# Lopsided Udder ?



## NubianLover (Sep 19, 2010)

I have a doe who freshened this year with a lopsided udder. I think it is because of the way the kids nursed off her, but am not sure. Anways, I am drying my does off and hers seems more lopsided now than it did when it would fill. Is this going to make her even more lopsided? Or when it is full next year will it look a little less lopsided like this year?
Just curious! Thanks.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Have you thought about sending a milk sample to be tested? Sometimes the only symptom of sub-clinical staff is a lopsided udder. The milk will still taste and look just fine although it may start tasting goaty more quickly.
Drying her off while she has an unresolved udder problem could cause her to freshen next year with a raging case of mastitis. 
If you do send off a test, try to get the sensitivity test done also. Then you'll know exactly what to treat with if there is a problem.
LSU has a free mastitis lab. All you are responsible for is the shipping and the cost of the sensitivity test. You'd need to call for directions on the shipping since the milk must get there cold.


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## Itchysmom (Apr 3, 2010)

I have a doe with a lopsided udder also. She had a single last year that drank only from one side and since I did not own her then, she was not milked. This year she trew twins who drink off both sides. I have worked on this with my milking and the udder is more even, but still is bigger on one side. I am just going to admit to myself that she will always be this way. Last year when I dried her up one side was way bigger than the other..the side the single drank from. When she was all dried up it looked almost normal. This year as she filled she was all lopsided again. One teat is half the size of the other. This is just how she is! Until I dry her off this year I do not know how that udder will look.


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## NubianLover (Sep 19, 2010)

I will look into the testing, but she had twins this past year as a FF. Both of them drank only off the one side.... and like Itchysmom said, the side they drank off of is drying off the bigger side. I haven't milked her in a couple weeks as her udder is definately not the size it was at peak. But, like I said I will look into the testing. Thank you both! :hug:


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Lopsidedness occurs frequently when theres singles unless that kid is a piggy and can figure out that theres more a few inches away!
My old P/ND cross doe Boots freshened with a single buck the year following a triplet birth...she did end up lopsided and when she freshened the following year with twins, she evened out but I could feel the difference when milking, the larger side of the previous year looked the same as the other but the amount of gland was more.
Trying to even up a lopsided udder takes time....what I've done was start the kids on both sides asap, and after a day or 2 you can really tell if theres going to be a problem, if you see one side bigger than the other and both feel tight and full, milk the smaller side frequently....I would strip out my girls every chance I had to keep production even.


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## NubianLover (Sep 19, 2010)

I hate to ask (because I feel I should know the answer  ) but what does it mean to "strip out" a goat? Is that just doing a Mastis test?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

When I say "strip out" I mean that I would milk totally, some will milk til they don't think theres any more there but when you repeatedly bump and squeeze til there's nothing, that's "stripping out"....even in an udder that isn't full, when I separate kids from moms, I will milk her to strip any milk left in her udder before she's allowed to fill for 7-10 hours, if theres milk in her udder before a long fill, her udder "tells" her that she only has to make so much, Others may have a different explanation for "strip out"


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I think in the case of doing a test, they want the very first milk. The sqeeze or three that we put on the ground or in a "strip cup" for a gel test.


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## billmac (Sep 8, 2008)

I think this just happens.

My nubian doe had a single kid last year who didn't survive, so she was milked by hand from the beginning, and she had one side that was noticeably smaller than the other, and produced less milk. There was nothing to be done. It isn't necessarily anything you are doing or the kids are doing (although that's possible).


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