# swollen udder



## smilesx4 (Jan 9, 2014)

I have a FF Nubian that kidded last wednesday. I noticed this morning her udder was pretty full. I touched it and it was pretty hard. Then I saw one of her teats was swollen compared to the other. I took her into the milkhouse and milked her out (first time, very stressful for her!). She was pretty freaked out by the experience and yelling for her baby so couldn't tell if she was jumping from pain or from just being scared to death. So anyhow, stripped her out, saw nothing unusual in the cup. Then I milked her and the milked foamed up nice. No blood or strings in the milk. She does let the baby nurse off each side, just not very long. What should I do now? Can I bottle feed the baby the milk I got today? I looks fine, I have no clue if its mastitis. But I want to see if he's getting enough milk. He is jumping around like he should be at this age, he's still pretty small, but he's not a week old yet. She is eating grain fine, but just nibbling her hay.

here is a pic, although a bit blurry. (please ignore the hair on her udder. Had her due date off by 2 weeks and never got her cleaned up prior to kidding!)


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

The kids aren't old enough to keep up with milk supply, you did good by milking her. She may of lightly exploded a teat.
Watch her close, so it doesn't get to that point again.

If milk looks good and normal, it most likely is from being too tight, her kids are not nursing her enough, because they are too young yet, in the meantime, relieve her when she needs it.

After you milked her, how did her udder feel then, was it still hard?
Was she easy to milk?

Feeding the milk to her babies is OK.


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## Goat_in_Himmel (Jun 24, 2013)

With plenty of milk, the kid(s) are probably getting enough. Feel their tummies, to see if they are firm an flat, not sunken or swollen. Typically they only nurse briefly, though frequently. It may make your doe more at ease if kiddo is in the milk room with her.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

May not be bad to milk her out once a day.


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## smilesx4 (Jan 9, 2014)

She just has the one buckling and I did notice he prefers the one side. When he tries to nurse on her swollen side she lifts her leg up. She does not fight him but I think the swollen teat feels off to him so he goes back to the other side. After I milked her, her udder felt much better but her teat was still puffy. Milk flowed easily. I milked her again this evening but just that one side and just a little bit. She did much better in the stand.


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## Colette (May 12, 2015)

*On the right track!*

This sounds exactly what we went through. What I did is milked her twice a day for a couple of days...I milked until I got out what I could, and then I would have someone hold her halter and then another to hold her legs and purposely put the kid on her swollen side (she was pushing the kids away). After a couple of days, I then slowed down milking to once a day.

You did an excellent thing by getting the milk out...just keep it out. I am a total newbie at this, but I looked at what I did when I was nursing my kids and I got engorged...getting the milk out was the biggest factor.


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## smilesx4 (Jan 9, 2014)

Thanks Colette,

I agree totally. I went by when I was nursing and it looked and felt painful to me...poor thing! She was much better this morning. Baby trying harder to nurse on that side and she isn't bothered at all this morning. her udder was much better and didn't need to milk her out this am. but will check her at lunch and see how she's doing. Thanks again everyone, you are the best!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Do you want to milk her? If you do, you want to milk her regularly now. Otherwise she will dry up.


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## smilesx4 (Jan 9, 2014)

ksalvagno said:


> Do you want to milk her? If you do, you want to milk her regularly now. Otherwise she will dry up.


Oh really? You think I should pull her baby now? He's only 7 days old. I do want to milk her, but was going to wait another week first.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You don't need to pull him. Just milk her twice a day.


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## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

I don't pull mine until they are at least 2 weeks old and prefer that they be nibbling at solid food - separate at night, milk in the am and then let them be together during the day-


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