I have a goat who kidded 5 days ago. I left her kids (triplets) on her for the first 4 days and pulled them off this morning. They will be bottle fed. My trouble is that she won't let her milk down when I milk her. She's done it two milkings in a row now and I'm concerned that if I don't empty her out she'll develope mastitis. Does anyone have any suggestions? How long can she pull this without some kind of negative consequences? In other words, do I hold out and sooner or later she'll give up? She has raised previous kids and has a very strong mothering instinct. Thanks in advance for any help! Amy

-- Amy (mstydale@aeroinc.net), March 31, 2000

Answers I had a cow that did the same thing. So I would put the calf on her, she would look to see if it was her calf or me. She would see her calf. and then let down her milk. I then would put the calf off and milk like crazy. It was a real pain. But it worked.

-- Linda Hess (hesscat@cot.net), March 31, 2000.

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I hand milk our 12 does twice a day. One way to get them to let their milk down that works for me is to massage their bag and teats... this helps to get them to let down. I have a few does who are heavy milkers and have what is called a, "second let down." Thats another thing to be concerned with especially if the does are heavy milkers. They will appear to be milked out but the bag is still somewhat full. if you are not familiar with this you can end up with mastitus too. a breeder a long time ago mentioned this to me when we were starting out.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 31, 2000.

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I agree with Bernice, that has worked for me. Also, if you take a really warm fairly wet towel and hold it on her udder for a minute or so, it will relax her and then a massage and she'll let go of everything!

-- Doreen Davenport (livinginskin@yahoo.com), March 31, 2000.

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I have had this problem with my own does. Usually they will let me have some of the milk but not all of it, and this is what can lead to mastitis and or lowered milk production. Remember that the doe is not doing it on purpose,although it may seem that way.Unless she can relax,the necessary hormone will not kick in to allow the let-down to occur. If the above suggestions don't work, I would consider taking the best doe kid and letting her nurse briefly,so that the milk lets down, pull her off and milk the doe, and then stick the kid back on to finish up what's left, because the does that act like this usually don't let it all down,even if they let down at first. You could also let the best doe kid run with her mother during the day, and pen her up at night. Then you will get the morning milking, which is more than the night milking, and the doe will still get to mother one of her kids. Going from mothering triplets to having none at all would be pretty traumatic if you think about it. If she had just one,even just a buck that would be butchered for meat after a few months,she would have a better adjustment.That is just my opinion.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), April 01, 2000.

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Milk let-down is totally hormonal - an animal can't "allow" the milk to let down or not. If there is enough stimulation to get the hormones to flow, the milk will let down. I second the massage and warm compresses - and be gentle with the animal. You don't want to stress her - after all, you just took her kids away. Treat her gentle, and HELP her to let down by gentle stimulation. (BTW, this is coming from a nursing mom who has helped other HUMANS with engorgement and slow let-down. If it works for us, it should work for the goat!)

-- Becky M. (beckymom@kjsl.com), April 01, 2000.

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Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I've tried the massage and warmth but I think the situation best resembles what Rebekah described in her answer. She'll let me have some but not all of the milk. Tonight I let 2 of her kids nurse and they had that udder empty and soft in less than a minute! I guess I just can't simulate that kind of stimulation. We don't really need her milk and I could let her raise some or all of the kids. I was just wanting to hand raise this years kids to alleviate the problems with weaning and skittish kids we have had in the past. Each approach has its good and bad points I guess! It might be a good experiment to compare the dam raised and hand raised does as they mature to see whether there is any truth to the view that kids raised on their dams will take more milk than they need and that it effects their milk production ability as mature does. Any way thanks again everyone. Amy

-- Amy (mstydale@aeroinc.net), April 01, 2000.

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Amy, I'm really soft-hearted about my does and kids and I leave the kids on for 4-5 weeks. Yes, I know this probably hurts my milk production a bit, but I can deal with that. Anyway, I've noticed that during the first few days of milking their udders seem congested and I have to really work to get them to let down. Milking takes forever. However, it seems that after a few days they get used to the change from on-demand kid feeding to twice a day milking and the udders soften up and let down easily. I've yet to have any mastitis and production almost always doubles in those first few days. Just my observation, but if you need the milk, you may want to give her a little more time. Good luck!

-- Judy Bowman (bowman61@altavista.com), April 02, 2000.

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Just wanted to mention that the hardness Judy was referring to is known as "cake." this usually breaks up within a few days as she mentioned and the bag gets pliable and soft.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 02, 2000.

-- Chamoisee (chamoisee@yahoo.com), June 24, 2001