I have two goats going to freshen for the first time in the next couple of weeks. They have developed bags but the one I'm concerned about has a very lopsided udder. It isn't sore to touch or hot to the touch either, what's up, can anyone explain this? Brenda

-- Brenda Reise (d+breise@northcom.net), March 25, 2000

Answers

So you have ruled out mastitus then? I've been told that a lopsided bag can be the result of the goat having mastitus in her lifetime at some point. There could also be several other factors involved too. I've not had this problem yet... so i can't really give you a good answer. Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 26, 2000.

Brenda, even a first freshener can freshen with Mastitis. I would milk out the doe and infuse with a dry cow infusion, you will clean the teat and clean it again, to it very cleanly. You will have to use the colostrum from the uninfected doe for this doe. If they are not large udders, than you might want to find another breeder and buy some colosturm now. I have a hunch that does who nurse their dams with infected udders, carry staph aureus mastitis in their systems, and then have a greater chance of getting mastitis. She may also have large orifices (teat openings) and bacteria was able to get up in them. Some does who come from horribly pendulous udders, have no support in the medial, causing thier udder to ride one in from of the other. Injury from the rear legs slapping it, can cause udder bruising and swelling. Just my thought. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 26, 2000.

Hi, Just curious, what breed are your does? From my limited exposure it seems that Toggenburgs and Nubians tend to have less than perfect udders.But I stress the "limited" here.

-- Doreen Davenport (livinginskin@yahoo.com), March 26, 2000.

Thank you for your replies,although it doesn't look good does it? My two does are French Alpine grade stock. Thanks again, Brenda

-- Brenda Reise (d+breise@northcom.net), March 26, 2000.

Brenda, I have an alpine doe that has a very lopsided bag. We bought her that way so I dont know what caused it. We wanted her kids to hand raise to milk. I was sure I'd have to bottle feed them because it didnt look like she would be able to. However strange as it looked it worked fine and she nursed two kids just fine until they were weaned. I would follow the above advice and rule out mastitis though.

-- Peggy Carr (wclpc@cookeville.com), March 26, 2000.

Brenda, I'm sorry not to have paid attention to this thread earlier. It sounds like you're being scared to death with concern about mastitis. If you have no symptoms or reason to suspect mastitis, you probably have a healthy goat with a lopsided udder. My first goats were American Alpine grades, and one of them always had a lopsided uddder since her first freshening. Just a genetic thing, I guess. Definitely not the perfect goat to show, but she was healthy and gave the sweetest milk and turned out gorgeous kids.

-- Nancy Johnston (nancyj@mei.net), March 27, 2000.

Brenda, If I read your letter correctly your goats have not freshened yet? Sometimes first fresheners have lop-sided udders before they kid. It usually evens out after kidding. If it is mastitis it should be hard or lumpy instead of the soft glove feel. You can always give a series of antibiotics as a precaution. Hope you have doe kids. Good luck. karen

-- Karen Mauk (dairygoatmama@hotmail.com), March 28, 2000.

Dear Brenda, This is not an uncommon issue with grade goats. That is one big reason for not registering the animals. Usually a genetic fault of inbreeding. Could be the buck or doe at fault. I can assure you, it will not hinder her ability to nurse upto three kids.

If, This lady has been milked by machine, There is damage to the udder forsure. Take this on day at a time, A learning experience.

JR

-- JR Jones (jr3star@earthlink.net), March 29, 2000.

Thank you all for the helpful information you've given. I contacted the vet as her udder is very soft & she seems to be fine otherwise. He suggested taking her temp. which is 103 degrees & so she is on penicilin although like one of the threads I just read, he spoke to me second hand, through his secretary, so I still don't know what kind of infection she has. Thanks again.

-- Brenda Reise (d+breise@northcom.net), March 29, 2000.

Brenda, 103 is not a fever in a goat, not unless you took someone else's temperature out at the barn, perhaps someone close to her same color, and there's was alot lower. We can have 104 with a black doe out in the sun! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 30, 2000.

Vicki, I only have 2 goats so I can't mix them up. I only know the vet said that if her temp. was 102 or over, she has an infection.(did I say fever, I meant infection) Aaarrgh, Brenda

-- Brenda Reise (d+breise@northcom.net), March 30, 2000.

Brenda:) I ment to say, when you take a temperature, if you can take a temperature of a goat who is not sick, that is similar in color, it will give you a base of what the temperature of your herd is. 102 to 104 is normal in a goat. So 103 is not a fever, was my point. That I did not, make very well did I? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 31, 2000.

Vicki, Thanks for your knowledge. It's hard to know what (who) to believe in these matters as we're inclined to think the vet knows best. I confirmed your assessment last night as I was boning up on goat delivery, we haven't had goats for 12 years. We will stop the penicilin immedieately. Gratefully, Brenda

-- Brenda Reise (d+breise@northcom.net), March 31, 2000.

Several things I have read say that a lopsided bag can be a sign of "subclinical mastitis". Now, what exactly is that. It seems to be a sort of low-symptom but dangerous version of regular mastitis? -- Neva

-- Neva Alsip (neva@galstar.com), September 23, 2000.

Neva, subclinical simply means without obvious signs, like clotted, stringy or nasty milk with a hot udder, that would be clincial mastitis. Staph is a very common mastitis to have yet when cultured with a CMT (california mastitis test) or a Naylor test (a small card that you run milk over and it changes color if mastitis) or even your strip cup (a cup you milk the first squezze from both sides of the udder into that has a fine black screen in it and you can test for small flecks or clots, staph will not show up on any of these testings. In fact unless you specifically send in a milk sample for testings of subclinical staph you can even (we have) get milk tests back from labs that are clear. Subclincial staph mastitis can cause lopsided udders, and the loss of milk production, it also makes the udder walls feel thickened, and beefy. We have used Pirsue udder infusions on our does, which is effective for this type of staph. I know that alot of you use very little treatment management. But the infusion (cleanly) of a dry cow infusion into both teats after you have finished milking the doe for the year, will so improve your milk production for the coming year. They are inexpensive when compared to the medication and time you cannot use the does milk when she is in production. In our case they are inexpensive when compared to the loss of production that we have seen. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 25, 2000.