[NetherBrae]

I recently took on the two nannies that were advertised as needing homes through the market place.

The Saneen nanny is just super and is milking happily away. The Saneen cross has a damaged teat however. The vet had been out to see her in her previous home, given some antibiotics and pain killers and the owner was advised to let her dry up. Obviously, her role in life will be as a companion goat from now on - she won't be bred from again.

So far, so good. However she's now been away from her kids for five full days and she still looks as sore and swollen as when she arrived. I've not kept goats before so wondered - should she be starting to look a little better now? Her coat isn't looking too good either - not meaning she could have an issue there but just as if she's quite run down and so her coat looks bad.

This is my first foray into goat ownership (have pigs, sheep, turkeys, hens and children but no goats before) so a little unsure. When the pig had a touch of mastitis it cleared up really quickly after being treated. So my question is: am I worrying unneccessarily or should I bundle her off for a visit to the vets?

Thanks for your help

[jaykay]

I wonder how fast she's been dried off, and if in fact she needs a bit of milk taking off, to ease the pressure. You don't milk her out, just take off some so she's more comfortable. If she was milking heavily and was just taken straight from her kids, she could easily just have a painful udder from too much milk.

So you could try that and see if she looks better tomorrow. If not, I'd have her to the vet.

[NetherBrae]

Thanks jaykay. Will give that a try this afternoon and see how we get on.

[Anke]

If her coat is not looking good, what are her droppings like? You have wormed her (and the other one) on arrival and kept them inside for a few days until she was clear? Goats need a higher dose of wormer than the equivalent would be for a sheep, for example for an ivermectin one it would be 2x the sheep dose.
 
If she is a bit run down I would also give her a mineral/multivitamin drench (same as for sheep), and while she is drying off only feed hay (no concentrate and not the fresh juicy green grass that's about now - lots of milk from that) and best to keep her in or in a non-grassy yard. Once she is dry you should of course put her back onto grass, but not the same field as the sheep (worms). If she is not to be bred from she won't need much in the form of concentrate, she will put on condition slowly.