Can anyone tell me if you have to pasteurize goats milk? I understand that it is naturally homogenized. But does it have to be pasteurized?

-- Matthew Ramey (mramey@gc.cc.wy.us), October 15, 2001

Answers

In the archives there are several posts about pasturization of goat milk. Pasturization is a good idea just to make sure you are not getting any "frendly little zootonic" guests in the milk. Most folks pasturize for a variety of reasons. then there are some who prefer not to who claim it takes away from the value of the goat milk. I will say this, the best cheese i make, and its for the house, not for selling, comes from unpasturized milk. But in the end its a personal decision to do it or not. I would suggest it just to be safe.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), October 15, 2001.

Bernice is absolutely right. For myself, I like it raw and my husband likes it pasteurized. Just personal taste preference. For the baby kid goats, I pasteurize the milk and bottle feed it. This prevents spreading CAE.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), October 15, 2001.

I don't pasturize either. I am very very picky about being very sanitary witht the milking,and caring for and cooling the milk after. I don't think it tastes as good after pasturization. Probably would if I were feeding a baby or someone elderly who was not used to it, or had imune system problems. But...like I said..we don't.

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 15, 2001.

Hi Matthew, yes it is naturally homogenized, which really only means the fat particles are so small in goat milk that they are disperesed through the milk, unlike cows milk that seperates quite eaisly. It is also eaiser to digest. We pasturise for our goat kids, simply makes for better udders in subsequent kids, and of course if you don't pasturise you loose a good amount of sales. Prevention is popular and to sell you have to do what is popular. And never in 15 years has anyone ever said, "I only want a doe kid who was raised on raw colostrum and milk", but have had lots of folks who would only buy prevention raised kids. For our family, no we don't pasturise, but we are also milking home grown goats, nothing from the auction barn, and when we do purchase milkers they come from clean herds, tested for disease. I also would be able to "maybe" :) spot a doe who is ill, before she can pass a disease onto my family, something I do worry about in the homestead type milker. Visit the archives, we have posted the lists of zoonic diseases from milk to human, and if you are like me, a good half of them I can't even spell let alone without looking up be able to tell you what they are! And yes pasturised milk tastes cooked. I do however pasturise my milk to make cheese, it makes for a more consistant end product. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 15, 2001.

Milk does not HAVE to be pasturized. It travels better when pasturized, and in a commercial market where some animals and/or milking parlors might be questionable, it is best. I, however, do not pasturize my cow or my goats milk. They are healthy animals and I keep my milking stuff clean. Pasturizing kills almost all of the health benifits of milk, raw milk is a complete food, cooked milk is not. Have you ever heard of anyone pasturizing human milk before giving it to thier child? Tana

-- Tana Cothran (tana@getgoin.net), October 15, 2001.

P.S. If someone is lactose intolerant and they drink raw milk, their intolerance goes away.

-- Tana Cothran (tana@getgoin.net), October 15, 2001.

Pasteurization is not necessary because goats do not get tuberculosis.

-- Rebekah in Canada (rebekah_swinden@hotmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Tana would you pasturise the milk fed to your infant if the woman was purchased at the auction barn :) LOL! But same premise here in goats, yes clean healthy stock has wonderfully nutritous milk. But how many folks start with just the 50$ goat from the auction barn, and horror it is usually the one the feel the sorriest for!? How many folks even tell folks to just go purchase a cheap goat to start with? Reading the threads look at all the sickness in their stock, that these same folks have that are drinking their milk raw! Yes we drink it raw, but that isn't the best pat advice, so I always explain we have tested animals. No goats don't get TB easily, but it is much worse than TB what goats can get. And pasturised correctly you are not loosing all the nutrition. Especially when the alternative is cows/hormone/store milk. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 16, 2001.

I have never bought from the auction/sales barn. I do not at the moment have a place to isolate the animal/human from the rest of my stock. If and when I do buy from the auction/sales barn, the animal/human would be kept in isolation AND tested for disease/illness. There are to many private sales going on to have to worry about what kind of poor pathetic critter/person I can get for a price generally higher than a good healthy one. Tana

-- Tana Cothran (tana@getgoin.net), October 16, 2001.

I also do not pasteurize MY goat's milk. I have milked goats for other people and used that milk...this I DO pasteurize. I know my goats are disease-free and several of my customers specifically ask for unpasteurized milk, even some with infants! I do, however, heat-treat the milk. It's a personal preference for me as it should be for anyone else. Who was it that wrote that book "The Milk of Human Kindness Is Not Pasteurized"??

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), October 16, 2001.

Pasteurizing heat kills the enzymes that make it digestible. Dr Simpson experimented with cats & past. milk, After 7 generations the experimental group (nnot the control) was genderless.

-- Elizabeth Quintana (rockshelter@webtv.com), October 18, 2001.

I am a pediatric R.N. & have raised dairy goats (different breeds thru the years) & have NEVER pasteurized. I have even sold my milk to patients of a local pediatrician who recommended goats milk for lactose intollerant children. As long as #1 your goats are healthy #2 your milking tools are sterilizied after EACH use #3 your refrigeration methods are appropriate, then it is not an issue. (The pediatrician did not WANT the milk to be pasteurized~theory was killing the good on the chance of killing the bad.) The only thing the Mom had to add was an iron fortifier. Pasteurization is not sterilization. The milk in your back yard is fresher than what you buy from your grocery store. Personal preference is the key. (stepping down off the soap box here :-]

-- Susan K. Lyons (slyons@pbtcomm.net), October 21, 2001.

Thank you, Susan, for that welcome confirmation!!! It's always great to hear from someone in the medical profession as to what is really "good" or "bad"!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), October 21, 2001.