The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: AlexInLincs on May 19, 2010, 10:00:59 am
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Hi
I am fairly new to goats and have been milking for a few months now with varying degrees of success. I am consistently getting 5.5 litres off of my milker in total spread over 2 milkings (3-3.5am and 2-2.5pm).
Recently her teats have cracked and despite my best efforts - creams etc I cannot get any improvement and in fact am worried that my hand milking is making the situation worse.
Any advice?
My thoughts are that I am going to have to stop milking her to get them better - do you agree? If so what is the best way to go about this?
I am reluctant to stop as she is my only milker, but at the end of the day she comes first.
Thanks
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If you stop milking her you could kill her. She is giving a very good yield, and because of that, if you suddenly stop milking her, she would almost certainly get mastitis, and mastitis, if severe, can kill. Definitely do not stop milking her. I know it is hard when they get sores, because it makes milking uncomfortable for them, but you need to persevere. If you do decide to stop milking her, you have to dry her off properly, reduce how much milk you take from her gradually, and gradually drop the number of milkings down.
I would recommend keeping milking her as normal, has anything changed recently about her routine? Have you changed her bedding or where you get it from? Has she got sunburnt recently? Our goats have been a little sunburnt on their udders over the past few days as its been nicer up here. Was she suckling a kid, and is not now?
Persevere with creams, we use E45, a healing balm made by a honey company. You could try aloe vera cream, it is always good too. If you need to get the sores to dry out a little bit, try a bit of veterinary wound powder.
Hope that helps, it can take a couple of weeks to get them healed up.
Beth
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Are cracked teats quite common or could it be something that I have done? I am new to milking and am worried that I may have unwittingly caused them with an incorrect milking technique or something?? How gently should I be handling her teats?
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How recently has she kidded? Its quite common to happen in the few weeks just after kidding. After all, they go from their udders being quite consistantly a similar size, then after they kid it suddenly goes from one extreme (really full) to another (really empty after you have milked). That change in size can cause them to get sores. The other thing we have found, is that if they have a nice udder, with small teats, angled from the udder (thats the kind of udder that a judge likes) then they seem to be more likely to get sores.
I wouldn't think it has been your handling, goats udders are fairly tough.
Beth
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Aloe vera cream or gel is very good for cracked teats. Also the udder cream for cows can help.
There is no way you can stop milking - she is a good milking goat giving that much milk. If it was only a tiny amount of milk then yes you could dry her off, but definitely not with an udder that full!!