The Poultry Keeper

poultry poofs · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 2:15 pm Post subject:

And make nice chocolate Laughing

Itsybitsy · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 1325 Location: Leicestershire

In a previous life I kept a goat and then moved onto a Dexter x Jersey cow, I was never a great fan of goats milk, it always tasted goaty to me, the cows milk was wonderful, I could collect a 2kg carton of thick cream in 2 days and when it had stood for a few days and ripened slightly you could slice it and lay it on the top of a slice of bread & jam (homemade of course) and it was heavenly.

Milk was pasteureised also because cows carried Brucellosis and TB, TB is making a bit of a comeback, farms are regularly checked and restrictions put on if it's found, unpasteurised producers are checked more often (at higher cost which is why it's not easily available) Course these days we also have Campilobacter to contend with and Ecoli but that's another story.

Modern milk is standardised and homogenized, standardised is watering it to a standard and homogenized is treated so the fat doesn't rise.
I think you're a bit wrong about the Eastern European milk - it is coming in but I don't think we're consuming it as milk. Eastern European milk is not produced to the same high standard as British milk and we should all make sure where our pintas come from. British Dairying is under serious threat from supermarkets driving down the bulk price. I think I'd better stop here before you all die of boredom. Embarassed

Have you thought about sheep also? Sheeps milk is very nice - creamy

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

Not bored at all Itsybitsy ~ that was all very interesting. It just shows if you're not in the field of raising something you don't know what goes on behnd the scenes.

NannyP · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:10 pm Post subject:

fenwoman · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:26 pm Post subject:

Goats need a smaller amount of space and they can be useful for trimming unruly hedges, eating things like stingy nettles and thistles etc. They are happy with poorer quality food. I found mine easily confined behind electrified goat netting. A cow would need more space and prefereably another cow for company as I believe no herd animal should be kept alone. They need masses of grub. Food to milk ratio is better for goats than cows.
As long as you don't keep a billy on the premises, don't feed too many brassicas or garlic, and keep your milking pans scrupulously clean the milk tastes no different to cows milk.
I used only goats milk for about 25 years. If visitors came, they were asked if goats milk was ok or would they prefer tesco milk. Most shuddered, told me they didn't like the 'strong' taste to goats milk, and they'de prefer tesco milk please.
I made tea and coffee and used the milk I had in the fridge....goats milk. If I asked is the tea was ok and they said yes thanks, I informed them that they had just had goats milk. I even had people argue with me that it could not have been goats milk because they knew this tasted different, strong etc. I had to physically open the fridge door to show them, not tesco milk in there at all, only a jug of goats milk lol.

Heather · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:43 pm Post subject:

people are funny !
we were up with my best friend and her MIL is extremely 'funny' about food - only is plain boring bland foods - well Mark made some mashed potato with garlic cooked in the water and mashed up with it - she was eating happily and in fact said how nice it was - until someone mentioned it had garlic in Rolling Eyes

she then didn't eat the rest !!

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6895 Location: isle of lewis

there seem to be some lovely swedish cows ,i'd go for one of them a lot of them seem like jersey type they be used to the soil type and bugs and there is even one that is quite small 119cm although the bloke in the crofters looked surprized he was telling me that he'd seen a really small one a bit bigger than a dexter
and the fat content seems to be about 4.00% to 4.8%
the swedish red poll looks nice Wink

suz

Itsybitsy · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 1325 Location: Leicestershire

Okay - well if you're not too bored I'll just go on a bit more.

Did you know that the milkman earns more per pint for delivering milk than the producers earn per litre for producing it?

Going back to unpasteurized milk read:- http://encyclopedia,thefreedictionary.com/Unpasteurized+Milk

This link has fors and againsts so it's not biased.

Course we could all panic over these things and if we stopped eating everything that was bad for us the we would die of starvation, personally I live in a margarine free household and have a few other quirks as well, Embarassed

but if you're going to drink unpasteurized milk then make sure it's your own produced.

Sorry Fenwoman - I will re-phrase what I said as I kept a goat for about 6 years so therefore am not against the milk as such and it has many plus points but personally I can taste "the goat" in goats milk, (I've tried cheese as well and am not keen on that either, when others around me go in raptures, it's just a personal taste thing) it was fine in tea but I'm not fond of it as a drink on it's own We actually had two goats - the firsts milk went very goaty after 12 hours, but when you're milking twice a day that's not a problem, the second's was fine. We ate the meat from the kids as well.

The Swedish Red Polled is a severley endangered species, but what about the Gloucester? nice cow - milky - rare breed. Or the Kerry? . . . ahh so many choices. Confused

[/u]

nigel · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:29 pm Post subject:

traditionalbritishfowlco · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 243 Location: lancashire

I've given this a lot of thought. Cows seem to require huge amounts of input for such a small output - they produce plenty of milk, but there's only so much you can consume! Goats require less food and produce enough milk - for me, anyway and also, i feel a bit sick after eating cows milk, but i can drink as much goats milk as I like and it's fine.

BUT, goats butter is horrible. Sorry, but it's really goaty and makes everything you cook with it taste of it. I like the flavour in milka dnc heese, but i dont want everything to taste of it. And goats are trouble. We had to get rid of ours because they just wouldnt stay in their pen!!!

Sheep's milk, butter and cheese is LOVELY, i love it! but you don't get a lot and they only milk for 5 mnths a year!

Maybe i feel sick after cows milk because of all the processes it's exposed to - so maybe a placid house cow it is!!!

poultry poofs · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject:

Loudmouth Schnook · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:12 pm Post subject:

I've voted for goats as I'm lactose intolerant and can't drink cow's milk unless I take a pill with the lactase enzyme. I seem to handle goat milk ok, though it takes getting used to the strong taste. I can handle hard cheeses from cow's milk and bio yoghurt (the cultures must do something to the lactose) though.

TBFC, maybe you feel sick after drinking cow's milk because you are lactose intolerant. I get that way too, plus the runs and painful wind. Give up dairy for several days and see what happens....
Holls

fenwoman · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:03 pm Post subject:

I give up. With so many people saying that goats milk tastes strong no wonder people refuse to try it. If it tastes strong it is because
a/ there is a billy on the premises
b/ the milking equipment is not properly scoured and sterilised
c/ the goats have been fed things like brassicas which taint the milk.
d/ there is something near the standing milk in the fridge which is tainting it.
e/ It is 'off'.
If I get to rent the field opposite this year, I will start keeping goats again and invite anyone who wants, to pop round for a cuppa. I will do a blind test with some supermarket milk and some goats milk and give a fiver to anyone who can tell which is which.
Never let it be said that I won't put my money where my mouth is.

stamina · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:11 pm Post subject:

Fully agree with you fenwoman,
If you feed goats on grass, clean hay and dairy nuts it is very hard to distinguish between cows and goats milk. It's like a computer, you only get out what you put in.
Do you remember, when feed compounders used fish meal to pump up the protein value of poultry food. People complained that both eggs and poultry meat tasted of fish.
Surely the same must be true with goats milk.
Regards
Stamina Smile

traditionalbritishfowlco · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 243 Location: lancashire

fenwoman - you're on, I'll get that fiver. the goats milk i get from the supermarket does taste goaty, which I dont mind when its in milk/cheese/yoghurt form - its fine, i like the taste of goat Very Happy

The butter was a bit overpowering when everything i cooked with it tasted of goat.

I think i may be slightly lactose intolerant, but not as bad as some! hehe