# lop-sided udder



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

So I assume the baby goat has been nursing mostly from one side. Only one baby. I am leaving them together full time but have been trying to milk now for a few days. LOTS to learn!
Does anyone have tips for dealing with the small side. I am trying to strip as much milk as I can out every time, but it being so small, me being novice, and not having much milk there anyway... doesn't seem like it's going well on that side. The other side gave me about 2 ounces today. day 3 for me... so I know it's not much but was exciting to me 

Thanks for any help.


----------



## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

You can tape the favored teat and force the kid to use the small one. The more the kid or you take the more it will make.


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

the small side is probably the side the kid is nursing off of. The larger side is what she is producing but not being taken. 

what breed of goat? 2 ounces isnt much

nwo if the larger side that you got 2 ounces from is teh side the kid is nursing from then chances are the doe had mastitis before adn thats why the other side isnt producing and it smaller. There is no reversing this.


----------



## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

I would hold mom and put the baby on the big side, see how it reacts.

Some do prefer one side over another.


----------



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

No mastitis. No discharge or inflamation or anything else. I dont mean to imply she only had 2 onces I mean I successfully got two clean ounces not on me, the ground, the stanchion etc.. she is still kicking and stuggling and I am very awkward with the milking. I have ZERO experience here and day 1 was all on the ground day 2 was kicked over once and she broke the hobbles once and half the time I missed the container and so on... Day 3 was the same basic story but just less kicking and some!! Miniscule though it was... milk in the container.


----------



## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

Keep working at it and she will come around.


----------



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

Update.
Still very very lopsided. Her large side is giving almost a quart of milk that looks lovely. AND she is still nursing her baby AND I am not very good at milking and never milk her as much as I could. 
I tried taping the large side and the kid drinks from the small side and does not seem upset by the taste or anything but gets frustrated that it empties so quickly. Or so it seems. She tugs and bites at the teat until mom says enough.
I tried taping the small side and it did get a bit more milk but I have a very hard time milking that side out just due to being small and seemingly empty. I cant milk the other side when its near empty either so it me. The milk from both sides looks great. The same color.
Mom Clover is getting better but still is difficult. She seems to be a less is more goat and I actually do better without the hobbles. She resists walking to the stand, is horrible to get up on the stand but is getting fairly tolerant once she is up there. 
I can try taping the little side again and leaving it longer to see if it will fill any more and stretch. Thoughts?


----------



## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

I would leave the small side taped full time and milk it twice a day. Milk the large side to keep it smaller and so it is more appealing to the kid. If you keep the small side taped up long enough, the kid will be forced to nurse from the other side and will learn that there is milk there too. If the kid is nursing the bigger side primarily then the doe has had mastitis before on the small side and it will never produce the same as the big side. The tissue will have been damaged beyond repair.

Do you feed her on the stand? If any of my goats ever start resisting coming to the stand, something is wrong. They all get grain while being milked and will swarm the door to try to get in first. If your girl doesn't want to come in, something is bothering her. Do you have clippers you can shave her udder with? Some of my does have pretty hairy udders and I always clip them so I don't accidentally pull any hair. It is really hard to learn to milk when you have a doe that is not experienced at being milked either. You would benefit a lot if you can find a good experienced milker to milk so you can learn without having to go through a rodeo each time.


----------



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

I agree an experienced milker would be sooooo nice. She is a bit of a bully anyway but is very people friendly. I do feed her in the stand and that is the only time she gets her grain. I give her alfalfa pellets mixed in also and have some large rocks but she is still faster than me. The stand is a good 100 yard walk from her pasture and barn since her goat barn is to little really for the stand and me both. So I have a storage shed for food and hay and that is where I have the stand. She walks with me but is slow. She gets excited about the food but wants to eat from the side and not stand on the stanchion. She willgive me fits trying to get around and everywhere but on until I get her on and eating and then she is good until she finishes her food. I'll give an extra scoop sometimes she is not fat so I am not worried about too much food... just too much grain... at once.
Also her kid cries for her when we leave and I think that slows her desire.
Several of you have mentioned mastitis but the udder an milk look healthy just small. Also she had normal swelling on both sides before delivery but once the nursing started she went lopsided. Is there some easy to aquire test for mastitis? Looks fine to me not hot not swollen not red. No blood. Normal milk. But just almost no milk. The kid is now almost 5 weeks old and she is growing fat and healthy. I am afraid this is not fixable at tjis point. I guess I don't care really as long as she is healthy but I hate the thought of setting in her lopsided udder forever or not treating somthing she needs. Thanks all for your help.


