No, you shouldn’t drink milk from a goat with active mastitis. The milk is contaminated with bacteria, loaded with white blood cells, and may contain antibiotic residues if the doe is being treated.
Can you drink milk from goats with mastitis?
Mastitis milk isn’t safe for human consumption. It contains bacteria like Staph, Strep, and E.
Coli that caused the infection in the first place, and drinking it can make you sick.
Beyond the safety issue, mastitis milk is clumpy, off-color, and tastes terrible. You’ll know something is wrong the moment you see it come out of the teat — it doesn’t look or smell like normal milk.
What kind of care should I take when drinking goat’s milk?
Always make sure your milk comes from healthy does with properly maintained udders and teats that have been tested for mastitis. A quick California Mastitis Test (CMT) takes less than a minute and costs just a few dollars per test.
Pasteurize your milk if you’re concerned about bacteria. Keep it refrigerated and use it within two to three days of milking for the best quality and safety.
What’s mastitis and what are the symptoms?
Mastitis is an infection of the udder tissue, usually caused by bacteria entering through the teat canal. The affected udder half becomes hot, swollen, and painful to the touch.
The milk from that side will look abnormal — it may be watery, clumpy, or have a yellowish tint. The doe may also run a fever, go off her feed, or flinch when you try to milk her.
How do you get mastitis and how is it treated?
Bacteria enter through the teat opening, usually from dirty bedding, unclean milking equipment, or teat injuries. Once inside, the infection takes hold fast and the udder starts to swell within a day or two.
Treatment typically involves intramammary antibiotic tubes inserted directly into the teat canal. Proper dosing matters just as much here as when giving penicillin to a kid.
Milk out the affected side completely before inserting the tube, and always finish the full course of antibiotics even if the milk looks normal after a couple of days. Most treatment protocols run three to five days, and skipping doses gives the bacteria a chance to bounce back stronger.
What are the risks of drinking milk from goats with mastitis?
The bacteria in mastitis milk can cause food poisoning with symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. In rare cases, certain strains can lead to more serious infections.
If the doe is on antibiotics, the milk will contain drug residues that aren’t safe to consume. This is especially important for pregnant women considering goat milk.
You must observe the full withdrawal period listed on the medication before using the milk again.
How to prevent mastitis in goats?
Clean your hands and equipment before every milking session. Dip each teat in a sanitizing solution after milking to seal the teat canal and prevent bacteria from entering.
Milk on a consistent schedule each day and don’t skip sessions. Keep bedding clean and dry, since wet, dirty conditions are where mastitis-causing bacteria thrive and are also responsible for many zoonotic diseases that can pass to humans.
Run a CMT test on each milking doe at least once a week, and also understand that she has two functional teats, so test both sides independently. Subclinical mastitis, where the milk looks normal but the somatic cell count is high, is easy to miss without testing, and it quietly destroys udder tissue over time.
Final Thoughts
Don’t drink milk from a goat with mastitis, and don’t sell it either. Treat the infection, observe the antibiotic withdrawal period, and run a clean CMT test before putting that milk back in your kitchen.
In a pinch, mastitis milk can be pasteurized and fed to bottle kids rather than dumped. But for your own table, wait until the doe tests clean and the milk looks, smells, and tastes normal again.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can't drink milk from goats with mastitis. Mastitis is an infection of the mammary glands that causes pain, swelling, and milk to become discolored or contain pus. This makes it dangerous to consume milk containing these bacteria and viruses.
If you choose to drink goat's milk, take some basic precautions.
Mastitis is an infection of the udder tissue in goats, usually caused by bacteria entering through the teat canal. The affected udder half becomes hot, swollen, and painful, and the milk may look watery, clumpy, or yellowish. The doe may also run a fever or go off feed.
Bacteria enter the goat's udder through the teat opening, usually from dirty bedding, unclean milking equipment, or teat injuries. Treatment involves intramammary antibiotic tubes inserted into the teat canal, and the full course must be completed even if the milk looks normal after a couple of days.
