I also grew up on a farm, and I can state unequivocally that the worst smell on earth is a hog pen. My grandpa had a small herd of goats but I don't remember anyone ever milking them.
Don't mean to start an argument, @Beth Gallagher but you are totally wrong! The worst smell on earth is a chicken house. Not the kind folks use to have but the huge ones today.
It's the hydrogen sulfate smell (like rotten eggs) that the chicken poop produces. It is also deadly.
When I was growing up, we went to a local dairy for our milk. My mom had these huge glass containers for the milk. She would scoop off the cream and sometimes make a bit of butter or we would just have it to put over berries or cobblers. The man at the dairy always let me try to milk a cow. It's harder to get a good amount than it looks. I've forgotten what this all tasted like, but I bet it was so much better than what we get at stores today. In addition, it actually had an expiration date close up, not good for over a month like the milk now.
I did not like our home-grown milk because there was always scum floating on top, which was probably cream but it grossed me out. Even now, I will use milk in cereal, but I don't eat cereal often, but I don't go through much milk. I have never liked drinking it. However, the goat's milk was even worse. I did like the homemade butter, though, and it was fun to make it. The homemade stuff was always white, though; not yellow.
All other things being equal, like what they graze on, I think the secret to good tasting goat milk (like cow's milk) is to chill it ASAP. My mother and I both tried our goat's milk, after it had been immediately chilled in the fridge. We agreed it tasted just like regular cow's milk, but neither of us ever cared for milk. This one goat would produce at least a gallon a week.
Milked pretty much everything but the chickens... still keep a few of those too. Adding water buffalo and mare's milk to the mix. Our goats, are raised in the mountains and they love to climb high up the coconut trees. It's fun to watch how fast they can scramble down for a handful of purslane which ours prefers over the young palm fronds whenever I get back from town. As a young child, I do remember having mother's milk (someone elses, not mine) squirted directly in my eye to clear an infection. Then there was a jungle eagle which I purchased in order to set free take a bonding to me and wound up leaving small monkeys on the veranda every morning... poor things.
My grandparents lived on a farm . The big red barn was down the road a bit versus out in the back somewhere.Their house sat on the topside of a mountain in Missouri. My grandmother let me try and milk a cow but at age six did not have enough zip in the fingers to produce even a drop . I was surprised it was so hard to accomplish. Lolo pig pen or hen house they all smelled bad to me. What is bad is stepping off into a big hole of manure in front of the barn and having to walk back to the house with poop up to your knees . My grandmother laughed for months- I was not happy especially since they has just bought me two new pair of shoes and though I was wearing neither- thought I was ruined at ever wearing shoes again.
Probably milk fat, which can just be taken off the top with a spoon. It is actually what makes the milk taste so good. This is why 2% milk is so thin.
It was cream. I use heavy whipping cream in my coffee instead of milk. It's amazing how good it makes coffee taste.
Well, I found pasteurized milk to be an improvement although anyone above the age of an infant has no logical reason to be drinking milk anyhow, particularly not from another species. Homemade butter was much better than the store stuff, though. I wonder how many millennials could say that they've ever milked a cow?