Possibly self sucking doe

DaniR1968 · #1 05/28/14, 11:14 AM

I have been milking my ff doe for about a month now. Not once has her udder felt really full. At first I thought it was because I was only separating her from the babies for 9 or 10 hours. I have had a couple of times where it was a full 12 hours and her udder was not tight and full like I expected.

This morning I got about half what I normally get. Last night it was a full 12 hours that she was separated from the kids so you would expect a nice full udder. It finally occurred to me she might be self sucking. The kids are in a dog crate at night so can't be nursing. Not unless she is managing to shove one teat at a time into the crate!

I would like to try to tape her teats to see if that works before resorting to the coffee can collar. What do you use to tape them?

I will also be adjusting her diet and see if (hopefully) she is doing it because of something missing I her diet.

CJBegins · #2 05/28/14, 11:29 AM

I think I would try the plastic coffee can neck collar that Alice invented. It will keep her from bending her neck back to reach her udder.

upsidedown · #3 05/28/14, 02:05 PM

I have a doe that she gets so full and lays down there is a puddle of milk. IDK maybe she is doing that.. Just an idea. Good luck.

coso · #4 05/28/14, 02:32 PM

I just use a cloth medical tape. The wider the better. If you put it on and it's off the next morning at least your suspicions will be confirmed, then you will have to figure out how to stop her. I have never had any luck with that !!

DaniR1968 · #5 05/28/14, 02:55 PM

Upsidedown, she is usually laying on something solid when I come in to milk and I have never seen any signs of leaking. Besides, I wouldn't think she would leak out enough to suggest she had been nursed. I could be wrong about that.

coso, thank you. I think I might have some medical tape.

I want to see if she is self sucking before putting the collar on her. If she I self sucking, she will get the coffee can collar.

vancom · #6 05/28/14, 06:17 PM

had one, Valentine. used the cloth tape already mentioned. it helped. kept her cause she had healthy gorgeous babies, but it was a pain dealing with it. not to her; just to me!

DaniR1968 · #7 05/29/14, 09:05 AM

Good news is that she is not self sucking. The tape was still there this morning. The bad news is that she still did not have much milk. For some reason her milk production has really reduced recently.

She appears to be healthy so I'm going to make some changes to her feed and see if that helps.

coso · #8 05/29/14, 09:48 AM

Have you wormed her with Cydectin or some other wormer that is working in your area. I notice one of the first things that starts dropping if they are developing a worm load is milk production. A good quality alfalfa hay, and a good lactation feed will up your milk production.

DaniR1968 · #9 05/29/14, 09:50 AM

Good idea on the worming. I will pick some up while I am picking up feed.

DaniR1968 · #10 05/31/14, 09:45 AM

I don't know if it was the wormer or feed change but her production is going back up. I haven't actually milked her in the last two days but have been penning the kids at night so I can check her in the morning. Her udder was nice and tight this morning. Tomorrow I will milk her and see how much I get.

BadFordRanger · #11 05/31/14, 10:01 AM

I have never had a milk goat, "Yet" so this is only from my readings, but it sounds as if you aren't keeping a regular routine of milking on a schedule!
From what I have read, you will loose milk production if not, and especially if you wait until the next morning before you milk a full udder!

Ranger

DaniR1968 · #12 05/31/14, 12:23 PM

Ranger, I milk her every day at the same time. The only thing that varies is the time I pen the kids up. I haven't milked her the last two days because there was so little, I didn't want to risk not leaving enough for the kids. Now that I know she is making more milk, I will resume milking in the mornings.

Also, I am not leaving her with a full udder. The kids are let back with her in the morning and are with her all day until I pen them in the evening.

Alice In TX/MO · #13 05/31/14, 12:33 PM

Not milking her for two days? Yes, that signals a shut down.

Her body will adjust to demand. Be consistent.

DaniR1968 · #14 05/31/14, 12:57 PM

Alice, her production went down before I stopped milking. She has two kids on her for at least 12 hours every day that should keep her producing. After a full 12 hours without the kids on her, I got less than a cup of milk and her udder was not tight.

I did not want to take what little she was making and risk the kids not getting enough until I could get her production back up. Now that it is back up, I will resume milking her.

Alice In TX/MO · #15 05/31/14, 12:59 PM

Oh. Got it. My brain hiccuped or something.

DaniR1968 · #16 06/01/14, 09:20 AM

I milked her this morning and production is back up!!! Thanks for the help and suggestions.

southerngurl · #17 06/01/14, 09:39 PM

I had a doe that did this when she was copper deficient.