Hi, we just got our first doe in milk on Saturday! Last night and this morning though her milk has had a strong pink tint to it. Any ideas what this could be and how to fix it? Is it safe to drink?
Thanks!
Melissa
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Got it! Okay, what you're doing makes sense. Milking twice a day when a doe has only one kid is a good idea because the kid will get all he needs, and you'll hopefully be able to increase her milk supply.
There is no reason that a precocious udder would cause a doe to be lopsided. A precocious udder happens on both sides. A lopsided udder happens when you have a single kid that only nurses on one side -- or when a doe has a bad case of mastitis in a previous lactation.
Or is it possible that this kid is only nursing on one side?
Or does she self-suckle on one side only? That would be a weird one, but it's happened.
Unless the seller was someone you know and trust, and they've been raising goats long enough to know what they're talking about, you may have bought a problem. A simple precocious udder would not cause a goat to be lopsided.
To be on the safe side, I'd suggest purchasing a California Mastitis Test (CMT) and checking her to see if she does have mastitis. If your local farm store doesn't have it, you can purchase it online.
If she didn't have this odd milking history, I would have said that it was probably just a broken blood vessel in her udder due to improper milking, but there is enough weird stuff here that I'd suggest getting a CMT so that you can check her milk to see if she has an infection. It could be low grade enough at this time that it's not causing any additional outward symptoms. And I'd probably check every day or two until the blood is gone.
You could also put milk from each side into a different mason jar, then stick it in the fridge overnight to see which side has blood in it.
Thank you for your response! We didn’t purposely separate the other buckling. He had to be bottle fed for other reasons and so we were just sold the one buckling and doe. This is her 3rd freshening. The people we bought her from were milking twice a day so that’s what we started doing. We don’t ever separate the doe and buckling so hopefully he is still getting enough milk? She is a Nubian. She has always been lopsided they said due to a precocious udder. That side is harder to milk because it is always so full so it is possible that we milked her wrong a broke a vessel?
Is it possible that it’s the beginning of mastitis?
Just realized I missed a couple of things ... goats do not starve themselves to be stubborn. That is not a thing at all. However, a gallon of water a day is okay. I wouldn't be worried about that.
As far as refusing her minerals ... if it's an excellent mineral, such as Sweetlix Meat Maker or Purina Goat Mineral, then they should only consume about 1/2 ounce per day, so you will probably never see her consume any. It's unfortunate that a lot of people mistakenly assume that the best mineral is the one that they see their goat eating, which is the exact opposite of what is true. If a goat is eating it all the time, it's usually because they're starving for actual minerals, and that particular product doesn't have enough in it.
Melissa Sawyer said:
Her bucklings are 2 weeks old today. We are milking her twice a day by hand and letting her dam raise one buckling. Her temperature is 103.1. She seems to be acting ok and is eating her grain/alpha on the milk stand. She hasn’t been drinking as much as we would like but is drinking some (maybe 1 gallon a day). She also is refusing her minerals. We are new to goats though so not 100% sure on what normal behavior is and if she is sick or just being stubborn. We just got her on Saturday. Her udder is not hard or hot to the touch and I have not noticed any clumps in the milk. We cannot see any wounds on her teats or udders. Her milk has been noticeably pink today and last night and I just discovered that there is a pink residue in the bottom of my milk jars from Monday. Thank you for your help!!
This is not a great plan for someone who is new to goats. It's a much better idea to let her nurse both kids, and you can try to milk her once a day and take anything that is left over, which probably won't be much, if anything. Kids are MUCH better at keeping up a doe's milk supply than us humans. Plus if you are giving the other kid milk replacer, he will not be as healthy as the one that's dam raised because there are not antibodies in the milk replacer. This is why so many people use medicated milk replacer, which only helps with coccidia and nothing else.
When I got started in 2002 I used to see so many completely fail because back then "everyone" took kids at birth and bottle-raised because of the fear of CAE. I saw a lot of people with does that had mastitis or had dried up within a few weeks because they didn't know how to milk, so they were not getting all of the milk out of the udder, which meant the supply just kept going down and down, and with only partial emptying, it left bacteria in the udder, which led to mastitis.
