We have a champion milker that has been milking for almost two years now. We have recently gotten her bred and want to start drying her off now. We were told to increase the period between milkings, we have been told to milk just once a week, and the vet said to with-hold food & water for 24 hours and just stop milking....well so far nothing has worked and she's so full and red and sensitive. We once read of an herb in Countryside that should dry off, but we can't find this issue. Is there anything we can do or give her to dry her off? Thanks, helpless in NJ

-- Rob & Gloria Leustek (leustek@att.net), October 27, 2000

Answers

Hi,

Boy,....... do I know how it can be to try to dry off a heavy milkers. We raise alpiens and our foudation stock are all heavy milkers. i lost the recipie for this when my old computer was freid by lightening, but sage paste rubbed on the udder will help to dry off. You can get more information by going to http://www.7mfarm.com There is also a talk list for them at egroups, maybe you could join the list and ask. I know it was highly prised. We usually taper off milkings gradually, I go to once a day, then every other, etc. some of my friends will cut way back on grai. I wouldn't recommend with holding food or water, but you could try it. Good luck.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), October 27, 2000.

The traditional herbal method to dry up a lactation is sage,preferably dry sage. Sage can be so powerful that breastfeeding women were told to avoid stuffing on holidays, due to the usual use of sage as a seasoning. I don't know how much to feed her, but it is nontoxic so pick an amount and increase from there. The powdered sage from the grocery store is probably not fresh enough, but try that if there is no "herb" store available. You could also try sage tincture if that would be easier to administer to her, will be dosage directions per weight on the bottle. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), October 27, 2000.

I don't like the sound of that udder being red..Sounds like the perfect recipe for mastitis and permament udder damage to me. I usually stop feeding any grain, and feed only grass hay, no alfalfa. I have a friend who has bred and raised many breed leaders- Patricia Morford. YOu can probably contact her through her website- threeringfarm.com I think that is right, if not, let me know and i will send you the link. She has always been very helpful and nice to me whenever I have some concern or question, and she knows a LOT about production and production related problems.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), October 27, 2000.

I was once a champion milker myself!! LOL seriously I had enough for quads with my second child, he just wasn't a big eater. When I got ready to dry up, my mother-in-law told me to rub "spirit of camphor" or "camphor oil" on my breast, worked like a charm!! Of course I had tapered him off pretty slowly but when I quit completly boy did they swell up mine were just like your goats. My third child came in weighing 9 lbs 12 oz. so he drank all I had, but when I weaned, I did the same thing with the camphor. I think it helped with the pain and swelling, I put it on 3-4 times a day. Not sure if it will work with a goat, but just my 2 cents worth.

-- Carol (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 28, 2000.

I'm with Rebekah, that udder doesn't sound good. Be very careful or your champion milker is going to end up being caprine casserole. If she's got mastitis, that has to be treated and NOW. Otherwise, taper off the grain fairly quickly, possibly slowly start changing her over to hay if she's on alfalfa. But don't starve her, hard on her and on the new kid. Very, very slowly start leaving a little milk when you milk her. But she really could be in danger right now. Please get your vet back out to check her. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), October 28, 2000.

Know you folks like to stay away from store bought medicine, but in the case mentioned I would inject dry cow treatment into each teat, then just walk away and don't look back. Any infection will be taken care of by the antibotic so she will come fresh ready to milk. Soon the swelling from the bag full of milk go down as the milk is reasorbed by the body. After a month or so you will have just loose floppy skin if your lucky. At least thats what I like to see. Don

-- Don (dairyagri@yahoo.com), October 29, 2000.

I agree with all the answers, ie stop feeding grain, feed good quality hay but no alfalfa and treat for mastitis. She will get full and tight before she dries up and if you feel sorry for her and milk her out, you will have to start all over again. Good luck

-- karen (kansasgoats@iwon.com), October 31, 2000.

We taper milking off and if she gets inflamed, we use mastitis treatment. The only grain she gets is on the milkstand.

-- Coleene Davis (cdgoats@yahoo.com), November 01, 2000.