Milking questions

[ihedrick]

I have a group of milk goats on loan to me for a week...too long of a story to tell here! Anyway, the goats I have milked before were always healthy and had no problems. These girls are a different story; and I'm not sure of what to be concerned about and what is fine to leave alone. All goats described are lamancha. And they all were supposedly milking when the guy got them on monday and sent then to me on thursday. He said he milked each one for about 15-20 squirts on each side...not milking them out fully. That itself I know was not good for these girls.
Number 1 has milk only on one side and that side is lumpy feeling and looks lumpy too. The lumps feel very small like kernels of corn. The milk is not stringy or funny smelling and comes out what I consider normal.
Number 2 has a huge bag, cantalope size, and produced about 8-12 ounces at each milking. I would have thught she would have put out alot more for her bag size.
Number 3, for the first couple squeezes produced what looked like white glue. THen the rest came out like regular milking. Her udders are a little flaky/rough feeling...not smooth skin like the others.
Number 4 when finished milking her had one side very soft and seemed empty. The other side, even though no more milk was coming out still felt large and full.
Finally, number 5 milks fine but feels like she has a large gum ball in her teat. Milk comes out fine; and is easy to get milked.
Any comments is greatly appreciated.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Just milk them for the week, give them back with a smile and forget it. The things in their udder and milk are from them drying up. If he doesn't milk them they simply dry, the fluids leave first leaving you with cottage cheese milk as the solids come together. The hard udder is likely CAE and the half and half udder is likely old mastitis. your guess is as good as mine, and definetly not what you want in a good milking group. Leave them be, follow the directions of the man exactly, maybe he wants them dry and so only milk out the 20 squirts to relieve any congestion...they are his goats and on loan. Vicki