Starting at least 10+ years ago, I won't sell a doe in milk to anyone who is new unless they take a kid with her and understand that the kid needs to nurse -- and I don't sell them until at least 2 months after freshening so that I know everything is going well for the doe in terms of milking.
It sounds like she has some broken blood vessels in her udder, which can happen from rough milking. I've only had one doe with this problem, and I had purchased her from a herd that had three young boys milking, and I'd seen them milk, so it was not really surprised to me when I saw blood in the bottom of my canning jar in the fridge. It took a couple of weeks to stop bleeding.
Assuming the doe is negative for TB, brucellosis, etc, her milk is safe to drink, although to be extra careful, you could just pasteurize it. However, with kids that are 2 weeks, old, her kids really need the milk. There is no way that a first freshener is going to produce enough milk for twins plus a human family. You would need a Jersey or other dairy for that kind of production.
I consider it my goats' health insurance to let the kids get as much milk as they need until they reach 20 pounds, which usually happens about 8 to 10 weeks of age. I haven't had a kid require deworming in 7-8 years now, and I've only had one with coccidiosis, which so many people think is inevitable. Goats (and other ruminants) really need the mom's milk to be as healthy as possible because they don't get as much placental transfer of antibodies due to the weirdness of the ruminant placenta (as compared to a human's).
After my kids are 20#, we start separating overnight whenever we want to milk in the morning. This also gives us a lot more freedom, so we are not tied to twice a day milking for 365 days a year. It may sound good now, but it gets old fast.
(We put first fresheners on the milk stand at least once a day for practice milking. If you never try to milk them until the kids are 2 months, it can be quite a rodeo as the doe thinks you are stealing her baby's milk.)
Her bucklings are 2 weeks old today. We are milking her twice a day by hand and letting her dam raise one buckling. Her temperature is 103.1. She seems to be acting ok and is eating her grain/alpha on the milk stand. She hasn’t been drinking as much as we would like but is drinking some (maybe 1 gallon a day). She also is refusing her minerals. We are new to goats though so not 100% sure on what normal behavior is and if she is sick or just being stubborn. We just got her on Saturday. Her udder is not hard or hot to the touch and I have not noticed any clumps in the milk. We cannot see any wounds on her teats or udders. Her milk has been noticeably pink today and last night and I just discovered that there is a pink residue in the bottom of my milk jars from Monday. Thank you for your help!!
Tammy has some great questions, so am looking forward to hearing your answers to those as mastitis is definitely a possibility. But sometimes a goat gets an internal injury that causes blood in the milk too. Is her udder getting really hugely filled with milk? Is she a first freshener? Sometimes a first freshener with an overabundance of milk can have some blood vessels break inside the udder.
Did the doe just freshen on Saturday, or did you buy a doe in milk on Saturday? If you just bought her, has her milk always had blood in it, or did you just start to notice it today?
Replies
Got it! Okay, what you're doing makes sense. Milking twice a day when a doe has only one kid is a good idea because the kid will get all he needs, and you'll hopefully be able to increase her milk supply.
There is no reason that a precocious udder would cause a doe to be lopsided. A precocious udder happens on both sides. A lopsided udder happens when you have a single kid that only nurses on one side -- or when a doe has a bad case of mastitis in a previous lactation.
Or is it possible that this kid is only nursing on one side?
Or does she self-suckle on one side only? That would be a weird one, but it's happened.
Unless the seller was someone you know and trust, and they've been raising goats long enough to know what they're talking about, you may have bought a problem. A simple precocious udder would not cause a goat to be lopsided.
To be on the safe side, I'd suggest purchasing a California Mastitis Test (CMT) and checking her to see if she does have mastitis. If your local farm store doesn't have it, you can purchase it online.
If she didn't have this odd milking history, I would have said that it was probably just a broken blood vessel in her udder due to improper milking, but there is enough weird stuff here that I'd suggest getting a CMT so that you can check her milk to see if she has an infection. It could be low grade enough at this time that it's not causing any additional outward symptoms. And I'd probably check every day or two until the blood is gone.
