I have a 4 year old Nubian I "inherited" and she hates to be milked. It is a huge struggle and it takes 2 people as she has horns. It is very disheartening to have to go through this and I think I would like to dry her up. How long does this take and what is the best method? By the way, she is a very good natured goat until miking time.

Also, her udders seem very large. How large is normal? They loosen up after milking but I suspect she has mastitis. It obviously hurts her to be milked. However, the milk seems normal, no clots blood or bad smells and she has a huge appetite and plenty of spunk. What are the chances of mastitis? I got some Penicillin treatments to put up the udders, but havent started yet.

I really love this goat and it would be great if there was some way to keep her milking, but my first concern is for her health and comfort. Also, I am no longer drinking the milk in case its no good but have been giving large amounts to the cats who are doing fine. Thanks in advance for your help! Cass

-- Cass Harrison (wombat@forcomm.net), June 26, 2001

Answers

Response to New to goats- several questions

It likely isn't mastitis. I would put the infusions in the fridge. She simply doesn't like to be milked because she is conditioned to feed her kids, and then dry up. She has got to be wondering just what you think you are even doing to her. With enough patience on your part you could teach her to stand. This is when the right equipment becomes necessary. A good sturdy milk stand, with something to be able to tie her feet to. She only gets grain on the milk stand.

Unless she is milking around 2 quarts a day, simply stop milking her, to dry her up. It will not hurt her health to continue to milk her or to dry her up, your choice. Her udder will enlarge, then in about 2 weeks you will notice it softening up again. The pressure in her udder from the milk, tells her brain not to release oxytocin anymore, and she will dry up. If she is milking more than 2 quarts a day, than you will need to decrease her grain, and perhaps let the pressure out of her udder every 3rd day or so, not milking out, just a small amount to soften the udder.

A normal goats udder should look like a volleyball, with at least half of the volley ball up between her legs. There should be very little swing to the udder as she walks. Very few backyard goats have a good well attached udder, when really for family milk, for the goat to be able to walk in the briars to eat and to live in small barns, a well attached udder will actually serve her and you better than a huge pendulous one. A large pendulous udder is more prone to injury, from being stepped on or from briars, barbed wire and swinging when a doe runs. As the doe ages the udder will get worse and worse, sometimes kids can't even reach the teats. If you are going to raise daughters off this doe, you may want to try and find a buck that comes from a family with a better udder.

You may also want to think about banding her horns this fall, this will really change her attitude. Tons of info in the archives on this. Feel free to contact me if you can't find the threads. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 26, 2001.

Response to New to goats- several questions

hi Cass, I also started out with horned goats, never before milked. The first few milkings were rather much like a rodeo!;) We didn't have the milk stand, so Eldest would hold her horns, and lean against her, holding her up against the wall of the pen while I milked sitting on a bucket (what fun--lol). The milk stand definitely makes it easier. Leaning your head up against her while you milk might also help to calm her down. It usually doesn't take a whole lot of times for them to get into the routine. Good luck with this adventure!

-- mary, in colorado (marylgarcia@aol.com), June 26, 2001.

I had a goat once that would lay down everytime I would try to milk her. She had never been milked before. She did not have horns, so nothing there to grab on to. I would bring her up to the back porch where it was very confined, tie her legs to the porch rails (the up and down ones) then run a soft cloth also around her belly, on the upper rail. This held her in place while I petted her, then milked her. I did eventually sell her though because she was not sweet anytime. BUT I did get to where she could be milked.

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.

I used to work on a petting farm where I have milked, at various times, sheep, llamas, horses, goats, and cows. A few had been milked before, but most had not. I found that the most useful tools in these cases were either a shute (with larger animals) or a milking stand. In my experience, holding the horns on a horned animal tends to agitate them more than not. My milking stand is simply a bench up against the wall with an eyebolt in the wall and a short lead to tie the goat up. The grain bucket hangs from the same eyebolt. The lead to tie the goats up is short enough that they can perform no monkey business, yet long enough so they can eat comfortably. To dry off, just stop milking. If she is a very heavy producer, you might want to switch to once a day milkings for a week, then dry her off. I usually cut back dramatically or discontinue graining the doe while I'm drying her off. If you are feeding alfalfa hay, you might want to switch to grass hay also, but not abruptly. You state in your thread title that you are new to goats. Are you new to milking also? If so, could milking technique be part of the problem? (I'm sorry if this sounds dumb, but I don't want to insult you if you've been milking cows for 40 years!) If so, call your extension office and get a list of goat dairies in your area, or get the name of the closest goat 4H in your area. The kids love to strut their stuff, and would surely help with technique.

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), June 29, 2001.

I noticed that someone had mentioned they had a goat at one time that would lie down when being milked. I had this problem too and found a great solution. Simply slide a 5 gallon bucket that is upside down under her rib cage. It doesnt hurt them one bit but they cant laydown. Also - dont hang on the horns, as someone else said this will only adjitate her. Have the second person lean up against her neck if you need to. And then as soon as possible band the horns. Christina in SD

-- Christina (athome@dtgnet.com), June 30, 2001.