I have a milking question. One of my does had one clump of a wax looking substance in her milk. She did not have a fever, looked great, udder felt fine, no ther symptoms. Vet said it could be normal but dump the milk. Next day 3 clumps of wax, but same thing, no other symptoms. Once again I dumped out the milk, and the vet suggested I bring a sample in to be tested.
The next day I was all ready to collect my sample, but it was a fine milking with no clumps at all. I've still been dumping the milk to be safe.
So, opinions? Should I still bring in a sample? Should I stop dumping the milk? She has been clump free for about 4 days now, and udder has felt fine all along, and no fever now, or when she had clumps in her milk.
Thank you in advance!
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If they are really small, they could just be a plug that forms between milkings, which is one good reason to always do first squirts into a different container and give it to the barn cat or chickens. If the doe has mastitis, the milk might taste salty. I have unknowingly consumed mastitis milk, and lived to tell. I actually consumed a few ounces in a bowl of cereal and was thinking that they had accidentally put too much salt in the cereal. Afterwards, my daughter told me that the goat's udder was warm, and it clicked immediately!
You can buy a California Mastitis Test (CMT) and keep it on hand to check for mastitis yourself. Really, everyone should do that once a month anyway. You'll catch mastitis while it's still subclinical.
I read another thread about this a while back. It had weird gel-looking clumps in it that would get caught when the owner strained the milk. I don't remember the details of the thread but if you do a bit of digging through the dairy forum I'm sure you'll find it. If I'm remembering correctly it was nothing to worry about, but that was a while ago so don't quote me on it.
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If they are really small, they could just be a plug that forms between milkings, which is one good reason to always do first squirts into a different container and give it to the barn cat or chickens. If the doe has mastitis, the milk might taste salty. I have unknowingly consumed mastitis milk, and lived to tell. I actually consumed a few ounces in a bowl of cereal and was thinking that they had accidentally put too much salt in the cereal. Afterwards, my daughter told me that the goat's udder was warm, and it clicked immediately!
You can buy a California Mastitis Test (CMT) and keep it on hand to check for mastitis yourself. Really, everyone should do that once a month anyway. You'll catch mastitis while it's still subclinical.
Here's the link to the thread:
http://nigeriandwarfgoats.ning.com/forum/topics/tiny-floaties-fleck...
I read another thread about this a while back. It had weird gel-looking clumps in it that would get caught when the owner strained the milk. I don't remember the details of the thread but if you do a bit of digging through the dairy forum I'm sure you'll find it. If I'm remembering correctly it was nothing to worry about, but that was a while ago so don't quote me on it.