You could also put milk from each side into a different mason jar, then stick it in the fridge overnight to see which side has blood in it.
Is it possible that it’s the beginning of mastitis?
Just realized I missed a couple of things ... goats do not starve themselves to be stubborn. That is not a thing at all. However, a gallon of water a day is okay. I wouldn't be worried about that.
As far as refusing her minerals ... if it's an excellent mineral, such as Sweetlix Meat Maker or Purina Goat Mineral, then they should only consume about 1/2 ounce per day, so you will probably never see her consume any. It's unfortunate that a lot of people mistakenly assume that the best mineral is the one that they see their goat eating, which is the exact opposite of what is true. If a goat is eating it all the time, it's usually because they're starving for actual minerals, and that particular product doesn't have enough in it.
Melissa Sawyer said:
This is not a great plan for someone who is new to goats. It's a much better idea to let her nurse both kids, and you can try to milk her once a day and take anything that is left over, which probably won't be much, if anything. Kids are MUCH better at keeping up a doe's milk supply than us humans. Plus if you are giving the other kid milk replacer, he will not be as healthy as the one that's dam raised because there are not antibodies in the milk replacer. This is why so many people use medicated milk replacer, which only helps with coccidia and nothing else.
When I got started in 2002 I used to see so many completely fail because back then "everyone" took kids at birth and bottle-raised because of the fear of CAE. I saw a lot of people with does that had mastitis or had dried up within a few weeks because they didn't know how to milk, so they were not getting all of the milk out of the udder, which meant the supply just kept going down and down, and with only partial emptying, it left bacteria in the udder, which led to mastitis.
Starting at least 10+ years ago, I won't sell a doe in milk to anyone who is new unless they take a kid with her and understand that the kid needs to nurse -- and I don't sell them until at least 2 months after freshening so that I know everything is going well for the doe in terms of milking.
It sounds like she has some broken blood vessels in her udder, which can happen from rough milking. I've only had one doe with this problem, and I had purchased her from a herd that had three young boys milking, and I'd seen them milk, so it was not really surprised to me when I saw blood in the bottom of my canning jar in the fridge. It took a couple of weeks to stop bleeding.
Assuming the doe is negative for TB, brucellosis, etc, her milk is safe to drink, although to be extra careful, you could just pasteurize it. However, with kids that are 2 weeks, old, her kids really need the milk. There is no way that a first freshener is going to produce enough milk for twins plus a human family. You would need a Jersey or other dairy for that kind of production.
I consider it my goats' health insurance to let the kids get as much milk as they need until they reach 20 pounds, which usually happens about 8 to 10 weeks of age. I haven't had a kid require deworming in 7-8 years now, and I've only had one with coccidiosis, which so many people think is inevitable. Goats (and other ruminants) really need the mom's milk to be as healthy as possible because they don't get as much placental transfer of antibodies due to the weirdness of the ruminant placenta (as compared to a human's).
After my kids are 20#, we start separating overnight whenever we want to milk in the morning. This also gives us a lot more freedom, so we are not tied to twice a day milking for 365 days a year. It may sound good now, but it gets old fast.
(We put first fresheners on the milk stand at least once a day for practice milking. If you never try to milk them until the kids are 2 months, it can be quite a rodeo as the doe thinks you are stealing her baby's milk.)
Tammy has some great questions, so am looking forward to hearing your answers to those as mastitis is definitely a possibility. But sometimes a goat gets an internal injury that causes blood in the milk too. Is her udder getting really hugely filled with milk? Is she a first freshener? Sometimes a first freshener with an overabundance of milk can have some blood vessels break inside the udder.
Did the doe just freshen on Saturday, or did you buy a doe in milk on Saturday? If you just bought her, has her milk always had blood in it, or did you just start to notice it today?
Hi Melissa
Pink is blood. It could be anything from mastitis to an open would on one of her teats.
How long has she been in milk?
How are you milking her (machine or hand?)
Is her udder hard, hot to the touch, or red in any areas?
Can you see a wound anywhere?
Is she running a fever, refusing to eat or drink, or acting lethargic?
Sorry for all the questions!
Tammy