The history of Meyenberg is fairly long, and ambiguous at points. The can I bought read, "Since 1934." The official company website notes that the business was founded by a Swiss immigrant, John Meyenberg, evidently in 1934. However, at some unspecified time in the late 1930's or early 1940's it was taken over or sold to a Harold Jackson, since we next find out that Harold's son Robert took charge when Harold died in 1944. Looking at other online sources, I learned that John P. Meyenberg, who started the company we're discussing, was the son of a John Baptist Meyenberg, who was huge in the dairy game himself. The elder John B. started the milk company known at various times as Helvetia and then Pet back in the late 1800's. These other online sources also stated that John P. Meyenberg began the Meyenberg Milk Product Company in 1921. So I'm not sure whether 1921 or 1934 is the true start date. Moving on, Robert Jackson served as President and CEO of Meyenberg for decades, along with his wife Carol, who was the V.P. and Chief Marketing Officer. They retired in 2017. Aside from the canned milk I bought, Meyenberg also makes fresh goat milk (in whole and low fat varieties), powdered goat milk pouches (again, available in whole or low fat options), goat milk butter, and goat milk cheddar cheese.
The main focus of the Meyenberg website, and even the label on my can, was about why goat milk is allegedly superior to cow milk. In fact, I was a bit surprised to learn that goat milk is apparently the most popular type, as 65-72% of the human-consumed dairy is from goats. (Not including, clearly, human-produced breast milk consumed by infants.) Goat milk proponents point out that it's sometimes easier to digest, for several reasons. First, goat milk has smaller fat particles, resulting in smaller and softer curds. Secondly, goat milk has less of the S1 casein (a protein) in it than does cow milk. People sometimes are allergic or intolerant of S1. Thirdly, goat milk has more short and medium chain fatty acids, which are easier to digest than larger ones. Some people can't handle any animal milk, since they can't digest the lactose that's present in all milk, but overall more can safely consume goat milk than cow milk. But there's more. Using goat milk instead of cow milk is better from an environmental standpoint as well, since goats require less water and produce less methane than do cows. Plus, goat milk needs less processing--it doesn't need homogenization because its fat globules don't stick together as much as cow's milk. Finally, from a nutritional perspective goat milk is better than cow milk in several ways. It has more Vitamin B1, magnesium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, and significantly more potassium. On the downside, cow's milk has more folate, selenium, riboflavin, and significantly more Vitamin B12. Also, goat milk does have more calories and fat than cow milk. Otherwise, Meyenberg proudly mentions that their goats do not receive bovine growth hormones, steroids, or antibiotics. (Although, this makes me wonder--what happens if the goats get bacteriological infections? Wouldn't antibiotics be the most effective and humane treatment? Maybe this refers to other antibiotics, for other reasons, but still.) The company even has detail about the various breeds of goat they use, and the specific traits each of these breeds exhibit.
Meyenberg evaporated whole goat milk, unsweetened: It came in a 12 ounce (354 mL) can, and was in liquid form. It looked like egg nog to me, as it was yellow-white in color. It didn't have much of an odor. I had some plain, and then some on Cheerios cereal. Plain it tasted kind of weird. A sourish taste, with no typical milk sweetness. It was alright, and certainly different. On Cheerios it was much the same. Sour. Odd but okay. At least it was its own thing. Therefore, I was going to end with saying that goat milk was a little strange, but decent overall. However, something happened. It had an aftertaste that wouldn't go away. I was still tasting it the entire rest of the day, even after eating and drinking other things. So that was off-putting. Because of this, I don't think I'll be having goat milk again. I think I'll get my goat milk in its cheese form--that's much more palatable. But if you're only able to digest goat milk versus cow milk, I can see it being a viable alternative.
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