Dairy products play an important role in human life, and especially children. By comparing the fat content of goat and cow milk, as well as other indicators, you can decide which one is healthier. Experts talk about the content of vitamins, microelements and other useful substances in the product. But the fat content of milk can be determined even at home.
What is the fat content of goat's milk?
The fat content of goat's milk varies from 3.2% to 6.5%. This percentage depends on several reasons.First of all, the composition of the final product is influenced by the breed of the animal. The highest fat milk comes from Nigerian Dwarf goats. The Saanen and Toggenburg have the lowest fat content.
The amount of fat in a dairy product is influenced by the feed used. In the spring, when goats eat young growth, milk yield increases, but the fat content of the milk decreases. During this period, concentrated feed should be added to the diet. From mid to late summer, when the grass loses its juiciness, the nutritional value of milk increases, but its quantity decreases.
The fat content of goat milk changes to a large extent during lactation, which lasts about ten months. After the birth of a kid, up to fifteen days the goat produces colostrum of high oiliness. Then, about nine months, the milk yield is of medium fat content. Milk production ends with the fifteen-day release of high-fat milk, which is called old milk. After this, the goat must be inseminated so that it begins to produce milk again.
Among other things, the fat content and quantity of a dairy product is influenced by genetic factors, metabolic rate, and harmonious body structure. The ability to care for the udder depends on the owner. It should be kept clean, properly milked and massaged, and milked at least three times a day. Morning milk always contains a higher percentage of fat content. With good care and proper feeding, a goat, on average, produces three liters of milk.
How to determine it at home
When buying milk in a store, you can easily find out its fat content; such information is contained on the packaging. Veterinary laboratories, production facilities and reception centers have special equipment that can accurately determine the composition of milk within a few minutes. Owners of mini-farms can seek help from specialists to accurately determine the fat content of milk yield. It will be more difficult to determine the fat content in homemade milk or purchased from private owners on the market, but it is still possible. To do this you need:
- Prepare a glass, marker or felt-tip pen, ruler or tape measure.
- Wipe the top of the container with a cotton pad soaked in alcohol.
- Measure ten centimeters from the bottom of the glass, making markings one millimeter at a time.
- After the measuring cup is ready, pour one hundred milliliters of milk into it.
- After twelve hours, you can evaluate the result. The thickness of the cream layer, measured in millimeters, will indicate the percentage of fat content.
This is the only way to determine the approximate fat content of milk at home.
Which milk is fattier: goat's or cow's?
If you compare goat and cow milk, the former is certainly fattier. To check this, you need to pour goat's milk into one glass, and cow's milk into the second. After a few hours, cream appears on the surface of the milk, but settled cow's milk becomes bluish, and goat's milk does not separate all the fat, since it is fine-grained, fat globules are distributed throughout the entire volume of the glass. Despite the fact that the cream layer is almost the same, the fat content of the milk differs significantly.
Depending on the breed of goat, fat content ranges from three and a half to six percent. And homemade cow's milk is from 3.2 to 5%.
All milk contains the same substances, but their quantities are different. Goat product contains more calcium (33%, cow product – 28%), higher calorie content, more iron, vitamin A, potassium, magnesium. The level of healthy fatty acids is 15% higher than in cow's milk.
Goat milk has a low lactose content and half the fat molecules, which allows the product to be better absorbed. There is no A1 casein, thanks to this feature the product does not cause allergic reactions. Saturated fats promote better absorption of vitamins.
Although goat's milk is fattier than cow's milk and may be considered harder on the body, this is not the case. Due to the presence of fat in a finely dispersed state, the product is well absorbed even by a child’s body. The presence of beneficial amino acids, vitamins and other substances has a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract and other human organs.
