Chat
08-26-2014, 10:51 AM
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!
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!