Why is cow's milk bitter? Why does a cow's milk taste bitter? How to get rid of bitterness? Video “How to get more milk from a cow”

Cow's milk is valuable food product, from which delicious and healthy cottage cheese, sour cream, cream, cheese, and butter are obtained. Sometimes the quality of the product decreases noticeably. Why does a cow's milk taste bitter, and how to solve this problem - read about it further.

There are primary and secondary reasons why a homemade product may taste bitter. The first includes the period of pregnancy and calving of the animal, its physical condition, feeding features, as well as maintenance technology. Secondary ones are associated with improper storage of already received products.

Experienced farmers know that pregnant cattle entering this period for the 7th time produce a bitter milk product. Because during this important period of a cow’s life, her body directs its energy to prepare for feeding the young. Milking during pregnancy should be stopped, and after calving the bitterness will certainly go away. It is important to monitor the animal’s diet, and after calving, make sure that it does not develop mastitis.

The physiological state of the cow, which can provoke a change in the taste of a favorite product for the worse, may be associated with diseases. These may be udder mastitis, chronic ketosis, fascioliasis, infectious diseases, liver and biliary tract diseases.

Mastitis can develop due to injury to the udder, violation of milking rules, or failure to comply with sanitary conditions for keeping livestock. The chronic form of the disease is more common than the acute form. Acute symptoms are swelling of the udder and nearby tissues, gangrene, discharge of dairy products with blood and pus, as well as warmth of the udder when palpated. Signs of chronic are decreased fat content, bitterness, heterogeneous watery consistency, the presence of flakes and clots, compaction in the udder.

Proper nutrition is the key to excellent product quality.

It is not difficult to answer the question why the taste may change - the reason often lies in the herbs eaten by animals on pastures. Many plants contain a number of substances that enter the body, accumulate in the gland and are excreted during milking. For example, wormwood can provoke a change in the taste of dairy products in the fall. It is during this period after frost that animals willingly eat aromatic grass. In addition to wormwood, onion greens, horse garlic, avocado officinalis, sweet clover, tansy, and cruciferous crops can also influence the taste. Eating the latter leads to the accumulation of alkaloids.

If bitterness appears during the stall period, this may be due to a deficiency of sugar and vitamins, especially in winter. In summer, cows spend most of the day grazing. Therefore, most often a farmer can detect bitter milk from his cow in winter period. If sanitary and hygienic standards are violated when keeping livestock in a stall, bacteria from the manure can get onto the udder, which will trigger the development of mastitis. Microbes from the surface of the udder can enter dairy products after just a couple of days.

In private farming, it is not always possible to automate the milking procedure. Therefore, even if the milk was initially of high quality, the product may become bitter after prolonged exposure to the sun, when stored without heat treatment, or when using copper or iron utensils. And also when mixing the first streams with the rest of the quantity, as well as improper handling of storage containers.

What to do

Eliminating the cause of bitterness directly depends on the factors that provoked it. If this phenomenon is observed before milking begins, it is recommended to stop the process for a while and give the animal the opportunity to prepare for calving. When there is a sugar deficiency, it is necessary to increase its amount in the diet of livestock. At increased acidity Soda should be added to food - 1 tsp. for 1 bucket of any food. You can also offer the animals to eat lick with soda.

When a farmer is dealing with vitamin deficiencies in his cows' diet, he needs to consult with a veterinarian. The doctor will guide the livestock owner in terms of choice suitable vitamins for the course. What should be done in the presence of diseases is also clear - call a veterinarian. If an animal has mastitis, the doctor will take dairy products for analysis and then prescribe treatment. Ketosis is diagnosed using a urine test. IN difficult cases administration of saline solutions and glucose is prescribed.

Cows should be fed with high-quality grain and fresh hay, reducing the amount of sugar beets and tops in the diet.

You also need to check the pastures, removing herbs from them that can provoke bitterness in your loved one dairy product. When keeping livestock, it is necessary to have a good ventilation system in the barn, daily cleaning of the premises, and washing of the cows.

Video “How to get more milk from a cow”

In this video you will learn how to make a cow produce more milk.

