What's wrong with this goat?

[juliew]

I know I was stupid to buy a goat before I was totally educated (or really educated at all), but....

I have this Nubian dairy goat that I just got, her and her kid. The person I bought her from had just been having her kid nurse her, but the kid is 3-4 months old. Her right teat milks great, but the left one is not hanging down like the right and when I try to milk it she kicks at me. It doesn't feel hot. The previous owner suggested she might be drying up. I haven't been able to see if the baby nurses from that side or not. What should I do? Sorry in advance for my ignorance and probably poor purchase

[Zone]

Usually when does only have one kid, the kid chooses a favorite side to nurse from and ignores the other side. This makes the udder lopsided. If the doe is not used to having her kid or anyone else handle her on the unused side, she could not like the sensation.

Or, it could be drying up. That too is also a possiblity, IMO.

Keep working with her. Check for mastitis. Any lumpy milk from that side?

[juliew]

Thanks for the advice. No milk at all from that side, but she hasn't been milked by hand for a while (I think at least 6 months) and she's new (like a day) to me so she's a little nervous. I haven't pushed it though. With the weekend coming on I plan to pin up the baby during the day and let her fill up with milk - this afternoon I only pinned up the baby for a few hours. I think I'll still let the baby nurse at night for a while.

[juliew]

Oh yeah, and I know hot and painful would be signs of mastitis, but what else? I'm sure it's here on this forum somewhere so forgive me if you're reading this and thinking "I just answered that the other day!"

[juliew]

Can you get the other side going if it is just the baby prefers the one side? Or do we just need to breed her again?

[Scrounger]

I had a LaMuncher once that would bag up HUGE on both sides. She would always have twins, but you could NEVER even get one SQUIRT of milk out of one side. In about 10 days, it would dry up and she'd keep going on the one.

[juliew]

Scrounger,

So keep milking the one side?

[Goat Servant]

If you can, you might try milking the dry side and fool her into thinking she needs to produce more on that side? But by your description it does sound like she is dry on that side.
Has she been getting grain?

[juliew]

Yes to the grain, both before I got her and now. I'm thinking maybe I should milk the milky side then the dry side? She gets super mad when I go over there.