----------



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

Also I did clip the udder and the kid seems happy to nurse from either side but the small side she gets mad and starts tugging and trying to switch sides after a few minutes. Like she is not getting enough.


----------



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

Taped the little side just now. We shall see


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

dont put the food in the stanchion dish until she is on the stand then give it to her. Goats are very habbit forming so she will learn quickly that the food comes once she is secure on the stand and not a minute before. Yeah the kid/s crying can make things much more difficult.

as to mastitis - I suggested it incase she had freshened before. Because sometimes once they have mastitis the milk just never comes in good on that side again in future freshenings. Do you know if she has had kids before or is this her first?

Do you have a picture of the lopsided udder?


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would just start milking the side the kid doesn't twice a day. You have milk for you now. Milk 3 times a day if you have to to get used to milking. It is just going to take practice, practice and more practice to get good at milking and knowing when you have milked her out.


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

I have an older doe ( will be 11 next month) who only freshens on one side....she raised her doe just fine..the other just shrunk up with no infection...per her last owner..she has always done that.....


----------



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

I was told she had not kidded before.


----------



## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

Staph mastitis can often just show up as an uneven udder. You can buy a California Mastitis Test kit, it is a solution that you mix with water. It comes with a paddle that you put some milk in, there are 4 cups on the paddle, made for a cow so you can put a few squirts of milk from each quarter into each cup on the paddle so you know which quarter has mastitis. With the goats you only have to use two. You then put an equal amount of the solution in the milk and move the paddle around in a circular motion to mix the solution in with the milk. If it gels the goat has mastitis, if not it is fine. It is good to have this on hand and to check your does once a week so you know what normal is for each doe, some will show a slight gelling but not have mastitis.

You can also get a sample of milk and take to the vet to be sent to a lab to be tested and cultured. This is the best thing to do because they can tell you exactly what kind of mastitis and what to treat it with. If you get a sample, take a baby wipe and wipe the udder down really good. Wear gloves when you milk so there is no chance that any bacteria from your hands will be in the milk. Your vet should be able to give you a sterile vial to collect the sample in. You can just test the small side, or you can get two vials and test both sides.


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

This is the doe that had her baby January 4th right?

You started milking around Jan 20th...right? The small side is the side that dried up because the doeling hadn't nursed that side and after 2-5 days, with milk left in that side, her body told her to not make more as it wasn't being taken....you might be able to correct this if you were to tape the full side and get the kid to nurse only the small side and when you get her up on the stand for milking,strip out the small side and leave just enough in her productive side to fill baby's belly....after an hour or 2 get her up again and tape the large side for 8-10 hours.

This may not work because of the length of time passed, she also may always have a lopsided udder with each freshening because of this. I don't suspect mastitis, just that she dried up from non use.


----------



## Anyuta (Jan 14, 2013)

flatmountain said:


> Taped the little side just now. We shall see


Hi
Our case pretty much same story..
about a year ago we purchased a young nubian. she kidded in dec. we always take away the kids after couple hours, milk the doe, bottle feed the kid. so far this has been the only case: the udder before kidding was even and when the milk came the udder deformed within first couple of days. no blood no mastitis signs.. kid only was on her couple of. hours. 
now still deformed. we milk her twice a day always. and she is the only one other 5 milking ones have normal developed udders. all treated the same. 
who can explain that? 
One clue eventually. when we bought her we noticed then that that herd had quite a few does which had exactly the same deformed udder.. heredetary? Other goat out of the same herd, same age has a normal udder. 
i guess just live wuth it as long she is healthy


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yes it can be hereditary


----------

