Quick question about raising kids w/mom

TRAILRIDER · #1 09/12/12, 03:37 PM

If I am going to let my babies stay with thier moms for awhile, instead of pulling to bottle raise. But I still want to milk. Do I still use my "fight bac" spray on the teats after milking? or would that discourage the babies from nursing? Would I also still use the udder wash before milking?

CaliannG · #2 09/12/12, 03:41 PM

Yes, and yes. Udder wash before milking, because baby goat mouths are NOT complete antibacterial washes. FightBac after because you cannot guarantee that a baby goat is going to nurse right after Mom gets off the stand and therefore keep nasties from getting into her orifices.

Cliff · #3 09/12/12, 03:53 PM

I wouldn't be putting anything chemical on her teats for the babies to later ingest.

Wash your hands well before milking, don't touch orifices with your skin, make sure you shake any extra drips off when you're done and that should be good. Milk itself has natural antibacterial properties and also I don't like disrupting the natural good flora of the skin with chemicals. Removing or disrupting the natural protection of the skin has been proven to make it easier for bad organisms to infect humans and I don't see why it'd be any different for goats.

This opinion won't be popular with a few here, sorry. I think we interfere too much with natural processes and end up causing more harm than we prevent sometimes.

People have been milking animals for a long long time without sterilizing their teats.

CaliannG · #4 09/12/12, 04:18 PM

~smiles~ Yes, people have been milking animals for a long time without sterilizing their teats...and milking animals have suffered from infections that led to death for a long time due to it. That is rather like saying that people lived for thousands of years without the benefit of a dentist...while ignoring the fact that Pharaoh Hatshepsut, THE only woman to rule as a * Pharaoh* in Egypt, rather than as Queen or Consort, actually *died* from an infected tooth.

The ~natural~ way for animals to be milked is by their young. There are certain enzymes in saliva that do fight many forms of bacteria, as well as other enzymes that tell the orifices to close up. We don't have those enzymes in our hands, so we do our best with other things that will accomplish a similar end.

Likewise, while saliva does have antibacterial properties towards organism that will infect an udder, it also has *other* bacteria that are not necessarily good for us. Thus, we wash the udder before milking.

~grinz and winks~ If you want to go "au natural", don't milk animals...as it is not natural for animals to be milked or suckled upon by any but their own young.

**mygoat** · #5 09/12/12, 04:34 PM

IN general, there is ZERO things about raising livestock that is 'natural'. In the wild, an animal would only be in lactation for a short amount of time, produce little milk, and have most bacteria cleaned from the teat and removed from udder by the baby. The simple fact that the lactation of a dairy animal is 10 months or more as opposed to a few months for a 'natural' animal, means that it is more likely to get mastitis. The fact that a dairy animal produces WAY more milk than a 'natural' animal, means it is more prone to mastitis issues (bred for orifice sizes, teat size etc, udder attachments etc)

Also in the wild, the animal doesn't have to sleep on soiled bedding every night - which, unless you clean the barn every day, your domestic animals are *probably* doing. A wild animal may spend most nights in one safe location, but spends MOST of it's day away from that location browsing/grazing, returning only to sleep there. Relatively little fecal matter/urine builds up in that location therefore. I know my goats spend far too much time lounging around the barn, pooing and peeing happily there.

And finally, aside from infection that may occur in the dairy animal, cleanliness during milking will greatly affect the quality of milk you recieve as well as the shelf life. In the olden days, there was no refridgeration so milk spoiled quickly *anyways*, and thus fresh milk was always needed.

Personally, I'd wash the udder and do a teat dip. My udder wash/teat dip is water, a splash of bleach, and a squirt of dawn dish soap. Separate kids in the PM, milk in the AM, let udders dry after teat dip for 15 or so mins, then release the kids. Chlorine dissipates really fast and is pretty darn safe for the kids.

FrogTacos · #6 09/12/12, 04:47 PM

If you do the dip afterwards, you can also then wait a few minutes, then rinse her teat with her own milk. Pull a squirt into your hand, rinse, 3 times, then let the babies at her.

Alice In TX/MO · #7 09/12/12, 05:02 PM

Um.... your hands aren't clean, either.

LoneStrChic23 · #8 09/12/12, 05:16 PM

When I dam raised, I washed the udder before milking & washed my hands..... After milking, sprayed with Fight Bac..... Let doe finish up her grain, tossed out fresh hay & then let the kid back in with her.

Worked out just fine for us.

Shayanna · #9 09/13/12, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mygoat

Also in the wild, the animal doesn't have to sleep on soiled bedding every night - which, unless you clean the barn every day, your domestic animals are *probably* doing. A wild animal may spend most nights in one safe location, but spends MOST of it's day away from that location browsing/grazing, returning only to sleep there. Relatively little fecal matter/urine builds up in that location therefore. I know my goats spend far too much time lounging around the barn, pooing and peeing happily there.

I know this is way off topic, but is it wierd that my goats do their best to not "go" in their shed? I don't lock them up at night, and it is not uncommon for me to see them go outside to do their business.... I occasionally find a stray goat berry or two, but its pretty rare lately.

CaliannG · #10 09/13/12, 10:09 AM

No Shayanna, it's not weird. Goats don't like to sleep in their own muck.

It's one of the reasons some of them are so easily house-trained. Cypress, my cou blanc Alpine, will NOT go inside unless she absolutely has to. They were shocked that she was housebroken at the vets office.

They don't like to do their business on the milk stand either.

TRAILRIDER · #11 09/13/12, 01:12 PM

You are all so helpful. Right now when I milk I spray the udder with a diluted betadine solution that I get from Hoegger's, I also spray and wipe my hands with it. I use fight bac after milking. So i have an idea what I'll do now.

That's so interesting about the Hatshepsut. I know people have died from a tooth abcess when the infection made its way to the brain. Not to mention the harm that the bacteria can do to the heart. Thank you again for your input.

**mygoat** · #12 09/13/12, 02:32 PM

My girls NEVER EVER EVER poo in the milkroom. EVER. Not once. 3 years milking one girl, 2 years milking the other (she was a 2YO FF)

They do, however, poo/pee like crazy in their barn area. *sigh*

Pony · #13 09/14/12, 08:04 AM

I wash the teats/bag with the recipe from Fias Co before milking, then wipe off the teats with it afterward.

<shrug> Works for me.

rootsandwings · #14 09/14/12, 08:46 PM

wash hands and udder with water and dishsoap before milking. that's it. 8 years, 4 milking does, no infections, few issues with off tasting milk (usually due to not getting it in the fridge soon enough, phone call, kids... or breeding the doe and having her still be all bucky at milking time.)