# Dam raising and even udders



## StrawberryOnion (Dec 6, 2018)

Hi! In about 2 weeks my Alpine doe will freshen and I've already made the decision to dam-raise the babies until they are old enough to be weaned. The dilemma? I plan to show the mom this year.. I want to know from those of you who do dam-raise how do you keep their udders even? Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

The kids should keep her even. You could always milk her too. The problem usually ends up being the teats. Kids can really mess them up but not always.


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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

Keep an extremely close eye on them for kids favoring one side or the other. Usually this only happens with single kids, but also almost always happens with single kids. Some people recommend taping the side they prefer and forcing them to the other side-I haven’t tried that. I milk twice a day, and pulling the kid away at night and milking in the morning seems to help as well, because it gives both sides a chance to fill up and stretch out, rather than just one. It’s a pain, and I prefer to bottle raise single kids for this reason.


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## Island Milker (Dec 11, 2018)

i separate my kidlet over night
one thing i have started doing is milking out the teat which has more milk and than releasing the kidlet and he is getting used to the side i do not milk having more milk in it. 
maybe this works i really do not know, it is my first time, with trying to get a kid to stretch the teats.
ive noticed he goes towards the side i do not milk first thing in the morning when i let him out.


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

May I suggest that you milk the udder empty after the first 24 hours after birth of the kids. The colostrum is only good for the first 24 hours and then should be milked out and allow for production of milk. If only one kid, then milk out the one side the kid doesn't nurse on after a few hours. The kid will probably pick and nurse one side and your goat being an Alpine should give lots of milk. So you need to be sure and milk her empty (even the side the kids nurses) daily. Then after a few days start separating the kids over night and in the morning milk both sides empty. Allow the kids to run with her during the day and She will produce enough milk during the day for the kid grow off healthy and big. Separation Over night will allow her to fill her udder and stretch it and develop it as it should be. This will increase milk production, stretch the teats into full length and fullness and keep the udder even. By milking her you can have control of the udder. Good luck


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## cristina-sorina (May 4, 2018)

TexasGoatMan said:


> May I suggest that you milk the udder empty after the first 24 hours after birth of the kids. The colostrum is only good for the first 24 hours and then should be milked out and allow for production of milk. If only one kid, then milk out the one side the kid doesn't nurse on after a few hours. The kid will probably pick and nurse one side and your goat being an Alpine should give lots of milk. So you need to be sure and milk her empty (even the side the kids nurses) daily. Then after a few days start separating the kids over night and in the morning milk both sides empty. Allow the kids to run with her during the day and She will produce enough milk during the day for the kid grow off healthy and big. Separation Over night will allow her to fill her udder and stretch it and develop it as it should be. This will increase milk production, stretch the teats into full length and fullness and keep the udder even. By milking her you can have control of the udder. Good luck


I agree!! I wish I would have known this when I had my first freshener freshen! I didn't milk her out and kept thinking the babies would keep her even and they didn't! I ended up following mariaroses advice which I've also seen several people suggest on here, I would separate at night and milk her dry in the morning. I did this when the kids were about two weeks old or so. It REALLY helped to get the udder more even and stretch to capacity. The kids grew well and nursed all day.

If she's a heavy milker and she only has one or even two kids then I'd step in and start milking to even her out (weigh the kids every few days if you're worried about how much they're eating). I was afraid the kids wouldn't have enough to eat when I didn't milk my first freshener, I wish I would have realized the kids have plenty, it was much more work trying to bring back an udder I'd messed up than to just take proper care of it in the first place.


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## StrawberryOnion (Dec 6, 2018)

Wow so much advice here! Thank you!! My plan right now would to keep an eye on the udder and milk her completely out 1 time a day and seperate the little ones at night. I will probably weigh each sides milk every week to make sure everything's balanced.


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## StrawberryOnion (Dec 6, 2018)

cristina-sorina said:


> I agree!! I wish I would have known this when I had my first freshener freshen! I didn't milk her out and kept thinking the babies would keep her even and they didn't! I ended up following mariaroses advice which I've also seen several people suggest on here, I would separate at night and milk her dry in the morning. I did this when the kids were about two weeks old or so. It REALLY helped to get the udder more even and stretch to capacity. The kids grew well and nursed all day.
> 
> If she's a heavy milker and she only has one or even two kids then I'd step in and start milking to even her out (weigh the kids every few days if you're worried about how much they're eating). I was afraid the kids wouldn't have enough to eat when I didn't milk my first freshener, I wish I would have realized the kids have plenty, it was much more work trying to bring back an udder I'd messed up than to just take proper care of it in the first place.


 How did you fix her udder? Im really worried that her udder will get lopsided and i won't be able to fix it before I show her..


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## cristina-sorina (May 4, 2018)

StrawberryOnion said:


> How did you fix her udder? Im really worried that her udder will get lopsided and i won't be able to fix it before I show her..


So it's still a little lopsided, she ended up with udder congestion because I thought I didn't need to milk her out fully. Once I realized what I'd done, I massaged her udder at least twice a day with peppermint cream (I don't remember the name, I got it at PBS), I gave her vitamin C twice daily. and made sure she was fully milked out twice a day.

Her sister, who is also a first freshener and kidded after this debacle, has a beautiful, even udder even though she also Dam raised her 2 doelings just like her lopsided sister. I learned from my mistake, I just feel badly for my poor goat that I learned the hard way. My lesson I learned from all this is when in doubt just milk them out.


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## cristina-sorina (May 4, 2018)

Congested and very uneven, before I started treating










A couple weeks ago after I'd tried to get her more even. She definitely has more capacity since I did what mariarose suggested, but it's not as pretty of an udder as her sisters.









Her sisters udder, both first freshness. I took care to milk her out from day one, even though she dam raised her babies. I also did the night time seperating at about two weeks post kidding.


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## StrawberryOnion (Dec 6, 2018)

cristina-sorina said:


> Congested and very uneven, before I started treating
> 
> View attachment 156603
> 
> ...


 The sister is more even than some of the does that I've seen who dont dam raise! Both of them look better than I was expecting. You guys have really helped calm my anxiety and stress over dam-raisng. Thank you for that, i really appreciate it!


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## cristina-sorina (May 4, 2018)

StrawberryOnion said:


> The sister is more even than some of the does that I've seen who dont dam raise! Both of them look better than I was expecting. You guys have really helped calm my anxiety and stress over dam-raisng. Thank you for that, i really appreciate it!


You're welcome, this is a great place to learn so much! I know I'd be lost without this website!


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## StrawberryOnion (Dec 6, 2018)

I've tried different forum pages and i have to say that everyone here is super accepting and polite to everyone! I will be using this website often I think  Thank you for helping me!


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