Yuri Melnikov from Gukovo asks:

Our family consumes fermented milk products in different forms. They began to notice that over time, when it sours, when it sours, the milk becomes bitter. Why does this process happen? And how to remove bitterness?

Our expert's answer:

Everyone knows that milk is healthy natural product. It consists of water, lactose, protein, milk fat, different types bacteria. For the state and taste qualities Several types of microorganisms are responsible for milk.

Lactic acid bacteria are gram-positive anaerobes. They perform many useful functions:

produce acids, vitamins, microelements;
normalize metabolic processes in the human body;
balance acidity levels in the intestines;
provide protection against pathogenic microbes.

Lactic acid bifidobacteria are involved in the process of natural souring of milk. They produce lactic acid, which has a suppressive effect on butyric acid bacteria.

Conditionally pathogenic microbes can cause disease and intoxication. They can get into milk due to violation of personal hygiene rules.

Butyric acid microorganisms are gram-positive spore rods capable of producing acids and alcohols. IN favorable conditions They actively multiply and cause food spoilage:

an unpleasant sour smell appears;
gas is released;
bitterness is formed.

In the cold, any microbes slow down their action and development. Therefore, milk must be stored at temperatures below +4 0 C.

Today there are different ways milk processing capable of under the influence high temperatures destroy butyric acid microorganisms. Among them are pasteurization, sterilization, and the production of milk powder. Some modern technologies provide for the addition of preservatives and antibiotics to milk. They prevent the natural souring of the product, as they destroy lactic acid bacteria. The remaining butyric acid microorganisms contribute to the appearance of bitterness even in processed milk.

There are a number of other reasons why milk turns sour when it sours. Among them are the following factors:

A cow has eaten a bitter herb, such as wormwood or caraway, and the bitterness will be felt immediately.
The animal was given antibiotics - the breakdown products form a bitter taste.
The cow is in a state of pregnancy - in this case, the milk sours faster.
Bitterness appears due to liver disease in the animal.

Video: Milk becomes bitter after souring

It is the quality of the milk given that for many is the main criterion when choosing and purchasing a cow. And what a disappointment it can be when a beloved cow’s product loses its good taste and becomes bitter. Now we’ll talk about why a cow’s milk tastes bitter.

First of all, let's remember that milk is a special biological fluid that has a complex chemical composition and is produced in female mammals in the mammary glands. A cow produces milk immediately after calving. The product contains a lot of different enzymes, so its taste depends, of course, on the composition.

For example, one of the main enzymes is lipase. It breaks down fat into many fatty acids and glycerol. It is precisely the action of lipase that explains the bitter taste of milk in a cow before “starting”. This is one of the first reasons for such an unpleasant phenomenon for every livestock breeder.

Most often, if a cow's milk is bitter, the problem is not difficult to solve. However, to do this, you need to accurately determine the reason for this phenomenon, that is, why the taste has deteriorated. The only thing that cannot be treated or corrected is congenital anomalies which lead to poor milk quality. In this case, the cow is culled. In other cases, problems are still solved, although some are solved faster and others take longer.

If the cause and problem of bitter milk cannot be solved on your own, the cow should be shown to a veterinarian. It may be more hidden serious problems requiring observation and treatment.

Video “Is drinking cow's milk harmful?”

In this video you will hear modern opinion about the benefits of cow's milk, as well as whether it is beneficial or harmful for an adult.

One of the main criteria for choosing a cow is the taste and quality of the milk. It also happens that having bought a cow, she began to give milk with bitterness, especially in winter, this is of course a shame, but do not despair. Initially, you need to understand the reason and then try to fix it. After all, there can be a lot of them: worms, vitamin deficiency, poor quality food, not enough exercise, and other diseases.

Main causes of bitterness

First, you need to understand that milk has a very complex composition, which is produced in many animals through the mammary glands, including female cows. After her first birth she has this tasty and nutritious milk. The taste and quality of this liquid will depend on the composition, which contains many enzymes.

