pasteurize, some don't.

I don't pasteurize. I have tested, disease-free goats, and I am OCD about milking cleanliness and handling. Also, pasteurized milk tastes "cooked" to me, and pasteurization destroys some of the enzymes that help digest milk and milk products, as well as damaging protein and lipid strands. I feel that healthy goats make healthy milk, and I don't wish to heat-damage the health benefits away.

Those are my reasons. Other folks have other reasons for why they DO pasteurize.

My opinion is that it is an individual choice whether or not a person wishes to use raw milk for themselves and/or their family. Each person should read the available literature on the subject and make an informed choice that is right for them.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

When I tried store bought goats milk, it tasted and smelled like rotten meat 

Ive been wary of trying goat anything that was in the store


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## Dreamgoat Annie (Nov 28, 2011)

I don't like store-bought cow milk, never have, even as a child. Now milk from my Nubians? It's ambrosia! There is *no* comparison between the two.

Sue


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## LoneStrChic23 (Jul 30, 2010)

Can't drink store bought goat milk or stomach store bought goat cheese, but I love fresh goat's milk!

Make sure you're drinking milk from healthy animals, and sanitation is top priority!

Keep hair around udder trimmed, wash udder & hands before milking. Use only sterilized glass or seamless stainless steel to milk into & store milk. Filter milk & then chill rapidly.

"goaty" is my top most hated flavor or all time so I'm VERY sterile in my milking practices & I handle my milk gently so I have a long shelf life....

I LOVE Nigerian milk... It's almost like a dessert! If I could tolerate their tiny size & cramped space between udder & bucket under those lil legs, I'd have several of them, but my back can't take it & my hands are too big.

Have fun goat shopping, can't wait to see pics of your new lil ones (you are bringing them home right?!)


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

gabbyraja said:


> Well this is very good to hear! Thank you! Yes, store bought goat milk does taste like buck+bleach. Gag! I KNEW fresh raw GM couldn't taste that bad, but was still afraid of the buck taste.
> 
> We drink sheep milk now (Fresians), and it is very heavy in the cream dept. I adore making my own butter, and would love to get a separator for butter, so high cream is great here.
> 
> My biggest concern was not even so much the drinking of the milk, but fermenting it. We make yogurt and kefir, and it really brings out the "off" flavors inherent in the milk (you can taste the slightest hint of something that makes you smell sheep poop, kwim?). This makes me worry that fermenting/culturing goat milk will bring out the "goatiness." I think goat's cheese tastes like this (HORRIBLE!), so I'm terribly worried that using the milk for anything other than drinking fresh is out of the question. Thoughts?


I have bucks in the barn with my does and their pastor butts up against the does pastor. Never tasty any off taste in the milk.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

We don't pasturize. Just make sure you use good standards when processing the milk.


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## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

I was "bad" and rushed it, but I _think_ I did ok. Building a new pen today and tomorrow!


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## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

One is pygmy, one looks at least mixed pygmy, but he swore she was 100% nigerian and it was just a weird coincidence. I don't really care.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Sonshine said:


> I have bucks in the barn with my does and their pastor butts up against the does pastor.



All I have in my head now is this line of Pastor butts :shocked:


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

Shygal said:


> When I tried store bought goats milk, it tasted and smelled like rotten meat
> 
> Ive been wary of trying goat anything that was in the store


I've only had one cheese from the store that was good. (goat cheese). and its a crying shame this is true, look how many ppl get the impression of 'eww, you eat GOAT cheese/milk/yogurt..." 


I also had this impression, but mine was from fresh milk handled poorly. gag! I was raised on raw cow milk, then mid-teens we couldn't get it anymore so went to store bought. eh, ok. didn't love it, but ok. then I got married and we had our own cow, plus worked on a few cow dairies and got fresh milk again, of which I raised my babies on. (children). dairies sold out, cow was gone, got goats. ain't going back. 

I am a firm believer in the raw milk info in a previous link on this thread. I don't pasterize and dont' like the flavor anyhow. my doe's are uber-healthly, I am very clean in my handling and feel my milk and products from my milk is far superior than anything in a store. even with an occasional hair or hay bit! I've worked on dairies, I *know* what happens. ew. big EW. 

now I'm planning how I'll keep goats once my children fly the nest, as we get way too much from our 2 does for just me and dh. altho we won't need much, I still want to continue with the goats and milking.

I have thought I may breed my does to a nigie at a later time, like their last kiddings, and keep the smaller does at that point. or just one milker and a few boers.


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