I have a fairly new doe that about 2 months ago had triplets ( her second set) first freshening was not here and not sure if kids nursed off her. She udder is beautiful. Round and high, but that seems to be my problem. She is soooo hard to milk because her udder is so round and tight it's hard to get your hand on any part to force the milk into the teat. Her teats are still small the milk doesn't seem to flow into the teat without pressure on udder and my hand can't grasp her udder at all. Her babies are on her for two more weeks so I just milking her a little once a day. She only gives me 2-3 oz then she seems to be withholding it. I have separated her babies three times and first time she gave 1 lb 9 oz (with a milking machine) but next two times about 10 oz. she has plenty more milk I can feel it but won't let it go. How do you break this when her babies leave ? I am keeping one. Also how do I hand milk her with that kind of udder? I have milked goats for one year and never had this problem. Any ideas? Thanks a million.
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I have a doe exactly like that. She has an udder like a pair of round watermelons with tiny pencil erasers for teats, and she wouldn't let her milk down for me after her first kidding. My first year with her was an ordeal (she tried kicking, jumping, lying down on the milk stand, you name it), but her second year has been much better. As Deb suggests, I rub her udder with a nice warm, wet cloth and dry it by rubbing vigorously with a paper towel before I start milking her. When she's early in her lactation, I often just have to get a little out of one teat, then a little out of the other teat, until the pressure is off a bit and the udder empties enough to soften up. I stop to massage her udder every few minutes to encourage her to let down. She's always a bit slower to let her milk down before her kids are weaned. But she's turned out to be a terrific milker.
You might try putting a warm washcloth on her rear udder to see if that helps her to let down her milk. If she does better with a machine, I'd use that. (Sounds like you did not use a machine the second and third time.) Some goats do better by hand; some do better with a machine. If you have to milk by hand, you may have to just use the rolling thumb and fingers technique until you get enough milk out for her udder to soften up. Hopefully it does soften up after you have milked out a few ounces. If not, it could just be that she has bad udder texture. If you've ever seen breeders brag about "a buttery soft udder that milks down to nothing," they are saying that their goat is basically the opposite of what you're describing. You don't really appreciate those soft udders until you get one with poor udder texture.
Some people completely freak out when you mention a doe with a hard udder because that is a symptom of CAE, so if this doe was not tested, you might want to do that just to be sure.
Yes I have milked for just over a year. The other ones never withheld milk and their udders were softer and more pliable. This does udder is round and tight. It's like trying to milk a water balloon with small teats.
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I have a doe exactly like that. She has an udder like a pair of round watermelons with tiny pencil erasers for teats, and she wouldn't let her milk down for me after her first kidding. My first year with her was an ordeal (she tried kicking, jumping, lying down on the milk stand, you name it), but her second year has been much better. As Deb suggests, I rub her udder with a nice warm, wet cloth and dry it by rubbing vigorously with a paper towel before I start milking her. When she's early in her lactation, I often just have to get a little out of one teat, then a little out of the other teat, until the pressure is off a bit and the udder empties enough to soften up. I stop to massage her udder every few minutes to encourage her to let down. She's always a bit slower to let her milk down before her kids are weaned. But she's turned out to be a terrific milker.
You might try putting a warm washcloth on her rear udder to see if that helps her to let down her milk. If she does better with a machine, I'd use that. (Sounds like you did not use a machine the second and third time.) Some goats do better by hand; some do better with a machine. If you have to milk by hand, you may have to just use the rolling thumb and fingers technique until you get enough milk out for her udder to soften up. Hopefully it does soften up after you have milked out a few ounces. If not, it could just be that she has bad udder texture. If you've ever seen breeders brag about "a buttery soft udder that milks down to nothing," they are saying that their goat is basically the opposite of what you're describing. You don't really appreciate those soft udders until you get one with poor udder texture.
Some people completely freak out when you mention a doe with a hard udder because that is a symptom of CAE, so if this doe was not tested, you might want to do that just to be sure.
So you are not new to milking, just to this doe?