Hi all,
I was wondering what everyone uses when they wash the udders and then dip their teats afterwards.
I was told by a local dairy farm to just use unscented baby wipes to clean the udder with and then use the Nolvasan Solution to dip with. The said they have never had a problem with mastitis.
What does everyone else use?
Thanks!
Replies
I never gave much thought about what was in a baby wipe. Now I will have to look. LOL
Since I do use a hand milker first, I guess dipping teats is a good idea. I do like the iodine idea though since I have plenty of it. Any idea what the ratio of water/iodine might be?
I wash with a wash cloth using a solution of a few drops of tea tree oil and a squirt of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint soap in small bucket of water. Right now, all my does have kids on them all day so I don't dip. When the kids are taken away from them, I'll dip. I haven't decided what I'll use yet though.
Ditto on the baby wipes, although a lot of folks do it seems. I was taught 18 years ago to use the fight bac spray on the teats and that is all we ever did. I have already bought some in prep for milking but no wipes!
We wipe off the udder with a wet washcloth (clean side for each goat) and we use nothing for teat dip and have only had one case of mastitis in a la mancha, which is not bad considering how many goats we've milked over the past ten years. Provided your barn is relatively clean and you are hand milking, I don't think teat dips are all that important. If you are using a machine, however, every goat is getting exposed to every other goat's milk and germs, so pre- and post-dipping is more important. Iodine is used in a lot of organic dairies, and I've actually decided to start using that when I'm using my machine. I personally would not use baby wipes because they contain stuff that I'd never want in my mouth.