I have a wonderful 2 year old first freshening doe that I has been milked 2x's daily since March. She is incredibly easy to milk with huge orifices so that the milk just gushes out.
Two weeks ago I found that I could not milk from the right side. Milk did not come out at all. I finally had to pick out a scab from the orifice before I could get any milk out. This continued for a week at every milking. Not easy to pick the scab out either.
This week there is no scab but it takes forever to get the milk flowing and when it does it does not come out like on the left side. It takes ten times longer to milk out the right side. Since I have to use more pressure to get the milk out the doe does not like it.
Everything is normal-no signs of mastitis. Whats going on here. To look at the orifice now it looks normal but it instead of one hole there appears that there may be two. How to correct this?
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Deborah your mail is just fine...should have started a new post. This is her 2nd freshening.
I am checking her babies and offered a bottle just to make sure. One doeling took me up on it, I just want to be sure that everyone is full!
I was able to massage the clots inside the teat in order to break them down a little bit and get them to pass. It was not easy to get some of them out. I'm not sure how safe it was, what I did- as far as damaging the teat. I felt like I needed to get that stuff out of there and my doe has not had trouble since. The kids are keeping her completely empty on both sides so obviously that side is not clogging anymore.
I worked them down into the teat and then literally squashed them between my fingers, inside the teat, to try and break it down into something that would pass. Again NO IDEA how safe that was, my doe seems fine...
Also, please do NOT assume this doe can feed quads on one side. She would have to be capable of producing 1.75 gallons a day (from a full udder) to be able to do that. Kids can muddle along a couple days on insufficient milk, but they will not last long. Since Ihave been gone from home the last 3 days, we had our first ever case of mastitis in a sheep, and I am afraid my check-in with home this morning, they will be telling me that the second lamb has died.
If this goat dried up on that side last year, that sounds a lot like a goat I bought when I new. She had a history of matitis on that side, and she would produce milk for about 3-4 days then dry up.
Success! I used a 1.5 mm crochet hook and got a fairly good stream going. Able to milk out several cups, massaged with peppermint lotion. Her kids are nursing on that side. Now we'll see if it stays open!
Ok, so this same doe kidded last week. Everything seemed normal but the right side was getting larger. I tried to express some milk out but totally blocked! Brought her to the vet and they used a cannula to get the milk going and milked her out a little. No mastitis they said but gave her a shot of antibiotic since they were up there. Kids nursing on it but then they stopped a few days out. I got her on the goat stand and could only get a few drops out at a time. Vets office out on call so I asked about using a crochet hook. They gave the ok, so I sterilized it and got up there. Was able to get a thin stream going and milk some out. This morning, cant get nothing so I am sterilizing the hooks now and will try this again. Using peppermint udder lotion afterwards.
Cant feel any calculi and not getting any clots out. Looks like normal milk. To back up, last year she dried up on that side and I just let her be. I believe it wasn't mastitis last year but another clot.
So what can I do? Keep using the crochet hook and massage? Sounds like Juliana has a similar situation going on. Luckily this doe has lots of milk and is feeding quads on just one side.
I don't have any experience with mastitis at all, but I have seen a case where there was a tiny stone (calcium?) blocking the milk from coming out, and they used a very tiny crochet/tatting hook to get it out. Would that maybe work to unblock the yuck that might be keeping any milk from coming out??? That may help with the culturing? I really have no idea, and it sounds scary, but I thought I'd throw that out there anyway. Best wishes!
Ugh, that's a tough call. The logical side of my brain would probably say don't bother, but the emotional side of me would probably just continue out of desperation until you got the culture done and figured out what will work. Regardless of what you do with the antibiotics, you can certainly use the peppermint on the udder.
Not sure on the culture if you truly can't get out any milk at all. Maybe the vet will suggest a different class of antibiotics? A vet near us once told someone that if the first prescription drug didn't work, the goat would just die, and she called me, so I suggested she at least try Biomycin, which is over the counter, and it worked. She had a really bad case of mastitis, so there is hope. Maybe the Nuflor will help.
Yes I was expecting the udder to get better and milking to be easier. Do you think I should still use the Today? I do have some peppermint udder cream on hand.
How do we culture the milk if I cant get any out, lol. Couldn't bring her into the vets office today because they were too busy!
Yikes! If it has gotten worse while using Today, obviously it's not working. You need to culture the milk to see what will work. If you have any peppermint and/or oregano essential oil, you could mix that into a carrier oil and massage it onto the udder 2-3 times a day.
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