Drying off my stubborn goat

[tonto]

Hi,

I have a goat who had a false pregnancy over a year ago.

According to the person I got her from, she had mastitis and that's
why she was retired as a milk goat. I thought I was imagining things
when her bags starting getting big, but when she started leaking milk,
I called the vet. The vet said she didn't have mastitis, and that I should
just milk her and eventually she would dry up.

The milk didn't look right; it was watery and thin, and a friend who has goats
said that she wouldn't drink it. So, I fed it to the compost pile.

In the beginning, I milked the goat once a day. Over time, I got her down
to once a week. However, a year later I was still milking her. Everyone
kept telling me that she would stop producing milk and she would absorb
the milk she had back into her body.

She is also very clumsy and has cut her bag up pretty badly on
occasion. I stopped milking her altogether on June 22. She is still huge,
and has managed to cut her bag again. She's not leaking milk or anything,
but it looks painful.

Is there anything I can do to make her bag go down?

The vet wants $110.00 just to come look at her.

thank you,
tonto

[Alice In TX/MO]

I don't mean to sound harsh, but why do you want to keep this goat? You don't want to milk her, she's difficult to keep healthy, and the vet is expensive.

Barbecue is my answer.

(sorry!)

[tonto]

Hi Rose,

I've considered butchering her, but she's 8 years old.
Wouldn't she be incredibly tough?

-tonto

[deafgoatlady]

Well You can butcher her. I heard that usually if they are older doe or wether and they ground them up and they said they are tough but if u ground them up and it is not bad at all. Good Luck. U can make it as saugages or ground meat.

[southerngurl]

What are you feeding her? Don't put her up on a stand where she is used to letting down milk. Just squirt a little milk out on the ground to keep her from being too full. Just feed grass hay only and see if she dries up.

[tonto]

Hi,

She hasn't been on a stand since I stopped milking her on June 22. It's been well over
a month so she's been "too full" for quite a while.

She gets a cup of alfalfa pellets in the morning, and she shares a flake with her
buddy in the evening. Given that it's really dry here, there's nothing to eat in the
pen but Eucalyptus, and they won't eat that.

I'd really rather not send her to freezer camp. She's sort of a pet, although an
ornery, grumpy pet.

-tonto