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I am fortunate where I live to have convenient access to high quality, farm fresh milk from both cows and goats for reasonable prices. My family enjoys both types of dairy although each member of the family tends to have a preference if given the choice of one over the other.
One of my kids asked me the other day about goat milk versus cow milk and which was better than the other. Great question!
Goat Milk Advantages
The most significant difference between goat milk and cow milk is that fresh, unpasteurized cow milk forms a distinct creamline at the top and goat milk does not. The reason is that goat milk is naturally homogenized which means the fat molecules are smaller than in cow milk and so remain evenly dispersed throughout the milk. Incidentally, sheep milk is also naturally homogenized.
The smaller size of the fat globules seems to make goat milk more digestible for some people but not all.  I personally find no difference in digestibility between the two.
While the protein structure of cow and goat milk is fairly similar, goat milk is missing an alpha casein present in cow’s milk. In addition, when you drink a glass of goat milk and it reacts with the acid in your stomach, the protein curds that precipitate are smaller in size and a bit softer than the ones that form with cow’s milk. This is another reason some folks find goat milk to be more easily digested than cow milk.
Cow Milk Advantages
Cow milk is higher is vitamin B12 which so many people are severely deficient in. Goat milk also lacks folic acid making cow milk more suitable for homemade infant formula in the event the mother cannot breastfeed.
Cow milk is also higher in B6 making it a better choice for pregnant mothers who have morning sickness.  I myself suffered from B6 deficiency morning sickness and so found sipping fresh cow milk during the first trimester to bring immediate and welcome relief. Incidentally, B6 is destroyed by pasteurization so any sort of heat treated or pasteurized milk will not help in this regard. The milk must be farm fresh and preferably grassfed.
The Weston A. Price Foundation recommends adding 2 teaspoons organic raw chicken liver, frozen for 14 days, finely grated to each batch of the milk based formula if goat milk is used and encourages egg yolk feeding for babies to begin no later than four months old.  If cow milk is used, egg yolk feeding can be started later if desired at 6 months.
Cow milk is usually more readily available than goat milk and is typically a lower cost per gallon making it more suitable for tighter budgets.
Sometimes I’ve heard folks say that they prefer the taste of cow milk because goat milk tastes goaty, but in my experience, goaty tasting goat milk is more a result of quality than anything. The goat milk I buy doesn’t taste goaty unless it is more than a week old (and then it only gets a slight goaty taste) and is generally very similar in taste to cow milk.
Goat Milk vs Cow Milk?
Ultimately, the choice of whether to drink fresh cow or goat milk is a personal preference. In my home, I have both available and while I prefer cow milk, I do enjoy goat milk kefir for my smoothies just to mix things up a bit and provide more variety to my diet. For straight drinking, my husband prefers goat milk but loves cow milk cream on his fruit. My kids generally prefer cow milk although they don’t mind a glass of goat milk when it is really fresh.
So what did I answer my child when he asked whether one milk was better than the other? I told him that it was kind of like the difference between turkey and chicken. They are both yummy and healthy and it’s perfectly ok to prefer one over the other or even drink both if you want to!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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Sources and More Information
both, as long as there are no hormones, and it came from grass fed happy animals;0)
In reading this about cow and goat milk I wonder if perhaps I might tolerate goat milk. A few years ago I learned that I am intolerant of casein in cow milk. If I read correctly, casein does not appear to be in goat milk, maybe I could tolerate that. I have noticed the “goaty” taste of goat milk before and thought that was just the way goat milk tasted so I never had anymore. Perhaps I should try some good quality goat milk. I really miss my cow milk though…….
There is most definitely casein in goat milk. It is a different form of casein protein than is in most cow milk though. You may not react but you may. I’d suggest mare’s milk before goat milk for someone who is intolerant of cow milk as the casein protein in mare’s milk is completely different from the casein found in bovines.
I would love to try mare’s milk! One of my local farmers is working to start producing water buffalo milk!!! Can’t wait to try it!
Much easier on the digestive system
I’m thinking they’re both just as healthy, just one is a bit easier to digest for some people.
Goat’s milk is best for young children and is a better substitute for mother’s milk of almost ALL species than cow’s milk. It does not need supplementation. Goat’s milk is much more delicate than cow’s milk and would not sustain the rough handling than comes from retail situations. It affects the flavor of cow milk too…but people are used to the taste of older cow milk.
Hi Jenny, I understand that some folks feel goat milk is a better choice for babies and small children, but I have a different perspective as the low levels of B12, B6 and zero folic acid in goat’s milk is a real issue which is why the WAPF recommends adding grated raw liver to milk based formula made with goat’s milk. This problem is also mentioned in the Feeding Babies and Children Chapter of Nourishing Traditions Cookbook.
I don’t know. I read a study once that showed goat’s milk was absorbed in an infant’s stomach within 20 minutes, while it took nearly 8 hours for the cow’s milk to be absorbed.
Raw or pasteurized? Raw cow’s milk is absorbed very quickly which is why the raw milk fast is such an effective rejuvenative therapy.
