Not enough milk!

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Good to hear you are getting everyone what they need. Bad news on the udder though. The udder will most likely never even out. Its just one of those things after a mastitis. Next year if you work hard and its not a recurring mastitis case, you may be able to get it a lot better but most of the time the doe becomes a "utility" milker.

[Nanno]

That's too bad that they usually never even out.

I never expected the smaller side to grow, but I'm hoping the larger side will shrink down when she dries up. Lilly had a very fleshy udder last year (both sides) and she always looked full even after I milked her. But when she dried up last winter both sides shrank and this year her udder looks like an empty bag after I milk her, which is what I hear it's supposed to look like. Is there any chance Petunia's "full" side could shrink when she dries up as Lilly's did?

[Taffy]

Don't give up hope! I have a friend whose doe had a nasty case of mastitis in one half of her udder. The udder was small while the other half was producing copious quantities of milk ( on milk test). This year the udder started producing milk again and her udder returned to the gorgeous udder she had previously.

Yes, Petunia's "full" side will shrink in size when she dries up.

[Nanno]

Thankfully Petunia's mastitis was pretty mild, and both sides of the udder look well-matched shape-wise, and the teats are the same size. The mastitis side just looks and feels like a miniature version of the other side. The babies nurse both sides equally, but both of them prefer the smaller side and will suck that one dry before they try the other. Petunia seems less touchy on the small side, which may be why they like it better. I'm hoping she'll nurse her babies till they're old enough. She's been kicking them off more frequently and more vigorously these last few days. At first I just thought it was chapped udder so I've been applying Bag Balm every morning, but even though the dryness has disappeared, the kicking has gotten worse. Petunia looks like she's had it with motherhood. I'm sure the babies are very demanding. They're growing like weeds and we all know how forceful goats are about food! I'm just glad that Snickers is happily taking a lot of his meals from Lilly now. Lilly doesn't seem to mind. As long as I hold her collar, she'll stand and nurse Snickers as long as he wants.

Phil and I were talking today about how hard it must be for Petunia to make this transition. Being Queen Lilly's only kid, she was the darling of the herd from the time she was born right up until about two weeks before Finn came along. Suddenly Pet was tossed out on her ear and discovered that without Lilly on her side, she had no friends and was bottom of the pecking order. She's been spending a lot of time by herself ever since and no one has really warmed up to her, poor girl. She sleeps outside a lot. She doesn't really get picked on and I see very little fighting, but all the other goats give Pet the cold shoulder and won't stand or lay next to her. They act like she's got the plague or something. I think she's pretty lonely and she doesn't really like having only her two boys for company.

[Nanno]

I know I had threatened to do hot compresses and massage on Petunia's larger udder half, but between chapped udder, relatives visiting, and too hot weather, I never got around to it. Well, after looking forlornly at her grossly lopsided udder, I decided I'd give it a try now that everyone's gone home, the weather has cooled off, and my daily applications of Bag Balm have done their work. I started twice a day hot compress and massage yesterday and tonight I already notice a difference! The large side has gone down considerably, and I have high hopes that it will be the same size as the other within a few days.

After about 20 minutes of hot compresses and massage, I rub in a salve that contains peppermint oil, which I hear is great for congested udder. My hands tingle for a couple of hours after I use it (even though I wash them) and I think next time I get a crick in my neck I'll rub this stuff on myself! I finish off with an application of Bag Balm (especially on the teats) to keep them from getting chapped again. The stuff may be messy, and Petunia hates the feel of it when I first smear it on, but it's amazing for chapped skin.

Anyway, I'm very pleased to see results so quickly and I hope this means Petunia will have a balanced udder soon. Petunia is going to be sad if it evens out. She loves her twice daily "spa treatments".

[Taffy]

Aha! Now I know what your next business venture will be! A Goat Spa!

[Nanno]

Oh man, that would be too much hard work! Actually, it's not so much hard as it is tedious. I mean, it's relaxing to sit and massage a goat udder for 20 minutes at a time, but it also gets kinda boring.

Petunia's big udder is now only about 1/2 again the size of the smaller one instead of 2-3x as big! I was sure we wouldn't be able to show her this year and our show string would consist of Nubbin, but now I've got hope that we may have a second show goat after all! Her udder looks pretty shrunken now because it's always empty, but I think if I were to tape her teats for a day she'd have a very nice little udder. If I let both halves fill up I don't think you'd even notice that one side was bigger any more!

The kids are still growing well. Snickers is getting a potbelly and the beginnings of a milk neck since he's getting supplemental meals off Lilly. Sputnik still won't drink from Lilly and is a little on the thin side (for one of my babies anyway), but he looks healthy and growing and certainly has no lack of energy! When Snickers and Sputnik come on the scene it's like a goat tornado! Sputnik actually pushed Huck Finn off the doghouse the other day. I'm not sure how he did it, being half Finn's size, but our littlest goat sure has some spunk! That's the real reason why he's thin--he takes after his grandma Lilly and runs everywhere all the time.

[Nanno]

A little follow-up on Petunia's udder here. It's not even, but it's not a disaster, and the side that got mastitis actually has more milk in it since there's less flesh inside, although it's not quite as easy to milk because it's squishier. This was the first morning after I pulled the kids, so the udder is quite engorged here.

   
   

It's settled down a little since then and the larger side has actually shrunk down a bit in the last few days (although I don't expect it to shrink any more). I can make it look even if I milk down the bigger side, but then of course it doesn't feel even any more. I'm less happy about her teat placement than about her lopsidedness, but there's not much to be done about that. At any rate, she's a good producer and her milk tastes excellent and has a lot of cream, so I'm taking her in for the one-day milk test with Nubbin and see if we can work on getting a star for these girls.

One thing I'll say for Petunia is that she's a natural-born milk goat in attitude. She's the first goat I've had that hasn't needed any training to be milked. All the others have been wild for the first couple of weeks and I've had a lot of spilled milk and lost tempers (both mine and the goat's!) until we found our stride. Petunia, on the other hand, has been quiet and calm from day 1. She loves being milked and acts like she's been doing it her whole life. Even if she has to stomp a fly or shift weight she's careful of the bucket. Good girl!

[sydneyjd]

What a beauty of an udder.

[Nanno]

This is a very old thread, but I was thinking of Petunia and her mastitis ordeal for some reason this morning, and I thought I'd write a follow-up to the story. 

Petunia recovered so well from her mastitis that we milked her all the way through September 2015. She was almost 500 days in lactation by the time she finally dried up (which she seemed very unwilling to do!). She consistently gave 2 quarts/day on one milking, and during the summer she gave 3 quarts/day on just one milking. She ramped up even more when I switched to 2x/day milking during August/September 2015 for the fall show season. She provided Phil and I with milk and cream for a whole year and stayed in excellent body condition throughout. She's the sleekest of my goats and definitely the easiest keeper of all my girls. 

By spring 2015, her udder was totally even on both sides, and in September at the CDGA Harvest Show, she got Reserve Champion Recorded Grade. The judge was impressed with her consistent production and how well her udder looked after milking through as a first freshener. Her udder stayed soft and elastic and all those lumps from the mastitis went away. 

We dried her up in October and have bred her for May 2016 kids (hoping she took). I'll be on the lookout for any recurring mastitis, but I have high hopes that she put this ordeal totally behind her. Way to go, Petunia!