Why goat milk is bitter: causes and how to solve the problem, prevention

Goat's milk is ahead of cow's milk in many respects: it is fatter, easier to digest, practically non-allergenic. At the same time, goat breeders face bitterness in it much more often than cow owners. There are several reasons why goat's milk is bitter. In most cases, they are solvable, but sometimes, for example, when it comes to the age of the animal, it is difficult to cope with the problem.

Causes of bitter taste

If any deviations appear in the taste of milk, especially unpleasant ones, you should first of all look for the cause in the diet and he alth of the goat. Plants that negatively affect the taste and smell of goat milk:

• wormwood, quinoa, horsetail, celandine, tansy, green rapeseed (at the same time, a small amount of wormwood and tansy are needed as antihelminthic folk remedies);
• onions, garlic and wild garlic, beet tops;
• leaves of trees, coniferous branches;
• raw potatoes and peeling them;
• beet pulp, any rotting food.

Milk can also taste stale water.

Very often, bitterness is caused by rapidly multiplying pathogenic microorganisms in milk. Most likely, the cause of their appearance is mastitis, or inflammation of the mammary glands (udder) of a goat.

Other painful conditions of the animal that provoke the bitterness of milk:

• vitamin A deficiency during the winter months;
• infection with parasites - in goats most often with cestodes, nematodes and trematodes;
• before the birth of kids and within two to three weeks after lambing (for first-cat goats - a little longer);
• hormonal failure - can occur after lambing or with improper feeding (in particular, wheat);
• liver failure, gallbladder problems.

Old goats' milk tastes bitter more often. Improper technology of milking and storage of the product can spoil the taste of milk. Thus, the goat udder tissues contain an increased amount of the reductase enzyme. Interacting with milk fats, it causes bitterness, so the first portions of milk are milked separately, without mixing with its total volume. In addition, a bitter taste may appear:

• when storing milk in the light or in a copper container (this contributes to the decomposition of fat in it);
• with intensive mixing and enrichment of the product with air;
• when mixing milk produced at different times.

During long-term storage without heat treatment (more than two days), rancid taste appears from an increase in the volume of soluble casein in milk. It also impairs its ability to clot.

How to solve problems with bitter milk

First of all, they check the animal’s diet, exclude food from it that can cause bitterness, change the pasture if necessary, checking in advance that there are no “forbidden” plants within the reach of the goats.

To exclude helminthic invasion, animals can be anthelmintic on their own, and all livestock, with kids at the same time. Starting from the age of three months, goats should receive preparations for parasites twice a year, lambing - a month after the birth of the kids and again - after two weeks. In winter, animals are given special preparations to compensate for the deficiency of vitamins A, D, E, which affect the taste of milk.

For its storage, glass or at least plastic containers are used, during transportation they fill the containers completely, reducing the likelihood of shaking, and they process (ferment, boil, pasteurize) - as soon as possible after milking.

If these factors are excluded, you should contact your veterinarian to examine the animal. In particular, mastitis in the initial stages is manifested only by the bitterness of milk (external signs become visible later). It is not recommended to make a diagnosis on your own, especially to treat an animal: treatment is carried out with an antibiotic that is sensitive to a specific type of microbes sown in the analysis. Symptoms of various internal diseases or infectious diseases may also not be visible to goat owners.

Prevention measures

Experienced goat breeders, if there are areas for grazing, sow them in the fall with clover and other herbs useful as fodder. If this is not possible, before taking the animals to a certain pasture, they examine it and mark areas with plants harmful to goats, keep the goats on a leash away from them.

The main prevention of mastitis is compliance with the sanitary rules for keeping animals, hygienic and technical rules for milking (washing hands, using clean towels, washing the udder, milking without damaging the goat's mammary glands).

Prevention of helminthic invasions - timely feeding of goats with special preparations (such as Panakur, Manizen) with preliminary flea treatment, since some species of these insects are carriers of worms.

Please note: even with regular anthelmintic procedures, it is impossible to protect animals from parasites, since the sources of infection are pasture, water from puddles after rain, and feed that is not always properly stored, and other animals.

Can I use this product

It is advisable not to use bitter milk in any form and not to process it into fermented milk products (however, it does not ferment well, the consistency of cottage cheese or cheese is unsatisfactory, and the bitterness in them is even stronger).The point is not only that the taste of the product in which such milk is used will be spoiled. Harmful microorganisms that give it bitterness can harm human he alth.

Recommended