# Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this?



## Saanens N Alpines (Oct 20, 2010)

I think she has a case of precocious lactation. We have never had this happen. Her udder is quite large! She is just under a year old and we don't have a buck. We do have her wethered brother who was castrated using a burdizzo, and whose testicles have not grown since he was a couple months old. He also has not shown any buckiness whatsoever. He was castrated last July. I felt her abdomen and I'm sure there are no babies in there. She is thin and our goats who are due in two weeks look very pregnant.

I have read that people have milked precocious milkers with good results, and I have also read to leave it alone. Any words of wisdom from anyone with experience with this?


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

Nope, no experience, but I would milk her.


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## Saanens N Alpines (Oct 20, 2010)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

I read in a couple places to not milk them because it could cause them to get mastitis. I don't see why they would be any more likely to get mastitis than any doe in milk.


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

I had a precocious milker and I milked her and it was terrific to get milk without having to have kids. Once you start you have to do it all the time, until you dry her up, you can't just ignore it. I don't think she is any more likely to get mastitis than any other milking goat. When mine started what came out of her udder wasn't quite milk at first, it was translucent. After a few times it turned into obvious milk. I milked her for several months before I dried her up to be bred. She was too fat, and I was hoping making milk would cause her to lose weight. I think it did a little, and she kidded safely. She was still pretty fat.


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## Saanens N Alpines (Oct 20, 2010)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

Thank you for that info. Lisa! Was your doe young like mine? She is still pretty small. Her bag isn't tight with milk but it's a good sized bag and the teats are somewhat full, too.


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

My never bred mare has had milk sinck she was four or five (she's 11 now). I've milked her for fun on and off over the years, She doesn't mind it, I've never done it seriously enough to get it to become real milk.
But she's never deleloped mastitis or anything. We just call her the milk maid LOL.


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## Saanens N Alpines (Oct 20, 2010)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

Our friends had a ewe sheep who had never been bred...she began producing milk after they had to put their horse down. The horse had a baby mule, and the reason they found out the sheep had milk was because they found the baby mule nursing off of the sheep one day! We don't have any orphaned babies around, but we do have 2 does who are due in 2 weeks. One is bagging up some, but the will be first freshener isn't yet.


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## yellowstone (Jan 9, 2011)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

I have a little doe with a precocious udder that I was planning to leave alone, but I noticed this morning that one of the babies had drank from her. I have reason to believe the feeding wasn't uh... consensual so I don't think she will let the baby do it again. Anyone know what, if anything, I should be doing for her udder, to keep it healthy as she goes back to being dry? Should I just ignore it? Milk her out tomorrow? Thank you for any ideas!


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## Saanens N Alpines (Oct 20, 2010)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

I have read to just leave it alone and it will go away. My little doe still has her bag and it has been a couple months. I noticed one of the babies from the other does looking to nurse from her, but she kicked it away. If you think they may be nursing from your doe I would just keep a close eye on her to see if she is filling up more. If she is, you may have to milk her to keep her from over filling and then you just gradually milk less and less until she dries up. If she doesn't look like she is filling up more I would just leave it alone and watch it/her.


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## Tabitha (Jan 24, 2012)

*Re: Doeling bagging up but not bred! Anyone experience this*

Yes I have that in my herd. I think it is hereditary, although not certain. From my experience I'd be really careful if you start milking her. I had one that got gangrenous mastitis due to that. I thought it was neat so I milked out a squirt, but than left it alone.. Of course, I wasn't watching her close enough, so it was my fault   but all to say that if you are gonna let it dry out than I would watch it carefully. If you have already broken the seal on the teat than you might wonna make sure that it stays clean. I am no expert, but have had my fair share of mastitis.


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