HANDLING OF FRESH RAW MILK OR... CONTROLLING THE FUNKINESS OF YOUR CHEESE
Filtering out hair and dander.	David B. Fankhauser rvsd 31 Jan 99, 10 Mar 99, 23 Nov 99, 2 May 00, 2 Aug 00 This page has been accessed  times since 26 July 2000.	Rapid chilling in iced water.

Perhaps the most important consideration in good flavored milk, cheese or other milk products is the proper handling of the milk from the time it is "harvested" to the time that it is made into cheese. The goal is to keep the bacterial contamination as low as possible, because bacteria are the major cause of off flavored, "goaty" milk.  It makes me wonder about commercially available goat's milk, which in my experience has a strong "goaty" flavor.  The goat's milk I produce only has had such flavor problems if the steps given below were not followed.  People who say they hate the taste of goat's milk are usually referring to 'store-bought' goat's milk, and find mine mild, sweet and rich.  Likewise, many commercial goat cheeses taste like they were cured in the billy pen...  NOT to my liking.    
Never try to make cheese out of "turned" or spoiled milk--the unpleasant flavor will linger. Feed it to your pets, they will drink it. Otherwise, put it on the compost pile. 
Here are the critical factors I have discovered over several decades of keeping goats and making cheese. All of these are aimed at keeping bacterial contamination as low as possible. Undesirable bacteria are what make milk products taste rotten. The goal in cheese-making is to add beneficial bacteria which produces good flavor while avoiding the rest. Undesirable bacteria abound on goat hair and dander.  Removal of these is the goal of careful filtration.
Note that repeated reference is made to complete drying of thoroughly cleansed equipment.  The reason is that most bacteria do not survive well on dry surfaces in the absence of organic material.

AVOIDING BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION IN YOUR MILK PRODUCTS

CLEANLINESS/STERILITY OF MILKING CANS AND STORAGE BOTTLES:

a)  Immediately after each milking, rinse equipment in lukewarm water to remove the majority of milk.  If you let the equipment sit, the drying milk will glue itself in the cracks and crevices, and will be come a breeding ground for bacteria.
b)  You should carefully wash the rinsed milking cans in very hot soapy water, rinse well, and air dry COMPLETELY. (Do not dry with a towel, it is easy to introduce bacteria this way.) If you have no problems with odor or taste in your milk, actually sterilization of the cans may not be required.  But if you are having problems, your implements should be boiled and air dried.  I try to avoid chlorine because of its poisonousness, but in the worst cases, it is a highly effective antiseptic.  Rinse VERY thoroughly after using chlorine on impliments.

1. wash implements well in very hot water and soap
2. rinse thoroughly in very hot fresh water
3. ensure that they are thoroughly air dried before using

MILKING PROCEDURE

1. Sterilize the washing cloth by boiling, then adding an equal volume of cool water to lower the temperature to a manageable level.  (I aim for 60ºC.  This is hot, but will cool as you wash the udder.)
2. Secure the goat in a stanchion with goat feed to keep her happy .  Note that the washing can is hung from the stanchion, and the milking can sits ready on a nearby (cleaned) surface.   Here is the sterilized but still hot cloth being removed from its can .
3. Wash the udder and teats thoroughly with the sterilized cloth.  Wring out the cloth, and damp dry the udder so that no drips remain.  Washing with very warm water does two things.  a)  It cleanses the udder, removing surface dirt, dander and hair, and b) the warmth and massaging of the washing causes milk let-down, making milking much easier.
4. Give the first squirt or two from each teat to the cats (the milk ducts contain more bacteria near the opening).
5. Place a "milking board" on the stanchion, and the can on the board.  This keeps the can from touching any surface that the goat may have walked on.  I use a one foot square piece of white formica for this purpose.
6. Milk into the can.  [For those who have not milked before, the technique is to pinch the top of the teat between your thumb and index finger , trapping milk in the tat.   Then the other fingers squeeze the trapped milk out (without releasing the pinch at the top.]  Note the "milking board" under the can to prevent the can from resting where the goat has walked.  Alternatively, if I am only milking one or two goats, I place the sterile handkercheif over the mouth of a wide mouth jar and milk directly into the suspended cloth.  This ensures that hair and dander are immediately removed from the milk.
7. Milking is done when no more milk can be coaxed from the udder, even with additional massaging.  Note that the teats appear completely deflated .
8. [Optional:  Weigh the milk and record it .  This will help you monitor the health and productivity of your animals.]
9. Filter freshly milked milk immediately through a sterile fine-weave cloth : Immediately upon milking, f ilter the warm milk through a fine weave sterile handkerchief (sterilized by previous boiling and complete drying) into a scrupulously clean dry jar, cleaned at least as well as the milking cans (sterilize in boiling water if you are in doubt). Use wide-mouthed jars if possible since they are more easily cleansed. This filtering removes goat hair and dander which are VERY rich in bacteria and can make milk and cheese taste and smell funky.  It is the action of bacteria found on hair and dander on goat butterfat which gives improperly handled goat milk products its "goaty" flavor.  [If you pay careful attention to cleansing, boiling and thorough drying of all apparatus, and still have problems with short shelf life, (strong goat flavor, etc.), you might resort to such poisonous chemicals as chlorine or iodine to treat surfaces.]
10. Sweep off the stanchion , wash down and damp dry.  Do the same for the milking board , and the resting place of the milking can .  (While not sterile, these surfaces should be kept free of dirt that could transfer to the milking can.
11. Label the  freshly milked and filtered milk with the date , and chill the in an ice bath as quickly as possible.  To retard spoilage of milk, the importance of rapid and complete cooling to near freezing cannot be over-emphasized.  "Funkifying" bacteria HATE such cold conditions. I reserve a second refrigerator (in my garage) for my milk and cheese. On the floor of this refrigerator, I have a large 2 gallon plastic bucket which contains as much near-freezing water as will partially float the jars . I keep blocks of ice floating in it so it's temperature remains at 0ºC (32ºF). Another block of ice is added each time a fresh jar of warm milk is placed in the chiller. (I freeze this ice in large strong plastic cups filled with clean water .  I get mine at Cincinnati Reds games, discarded after the game.) Chilling in this apparatus is much more rapid than air chilling in a refrigerator.
12. Keep the milk chilled at 4ºC until ready for use.  Do not add warm milk to previously chilled milk.  It will encourage any bacteria in the older milk to grow.  However, once thoroughly chilled, milk from sequential milkings can be pooled.

(If you don't follow these steps closely, you risk a number of bacterial contaminations including those of Salmonella, Escherichia coli and reportedly, Listeria.)