Blind half?

southerngurl · #1 06/12/07, 08:26 PM

My grandpa's nubian FF, the one we had the trouble with when she freshened (came heavily into milk early and ended up with sore teats that she would not allow the baby to suckle - think she was being fed too much grain) came out of the ordeal with one side that does not make much milk. The teat on the one side (which is huge, she has very large teats and they have evened up on each side) just fills up, so she gives maybe 1/2 a cup from that side. The other side is giving about 1/2 a gallon a day. I'm just wondering if there is anything we could do to help the other side? I'm not sure if it's called a blind half or not since it does produce some milk. She makes good milk and like I said, about 1/2 a gallon on the one side as an FF so she's a good milker other than that problem.

Also, we don't want her teats to get any bigger if we can help it. Is there anything we can do to prevent them getting bigger next time she is freshened? Should we try and milk her through the next breeding season and not breed her? Or will it still have just the same effect the next time she is bred whether it's next year or the year after? Her teats just kinda go into her udder, like it's all one. She is really easy to milk though. But I do worry if they get any bigger they may not be.

chamoisee · #2 06/12/07, 10:21 PM

To keep the teats from getting bigger, I'd milk her twice a day, which to be honest, woudl have prevented the other half of the udder from drying off.

I am all for dam raising, but even when dam raising, it is still necessary to milk the goat out at least oince a day and preferably twice a day right from the get go.

southerngurl · #3 06/13/07, 10:12 AM

She was kept empty by the kid. She had a HUGE little buck and he knew how to eat. We kept the painful side milked out twice a day until the baby was eating from both sides. Her teats are even, they are just big. I don't konw if they would have been that big anyway, or if it's because of all the milk she had before the kid was born.

I wasn't there or I would have milked her out a couple times before she kidded. I guess grandpa didn't milk her because he thought he needed to leave the first milk for the kid. Next time he would do different. It was quite the job.

Just wondering what to do from here. If there's anything that would be beneficial to her at this point.

AnniesGoats · #4 06/13/07, 10:47 AM

I do not know of anything that would bring milk in to that side.

As far as the teats are concerned, just handle them gently, no extra pulling.

I pull my dairy kids and pasteurize the milk, feed it back to the babies. I do this to protect the udder and teats, and to prevent CAE.

Are you sure the doe has not had mastitis in the dry side? Just a thought. The only case of mastitis that I had, one side of the udder, did lead to the doe not fully recovering in milk production on that side the next year.

**mygoat** · #5 06/13/07, 12:22 PM

Never milk the doe before she kids. It eliminates the colostrum, which should be the first meal of all kids.

Also, if she's a FF with huge teats, you may have a problem. They can be TOO big. However, it's worth re-freshening to see. Make sure that you breed her to a buck with proper teated lineage, though.

I think that she bagged up on one side. She may have blowouts from only having one kid to nurse. Just because he nursed does not mean she didn't bag up or swell too large, especially with one kid. If she was allowed to swell so much, it could've overstreached (blowout) I have a doe with one sided blowout... the teat is much larger than the opposite, and it is lopsided because of it... but it is still functional. At this point if I were you, I'd probably dry her off at least on the lesser producing side if not all the way. Then next year it will probably be in your best interest to pull any kids at birth and milk 2x per day from the get go, depending on how the udder looks.

bumpus · #6 06/13/07, 12:50 PM

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Milk is produced more or lesson on supply and demand, under pressure.

Milk the small side all the way out every 12 hours on a strict schedule

Milk is under pressure and the more pressure the bigger it will stretch the udder on that side.

Do not milk the other side leave it for the one kid.

It sounds crazy but if you separate the goat and baby from each other it will work better, and only let the baby nurse after you have milked out the small side first.

You can get more milk if you milk every 8 hours but the udder will not stretch which is what you want.

bumpus
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