Why does cow milk taste bitter and what to do about it?

When choosing and purchasing a cow, the quality of milk is the main criterion - fresh milk is much more useful than its fellow pack.But it happens that the milk, even in the beloved and caring cow, becomes bitter - often this is only a consequence of malnutrition. However, it can often signal an inflammatory process in the animal's body.

To begin, remember that animal milk is a biological fluid with its composition of chemical components. It is produced in females of all mammals immediately after calving. Milk contains a large set of digestive enzymes and nutrients, so the taste of the product primarily depends on its composition.

These plants include:

• wormwood;
• yarrow;
• lupine;
• mustard;
• all kinds of wild onions.

Despite the fact that cattle significantly ahead of a person in the number of taste buds (about 25 thousand versus 8-9 in humans), cows calmly absorb bitter herbs. Moreover, we all know that animals choose plants that are useful for themselves, and bitterness is useful for them, since it increases the appetite and normalizes the functioning of the digestive organs. That is why it is not worth hoping that the animal will avoid using these herbs.

Under the influence of food, cow's milk changes not only the taste, but also the smell and texture of the product. For example, a significant amount of pulp causes an increase in the wateriness of milk, carrots fed in large volumes give the liquid an orange hue, and the consumption of feed with a high content of fish meal may cause the appearance of a specific fish smell in milk.

The bitterness in the milk may appear if the cow is preparing to start. This term refers to the reduction of the daily number of milkings, with the aim of their complete cessation - as a rule, this occurs 45-60 days before the date of the expected calving. Such measures allow the animal to rest, as well as with the maximum usefulness of using all the nutrients from the feed, so necessary for her to carry healthy offspring.

In this case, the bitterness is associated with the internal processes that occur in the body of the cow before the upcoming genera.

However, there are more serious causes of the bitterness of milk - sometimes the appearance of such taste means the development of diseases in animals of varying severity.

Fascioliasis is a helminth-type disease. Infection pathogens are parasitic in the bile ducts - they are attached to the walls with suckers, injure tissues and provoke the development of inflammatory processes and stagnation of bile.

In addition to the appearance of bitterness, the sick animal has weakness, high sweating, especially near the withers, and painful reactions to palpation in the liver area - if all these signs appear, you should consult a veterinarian.

Microorganisms are most active in the late fall and early winter; it is at this point that the milk from the cow begins to taste bitter.

If animal mastitis is present, the milk gets a salty taste, and the deterioration of taste is accompanied by a color change due to the content of blood, pus and flakes in it.

Pathologies in the liver and gallbladder - this is a fairly common cause of deterioration in taste, and liver pathology can be either congenital or acquired as a result of exposure to infection. In the first case, the animal is rejected, and in the second - treated.

Other diseases that change the taste of the product:

• metabolic disorders - ketosis;
• increased secretion of the stomach - in this situation, the product quickly sours and has a pungent taste;
• lack of sugar in the blood of the animal;
• colds;
• inflammation of the appendages of the cow;
• cobalt deficiency;
• abnormalities of the development of internal organs.

We should also mention the stall hygiene and udder hygiene. It is known that fresh cow's milk tends to inhibit the development of pathogenic microflora, since it has a slight antimicrobial effect. At the same time, the ability of milk to self-purification substantially depends on the presence of bacteria in the stall, which enter this same milk during milking. The development of microorganisms in milk as it is stored leads to the appearance of a rancid taste and an unpleasant smell.

To understand that the reason for the deterioration of the quality of milk in insufficient purity is simple - in this case, the milk starts to taste bitter not immediately after milking, but the next day, when the activity of bacteria reaches its peak.

The appearance of bitterness in milk, which previously had a good taste, in any case, should alert the owner of the animal and become a reason for examining the cow. It is advisable to contact the veterinary clinic and conduct tests in order to eliminate serious pathology of the cow.

As a rule, the problem of spoiled milk can be corrected, although for this it is necessary to know exactly the reason for the change in taste and smell of the product. Only congenital anomalies are not amenable to treatment, in all other cases it is realistic to choose the right solution to the problem.

With a sharp change in the taste properties of milk, a number of effective measures should be taken.

• To change the diet of the animal, provide it with carbohydrates, vitamins and beneficial micro- and macroelements, try to eliminate the ingestion of bitter herbs.
• If the cause of bitterness in milk is increased acidity, you should purchase a licensed animal with soda.
• All identified diseases should be carefully treated and vaccines used to prevent recurrence.
• In the pasture period, the cow can be vaccinated against parasites. If it was not possible to avoid infection, it is necessary to conduct antiparasitic therapy - usually improvements are noticeable after 10 days, and you can only talk about the final cure after a month and a half.
• Cows need to be given as much water as possible - milk consists of 80% of it, therefore, when there is a shortage of liquid, milk becomes rancid and unfit for consumption.

And, of course, it is important to comply with hygienic standards, namely:

• regularly replace bedding in the stalls;
• do barn cleaning;
• disinfect regularly;
• milk the cow in clean clothes and use clean dishes to collect milk;
• wash the hands and udder of the animal before milking.

The mammalian body is very wise - it signals any internal problems through its milk. When a product is consumed, the livestock breeder has an excellent opportunity to notice all adverse changes in a timely manner and react to them in time.

For information on how to check the quality of milk at home, see the following video.