The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Fermette de La Forge on July 09, 2012, 08:14:13 am

Title: 5 month old kid in milk?
Post by: Fermette de La Forge on July 09, 2012, 08:14:13 am

Hi,
I've been a member for a while but |'m terrible at joining in things...
We have a smallholding in Central France on 1 hectare with 2 hectare woodland. Pretty much self-sufficient-ish! We have 4 ewes with lambs and three in-milk does and their kids as well as the usual poultry.
We were given a very lovely lady goat; a large Alpine bred for the goat farms here for producing milk for goat  cheese. She is a wonderful milker (but didn't take to the milking machine, hence her being given away! ) and this year had triplets (one of which later died). Both the remaining kids are girls and we would like to keep them to be milkers.
Now aged 5-6 months one of the kids has developed a lop-sided udder which on testing contains milk. It is fine, no hotness or redness and is soft and warm to the touch. Any suggestions about how to deal with this would be gratefully received.
Kind regards to all,
Julie

Title: Re: 5 month old kid in milk?
Post by: tizaala on July 09, 2012, 08:48:55 am

Don't worry, perfectly normal, she's just growing up, the other side will catch up soon, quite a few goats will produce milk without ever having kidded , very common situation it's just her hormones kicking in.

Title: Re: 5 month old kid in milk?
Post by: Fermette de La Forge on July 09, 2012, 09:27:02 am

Thanks for the quick reply!  :thumbsup: That's what we thought, especially as her mamma is such a great producer- none of our other does developed an udder until they were nearly due to give birth for the first time. I was just a bit concerned re her developing mastitis.
Cheers
Julie

Title: Re: 5 month old kid in milk?
Post by: plumseverywhere on July 09, 2012, 09:33:33 am

Hi Julie


my saanenX (also from a great line of milkers) developed an udder. She was a little older than your doe, 8 or 9 months I think. Eventually she produced so much milk that we had to milk her - its happened 2 years running now and we are up to 9 pints a day  :)

[size=78%]Lisa [/size]

Title: Re: 5 month old kid in milk?
Post by: ballingall on July 09, 2012, 12:50:32 pm

It is more unusual for a kid to produce milk, but it does happen. And generally is more likely to happen when they are bred from a very heavy milking line. Try not to milk her, unless her udder gets too full, as she really need her calcium to go into her bones this year and not into milk production!


Beth

Title: Re: 5 month old kid in milk?
Post by: Fermette de La Forge on July 09, 2012, 02:55:34 pm

Thank-you all for your responses. Yes, she is from a heavy milker and so we suspect that's why she's developed so early. I'll just keep an eye on her. We don't put our girls to the buck until they're over a year old so they develop fully.
Many thanks
Julie

Title: Re: 5 month old kid in milk?
Post by: Penninehillbilly on July 10, 2012, 12:25:37 am

Hi
my goatlings (sire from BS champ line) started to develop udders, I asked sire's owner what I should do, he said 'pray', ie hope I don't have to milk them out, they really need to finish growing first, more so with such a youngster I should think. one of them is fuller on one side, I'll worry about that if and when I need to  :)