# Is a congested udder ruined forever??



## mbodjanac (Apr 11, 2011)

I have a doe that kidded twins last year. I didn't mik her until kids were a few weeks old. That's when I realized she made way more milk than 2 kids could drink and they favored the easier side and the other side was very congested. 

I massaged and massaged... Literally one day I took the portable DVD player in the barn and watched a movie and massaged her the whole time. I got almost no change and barely any milk. I gave up after a few sessions because I didn't have the patience or time to massage for hours every day with no change. Plus I had a 3 1/2 and almost 2 year old to take care of.

I just milked out whatever came from that side during milking and then massaged and stripped a little and left it. I hoped when she dried up that her body would reabsorb everything and we could start fresh.

Fast forward to this freshening.. Alas it is not as I hoped (I obviously have a lot to learn about udders). She kidded About 3 days ago. I started milking her that evening and found the same side congested and hard. I've been massaging and put some oregano oil on her udder. I think it might be softening a LITTLE but it might be wishful thinking. I get a couple little spurts or drops when I strip the teat after some massaging. The stuff coming out after the initial milk is thick and syrupy, yellow to amber in color. 

My question- can a congested udder ever be recovered? How long should I massage before giving up? Is there a special technique?

Thanks!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Is she nursing the kids? Did you ever test for mastitis?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would keep working on it. Multiple times per day.


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## mbodjanac (Apr 11, 2011)

She is nursing a doeling who is taking from the good side. I have to get some cmt tests but I did the dish soap test yesterday. However I'm not sure if it's accurate yet since she has some colostrum still in her milk. Udder is not hot and doe is acting totally normal.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

The color is colostrum since she just kidded. I had this exact thing happen. The udder did recover, however, I massaged it like 10 times a day, treated for mastitis using Today 3 times, and when I dried her up used the drying up mastitis treatment. "Tomorrow" I think its called.

Also find every way you can to get the kids to nurse that side extra. It'll help.


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## mbodjanac (Apr 11, 2011)

Thank you for the advice. 10 times huh? Whew I'd better get more organized to do that. How long each session?


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## mbodjanac (Apr 11, 2011)

I should clarify- last year I massaged one session for hours the other sessions were closer to half hour or so


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

mbodjanac said:


> Thank you for the advice. 10 times huh? Whew I'd better get more organized to do that. How long each session?


The farm is like my only real job. LOL

So what I did was: Feed the rabbits, massage the udder for like 10 minutes. Then feed the parrots and massage the udder. I broke it up between all my other chores.

I found that more frequent udder massages seemed to get the best results than just a couple marathon sessions. Like the total number of squirts I could get out (which was almost nothing) was way more with the shorter more frequent sessions. I also used peppermint oil (a few drops in a carrier oil) and it did partially dry her up eventually but I feel like that helped. I used warm washcloths as well. I would warm cloth her, massage in the oil, milk, massage, milk, massage, repeat to infinity and beyond. It took a week before I noticed much difference, 3 weeks before her udder looked somewhat "normal" and the next year before she kidded and it was totally normal. I dried her off as soon as her kids were sold and put the second type of mastitis treatment in there.


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## mbodjanac (Apr 11, 2011)

Thanks so much! Gives me hope...


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## Carylc2 (Aug 17, 2016)

I got a confessed udder to be productive again! Lots of massaging and used a warm rag (ran it under hot water) and finally a tiny bit of white started to come out! Then it increased everyday. It was a little less than the other side but we didn't keep her long enough for me to see if I could get it just as productive as the other side. I figure it's just like pumping breastmilk, the more you demand, the more supply you'll get. Keep at it!


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