Why is raw goat’s milk not as available, at least here in my county of California, than raw cow’s milk? We have Organic Pastures in most of our small mom and pop natural foods stores, not the big chains like Sprouts and Whole Foods, but never see raw goat’s milk, just pasteurized. I’d love to try it even though my experience was pretty awful joining a CSA who briefly sold it. It was super “goaty!” I guess that means it was old, or not stored cold enough? Maybe the goats were eating foul herbs or grasses? Anyway, anyone in California have it raw in their stores?
I really don’t know what’s going on in CA with raw goat milk not being too available. I am in Florida. There is certainly a lot of variability in the how easy it is to obtain based on the geographical area. Goat milk farmers are typically very small scale producers, so perhaps the land is so expensive in CA that most folks don’t have a few acres with which to run a few goats?
If you are close to the bay area, you can join this coop and buy a share to get raw goat milk, or get it directly from the farm. I went up there to try it and the milk was sweet and smooth. The farmers are super friendly and nice. This milk gets goatier tasting as the days roll by. Day one nothing. Day four something, day 7 goaty, but still no where as unpalatable as the store bought stuff.
I am looking for raw goat’s milk in CA too. I develop a cow-milk protein allergy during my pregnancies, so I am looking to switch to goat milk until I’m postpartum. So far I’ve been able to tolerate goat milk and cheese with no problem. I was told by a friend, who milks her own goats, that it is illegal to sell raw goats milk in CA. I’m not 100% on that, but looking into a CO-OP or getting “shares” in an animal is a good option if you can find it. My friend with the goats suggested posting an ad on the bulletin board of the local feed store, that is how a lady found and started getting milk from her.
The small health food stores in our area (LA and Ventura counties) that sell raw cows milk sell raw goats milk too. Claravale Farm is the Dairy that sells it here.
I’m curious on your thoughts about radiation form Japan and milk right now? I know they have levels of radiation in cow milk in Ca.Az,Wa and few otherstates. These findings where w couple of months ago but I wonder If it’s “safe” now? The plant is still out of control and the US is right in it’s pathway. I don’t hear much about it anymore which is scary. Just curious on your thoughts about the radiation and dairy.
Hi JJ, I am still drinking milk but mine is from Florida which has not gotten as much radiation fallout as more northern areas of North America. If I lived North, I would still drink it though. I know Sally Fallon, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation lives in the DC area and she is still drinking raw milk. I posted a blog a couple of months back on how to naturally deal with radiation. Cleansing baths and eating plenty of raw butter which is loaded with iodine as well as fish broth etc to keep the thyroid strong are good options.
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/03/natural-protection-from-radiation-exposure/
Sarah, Is it only raw butter that is a good source of iodine? Or will pasturized gf butter do? Thanks!
We had considered goat milk (which I’m told is available raw nearby) before we found our raw cow’s milk source. My kids were “allergic” to cow’s milk when they were little, but GAPS and switching to raw fixed that. (They can even tolerate pasteurized now if we are away from home temporarily, though most of the time we are just at my ILs and they have raw too.) I was concerned about the lack of B12 though especially when they were young, though I suppose since they eat a lot of grass-fed beef that it really isn’t that big an issue (that was a first food for my son, he loved to eat the ground beef in bits when he was 8 or 9 months).
Also I forgot to mention, I make her milk into kefir beige giving it to her, she was spitting up a lot and I figured she was having issues digesting with even the little pasteurization of my good milk source.
Rhiannon,
I had issues with my breastmilk (or lack there of) so we have been giving our son goat milk since birth. We do add some “things” to it to increase vitiman content and he does very well on it. He rarely spits up, isn’t gassy and he does not experience constipation like he did when I gave him canned formula (even organic). I breastfed as much as I could and suplimented with the goatmilk until 7 months when I weaned and went to all goat milk. He has not experienced any issues and is 50% height/weight at the dr’s. They lecture me when we go about raw milk, blah, blah, blah…I just nod my head and smile.
Danielle,
What do you add to the goat milk when you give it to your baby? My baby is on the best (in my opinion) commercially available organic formula (Nature’s One). She does well on it. But I am really interested in giving her raw milk for the many benefits it has. But most of what I read and hear is to wait until 1 year old to give whole milk. My baby is almost 8 months old.
I have a question, I’m making the infant formula for my baby and have been since we adopted her a 3 days old. My local source for cows milk is gone, their facility had an explosion. It was grassfed Holstein cows, lightly pasteurized to sell legally and not homogenized. My only other choice will be another local brandthat I’m not sure the cows diet is grass only, it is pasteurized and homogenized. I could possibly find raw goats milk though, which would be the better option? She is now 1 and only having two bottles a day.
Raw goat milk would be better than pasteurized and homogenized cow milk. If fact, I would not even consider using pasteurized and homogenized milk of any kind to make the homemade baby formula.
We used raw goat milk for the majority of our adopted infants bottle feedings. She did far better then she did on the cows milk.