The main and most common cause The bitterness of milk is caused by the production of lipase, which appears several months before the calf is born. But many owners of these beautiful animals claim that this phenomenon occurs not only during this period. There can be many reasons: poor nutrition, serious illnesses and many others.

Liver or gallbladder dysfunction

If the milk is bitter, then first of all veterinarians check the animal’s liver and gallbladder, since in 90% of cases bitterness appears due to their violation. This can be either a congenital pathology or acquired due to the ingress of microbes. If the analysis shows that this disease is congenital and cannot be treated, then the heifer is culled, and if it is acquired, then she begins to be treated.

Worms

An equally rare cause of bitterness in milk is infection with worms. In this case, an analysis is performed digestive tract and other nearby organs and after diagnosis the animal is treated.

How can you recognize that a heifer has become infected with worms:

The animal coughs and sweats, summer period this may be due to the heat, but if sweat is produced in winter time, then these are 99% worms.
The bitterness is present immediately, but not strong, and the longer the milk sits, the bitterness intensifies, the cream bubbles, and the sour cream has a very bitter taste.

Many people wonder how to remove the bitter taste from milk? This can be done by heating the milk to 40 degrees; when it cools, the bitterness should disappear. But the question you need to ask is not how to remove the bitterness, but how to cure the cow. A couple of times a year you need to take a stool test to detect worms in the body.

Before giving a cow medicine, you need to read the instructions whether it can be given to pregnant heifers and nursing mothers. Also, you cannot increase the dose on your own, believing that this way the worms will go away faster. You should also read in the instructions how long it takes for the drug to be removed from the body; during this time you should not drink milk or eat the meat of this cow.

Pregnancy

Milk is directly related to pregnancy and childbirth; during this period, milk release occurs. IN last couple months of pregnancy, the amount of milk decreases. The milk should be the same throughout the entire lactation period; it differs only in two periods: immediately after birth (colostrum) and at the end of feeding.

Cows and other large livestock produce colostrum immediately after birth, which allows the calf to acquire antibodies to boost immunity. Colostrum has a very different taste from milk: it is fatty, salty and viscous, and may be slightly bitter.

A couple of months before giving birth, milk also changes, as the body expectant mother radically restructures itself and spends all its energy on the intrauterine baby. During this period, the cow must be started and prepared for the dry period.

If this is not done in a timely manner (not started), then the milk will contain more salts than calcium. In addition, the milk will become fatter and contain a lot of protein, and its amount will decrease. The bitter taste may be due to hormonal changes.

Poor nutrition

What a cow ate during the whole day directly affects the taste of the milk produced. There are many plants that, when ingested, accumulate in the mammary glands and are then excreted in milk. This may cause a bitter taste.

If cattle eat a lot of cruciferous plants, alkaloids can accumulate.
Eating green onions will affect the bitterness of the milk.
If an animal eats wormwood in the fall, the milk will be bitter, but in the spring they eat this herb with pleasure.
Avran, garlic and tansy can also affect the taste of milk.

In addition to the above, bitterness can occur if the food was incorrectly selected and if the diet is monotonous. Rotten or spoiled grains change the taste of milk, the same applies to potatoes, carrots and rutabaga. If you use them in large quantities, there will be bitterness in the milk. If the bitterness was due to the food, then it should be excluded for a while and later replaced with another.

Mastitis

Milk for mastitis is not only bitter, but also salty, tastes old, low-fat and contains clots. There are several types, and depending on the type, the taste and symptoms will differ.

You cannot prescribe treatment for a cow yourself, since there are different medications for each type, and if you treat, for example, purulent mastitis with a medicine intended for acute treatment, it can kill the cow. Therefore, only a veterinarian can diagnose the disease.

