# Please Help, Hard Udder after Kidding!



## Abra (Aug 11, 2012)

Chloe (my 3.5 year old standard sized doe) delivered her babies last night (with assistance from a good friend who had to pull 2 of the 3), and for some reason her udder seems REALLY hard now...

Last year, when she was being milked, her udder was soft as butter, she was SUPER easy to milk, and the milk just flowed out of her.

This time, her udder seems hard (, and it stays hard after being milked. Milking her is VERY difficult, and the teats shrink to next to nothing and just look like little thimbles hanging off of this huge, hard udder... If you massage it, you can feel where the milk was, there is, what seems to be, a 'hole' where the milk gathers.... But it doesn't seem to bother her at ALL. She doesn't seem in any pain or discomfort. I checked for blood in the milk, clots, discoloration, smells, etc. Milk is beautiful!

Can someone please tell me if 'hardness' in the udder is normal after kidding?
What can I do to help this go away?
Massage? Milk more often? Hot/Cold compresses..???
I am really concerned....


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Probably congested udder. Warm massages and peppermint oil mixed with balm works great. Get her up and massage and milk as often as possible. This is caused by molasses, too high of protein, or wet weather normally.


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## Abra (Aug 11, 2012)

Everything is wet right now (snow melting like CRAZY). And she DID have a strong molasses water dosage when she got done kidding...
Darned monkey's uncle!
goathiker, I think that you and my friend Sue are twins! LOL She suggested the SAME thing to me when I talked to her earlier! LoL
Massages and peppermint oil. LoL Wow. Mind reading? I think so! 
I will get going on that... THANK YOU SO MUCH.!!!!!!!!
:hug:


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

Milking her often, or putting the kids on her often will help ease the edema. Especially if you milk after you massage with the warm compresses or peppermint just before you milk.

If you have access to powdered Vit C or even the tablets you can crush up, put the powder on her grain. Vit C is a natural anti-inflammatory.


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## Abra (Aug 11, 2012)

I didn't have any peppermint. I used Vicks instead (same sort of tingle)
I hope that is OK. I just want to make her like she was before this. I feel terrible.
She is all 'puffy' because I took her to a buck. Poor baby love!

I swear I am NOT going to breed her again for years after this! PROMISE!


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## Abra (Aug 11, 2012)

Oh, another question...
How long will this take to go away?
It's been 2 days, and I have not noticed much change, and I have been massaging and milking 4x a day.


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## mjs500doo (Nov 24, 2012)

Why wouldn't you be able to breed her for years? This is a common "problem" (completely normal, frustrating, yet normal) in fresh does. 

Congested udder, edema. Both easily treatable with some one on one.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Abra said:


> She is all 'puffy' because I took her to a buck. Poor baby love!


 What does this mean? Did you try to rebreed her?


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## Abra (Aug 11, 2012)

goathiker said:


> What does this mean? Did you try to rebreed her?


LOL No, she just would not have the congested udder if I did not take her in to be bred and she didn't kid and blow up like a balloon.!!! LoL

Aaaaaaaanndddd.......
As of this morning, I am seeing improvement! The udder is getting softer!!!
And I was able to get much more milk out of her than last night! YAY!

Thank you guys for all the suggestions and advice. YOU ROCK.!!!


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## Abra (Aug 11, 2012)

Yay! Thought I would update you!
The Udder is BACK TO NORMAL! Yaaaayyy!!!
Soft as Butter and she is a piece of cake to milk again! 
SO awesome!

I was told it would take me 10-14 days to clear it up, but for some reason it's all gone...
Perhaps it was the Vicks Vapor rub that I was putting on that made the difference?
I don't know, all I know is that my baby girl is back to her old, soft, fluffy self! 

Thanks you guys for all the advice! Worked marvelously!


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