# Blood in milk?



## Zelda (May 2, 2009)

I have not seen blood in the milk, but someone who takes some of my doe's milk said there was something in one of the bottles that looked like blood. Keep in mind - she pours it into her own small neck quart bottles (ones that hold juice and have a small neck) using her own funnel from home.

If there WAS blood in the milk, wouldn't I have seen it when I milked or filtered or bottled it? I am having a hard time seeing how I could have missed that.

She's not upset, but I am! Ok, not really upset, but I don't want to overlook a quality control issue if there is one.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

sounds like she probably had something in the bottle - you would have seen the blood more then likely.

Now sometimes there is a bit of blood in the milk due to a doe being rammed in the udder hard or the start of mastitis. 

You can get some mastitis tests and if she comes up clean then you have nothing to fear.


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

Is she a newly or young freshened doe? They can sometimes have blood in their milk.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

You would have seen it in the filter, small specs of red. Do as Stacey said and get one of those Mastitis tests. Will give you peace of mind and I agree that she likely had some juice residue in the bottle that caused the discoloration.


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## K-Ro (Oct 14, 2007)

You might have seen it in the filter, but if all it is is a small broken vessel then it wouldn't be seen until it settled into one place. Like Stacey and Liz stated, check for mastitis if she is clear then I wouldn't worry about it right now and wait and see if anything else appears next time.


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## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

Yup I agree, could be justa broken bllod vessal. it happens. But i would run a mastitis test just to be sure.
beth


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## Zelda (May 2, 2009)

Update: I checked all the bottles in my fridge, and there is one that is older (maybe 3 days) that has a tiny bit of rusty looking precipitate settled in the bottom.  I have been looking VERY closely at the filter after I strain, and have found a tiny clot or two - a little smaller than the size of a stainless steel pin head. There isn't any clotted milk or any other ropey looking stuff.

I will probably have to order a mastitis test, but will look at the small local feed store today.

I read about drenching a doe with her own milk to potentially build an immune response against mastitis - when I offered my doe about a half cup of fresh milk this morning, she drank it right out of the bowl and looked pleased. In the mean time, I will read up on conventional treatments.

Any other suggestions for treating her over the next few days are welcome.


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## K-Ro (Oct 14, 2007)

It might not be mastitis at all, it could very well just be a broken blood vessel. Your local feed store might have a couple mastitis cards in stock you could use to test with.

Some does love to drink milk too, plus it is a great source of calcium and vitamins for them. When I have way to much milk and am to lazy to put it all up I just feed it back to them.


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## Zelda (May 2, 2009)

K-Ro said:


> It might not be mastitis at all, it could very well just be a broken blood vessel. Your local feed store might have a couple mastitis cards in stock you could use to test with.
> 
> Some does love to drink milk too, plus it is a great source of calcium and vitamins for them. When I have way to much milk and am to lazy to put it all up I just feed it back to them.


Thanks - interesting to know you can feed milk back to them. I would _never _have thought of that, and we do have a LOT of milk at times.

I *hope* it's just a broken vessel.

When the doe has mastitis and there are lumps, chunks, and/or blood - are we talking about big chunks of stuff? Like cottage cheese size?

I could not find mastitis test cards locally, but will get the California test stuff ordered ASAP on Tuesday.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Small flakes in the milk I found can be normal for some does, I panicked last year when I was finding flakes in the filter after milking...but not at all milkings, never anything more than that.

Theres a "homemade" mastitis test you can use, keren posted the "recipe" awhile back.
1/2 cup warm water and add 2-3 drops soap to it....(I would think that a regular dish soap without bleach in it would work) stir it up and add 1/2 cup warm milk, stir, if it turns thick and slimey, theres infection and it would be best to have a vet check her or get a regular mastitis test to double check, if it looks like watered down milk, then theres no bacteria in the udder/milk.


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## Zelda (May 2, 2009)

Belated thanks for posting that, Liz. I still have not tried it, but will at the next milking. I am not seeing any flakes or clots in her milk at all.

A titch of blood still settles in some bottles. It's just a tiny amount, and takes 3 days+ to be visible. I don't particularly like it, but it's not that big of a deal. Iron fortified milk, I suppose. :scratch:


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I don't think that spec will hurt anything, and it's likely from a broken blood vessel, otherwise it would be happening more often I think if it was something else.

You're quite welcome :thumbup:


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