Well today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday, just working at the store. Did have a brief discussion with someone though that made me think some of the folks reading this might be interested in the topic. Was talking to one of theguys about milk production and the pros and cons of cows versus goats. Basicly cattle are a lot bigger, eat more and typicaly only produce 1 young at a time with a much longer gestation period but they produce a LOT more milk (which can also be a drawback since even light produceing cattle generaly produce 5+ gallons per day, a lot more than most families can use unless selling it) and the milk is a lot easier to deal with since the only thing that generaly has a negative effect on the milks taste is if the cow gets into bad feed like say wild onions or garlic or whatever. Goats on the other hand are easy to handle and dont eat NEAR as much, normaly produce 2 kids at a time after a much shorter gestation period and produce a MUCH more reasonable amount of milk (the ones I have delt with were between 1/2 gallon and 1 gallon per day). On the down side goat milk can be effected by all the same things that can make a cows milk bad and also if the males are around them the milk takes on a taste like the foul odor of the male goat (female goats are quite clean and dont stink on their own but males mark themselves, the does and anything they can by urinating on it and STINK), goats milk also has a noticably diffrent flavor if not chilled VERY soon after milking (should start being cooled within minutes) and it is even more important than with cattle that they are milked in a sanitary way as far as rinseing the udder and such. As long as the milking and raising of the goats is done properly and you have decent does then goat milk tastes more like the cow milk you buy in the store than fresh cows milk dose and is also naturaly somewhat homogenized (the cream dosent seperate from the milk just from sitting) and while produced by a single goat in amounts apropriate for most families, if there is enouph for selling it generaly brings at least twice as much as cows milk. Goat milk is also MUCH more nutrient dense. Just figured it was something some might find interesting since nothing else went on today, and also seems apropriate to mention the discussion since it helps explain why we raise goats, or at least part of it, they are also WAY cheaper to buy and start breeding than cattle and the meat is kind of similar to deer.
I wouldnt say that it tastes 'better', I like fresh cows milk, especialy 'golden milk' like from jerseys and gernseys thats real highin butter fat/cream, and if the goats milk is mishandled or if the does are kept with the bucks then the milk can be kind of nastey, BUT if thegoats and milk are handled right then fresh goats milk tastes almost the same as the cow milk you buy at the store. If you have neverhad the chance to have fresh 'raw' milk, chilled but otherwise just like it comes from the cow, then I should also mention that it dose taste noteably different from what you buy in the store even though after being cooked (pasturized), skimed (even what they sell as whole milk has most of the cream removed), and homoganized it is what they will sell in the store. Properly handled goat milk when 'raw' tastes about like the cow milk you buy in the store afterit has been processed.
Thanks for the response, and no offense taken. Actualy I may not have been entirely clear in what I was saying on the milk production as far as quantity. I was basicly refering to a 1 to 1 comparison like for a family that just wanted to have 1 criter to milk, the goat would produce about theright amount (depending on how much the family uses) of milk for the family to use with maybe a little leftover as opposed to the 1 cow produceing several times what most any family could use themselves other than by feeding the milk to the other critters. The stuff on the resources used by each is also a good point. On the stuff I had mentioned as far as the diet, it may well make a difference on the breed of goats or something, I know with ours there was some noticable difference in the flavor when they ate clover versus just grass from the lawn and especialy when they got into a patch of garlic, which the same tends to happen with cows on that matter. On cooling the milk quickly, I only go on that because I had tried milk from a couple of herds and the milk from one had a 'goaty' taste to it and the other didnt, the farmer with the milk that didnt had mentioned cooling it quick and seemed to be themain difference in the 2 operations, so just took it based on that and have always tried to cool it quickly, havent realy tested it by waiting though. As far as the bucks running with the does, we did havea problem from that, once again thismay vary depending on the herd, breed, etc, but in general I know the does dont stink on their own while the males tend to pee on themselves to attract the females (our buck did this all the time, though some have told me that others only do it around mateing season) and STINK, then they rub on the does and pass on the smell. From my experience goat milk is just like cow milk in that it absorbs odors easily that effect the flavor, so it was likely from the milk being around them when they smelled as opposed to it being 'tainted' in the bag, but the billies presence seemed to make a difference. One theing that would likely make a considerable difference on that would also be that it would likely (Im guessing since I havent had the chance to use them) make the odors from the billy a LOT less of an issue or a non-issue if you were useing a milking machine as opposed to hand milking into a bucket. Do you by chance use a milking machine on your herd? We havent had a need since we just keep 2 does.