Purulent. The udder increases in size, or rather the affected part, its temperature rises. The milk has a salty taste, yellow color due to impurities of pus, bitter and low-fat. The animal has no appetite, it is lethargic and indifferent.
Fibrinous. The udder also enlarges, the temperature rises, and there is no appetite even for your favorite food. There are seals inside that you can feel with your hands. The milk is green-yellow with yellow crumbs or clots. There is no lactation for three days, and even after the animal is completely cured, the milk will not be of the same quality and quantity.
Purulent-catarrhal. Lactation also stops, and if there is some, it is red, bitter and salty. Udder in certain place becomes like a stone, turns red, the lymph node enlarges. After three days, the cow begins to feel better, but if left untreated, the disease develops into a chronic form, and if good treatment she leaves completely.
Spicy. This type of mastitis often occurs after the birth of a calf. The udder turns red, hurts, and the affected side turns to stone. The milk becomes low-fat and tastes bitter with the flakes.
Catarrhal. Catarrhal mastitis is often observed during the first 30 days of milking. At the same time, a quarter of the cow's udder swells, and after 4 days peas appear around the nipple. There are clots in the milk and the milk loses its fat content.

Breast injuries

Any injuries and bruises can directly change the taste of milk. This is far from main feature inflammation, clots will form first, the color will be completely different, and the udder will have an incorrect appearance.

Microbial development

It often happens that milk tastes good at first, but after about 24 hours it begins to taste bitter. This could mean he was hit pathogenic bacteria and began to multiply. The room where the product is stored is dusty, and this dust settles on the milk. This most often happens if the udder is poorly washed or sanitary hygiene is not maintained in the barn.

Secondary reasons

There are quite frequent situations when the taste of milk changes if it is stored incorrectly. After milking, the milk must be thermally treated to kill pathogenic microorganisms. On farms, the milk is immediately pasteurized, bottled and sold. On other farms it is cooled in special tanks and only then sold. This is done to prevent the milk from spoiling quickly.

At home, where the farm is large and it is almost impossible to achieve complete sterilization, therefore, spoilage or the introduction of pathogenic microorganisms into the heifer’s body is quite possible. At first the milk will taste good, but then due to certain reasons it will begin to deteriorate:

If milking is done manually, then exposure to the sun can deteriorate very quickly.
If you store milk at a temperature of 25 to 40 degrees, the milk may quickly disappear.
Copper and iron utensils should not be used for milking and storing milk.

But still, milk generally spoils and tastes bitter due to the ingress of pathogenic microbes, or a violation sanitary standards. If you milk a cow whose milkings are dirty or the owner’s hands are dirty, then this same dirt will get into the milk and bacteria will multiply.

It is not for nothing that they say that the first streams must be decanted into a separate container and poured out, since they contain many microbes. In addition, it is important that the milking container is clean without any residue from previous milking; detergents must be thoroughly washed off, since even these factors will cause the milk to taste bitter.

Mineral deficiency

If the analysis does not reveal worms, but the milk is still bitter and the following symptoms are noticed:

The cow licks its owners, walls, trees, the ground and other strange objects.
Milk loses its fat content.
The amount of milk decreases.

This means that the cow is deficient in minerals, most likely cobalt. Animals need very little of this microelement, but many soils do not have it even in small doses. But this problem can also be solved; on pharmacy shelves there are pink tablets called “Sodium Cobalt”. Two tablets per day will be enough, the course of treatment is a month.

This problem purely because of the soil, so it will be repeated constantly until the cow moves to graze in another place. Therefore, preventive maintenance is necessary every three months.

Diseases of infectious origin

Leptospirosis is the most common disease in cows. There are no symptoms of this disease, so the owner is unlikely to suspect anything wrong. Therefore, it is important to periodically take a blood test, during which the doctor will make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment.

How to get rid of bitter taste?

In almost all cases, the bitter taste can be removed on your own or with the help of veterinarians. But for this it is necessary to determine the exact reason and only then do something. The only factor that cannot be cured is congenital diseases that affect the quality of milk. The rest can be resolved, but the question is how long it will take to correct the situation.

A cow's milk can taste bitter for many reasons, and an accurate diagnosis can be made by a doctor. Although in some situations, such as improper feeding or care, the owner himself must understand this and change the situation. If the disease is not noticed in a timely manner and is not cured, it will develop into a chronic form and then the cow will have to be culled. It is important to periodically take blood and urine tests for prevention, as well as give anthelmintic medications.