# Help! Lump in teat???



## Rebbetzin (Aug 3, 2010)

Last Tuesday, my day to milk... I found a small lump in the right teat of our best milker. It was about the size of a small pea, nothing you could see from the outside.. only feel.. but it disappeared after a few squirts of milking.

Then today... a week later, same goat, has a now bigger lump, visable from the outside, and it didn't go down at all during milking. It may be a bit tender, though this goat is a kicker at times, so hard to say if it is hurting her...

What is it???  I was thinking a clogged milk duct, being it went down last time.

It is toward the very end of the teat. About an inch or so long and a half inch wide.

Any ideas on how to make it better???


----------



## ksalvagno (Aug 3, 2010)

Is the milk still normal and tasting good?


----------



## ()relics (Aug 3, 2010)

I don't have a milking herd so this is only a guess but could it be a slight mastitis?  You say she is your best milker, in my book that would be that would  make her a prime candidate for mastitis.  Is her udder hotter than you would call "normal"?  if not a mastitis, then some other type of infection?....Again I'm just speculating...I have a doe, a boer, that battles mastitis type infections everytime she kids.  To combat it I wait until her milk is in, a few days, then drench her with 10cc's or so of her own milk twice a day.  Theory being that any germs present in her milk are then introduced to her stomache in the hope that her body will begin to produce antibodies to fight the infection....Who Knows....but it seems to work, she has a kid every year and nurses it to weaning.  I learned this method from an "old timer" that swore off all commercially produced "chemicals"because they couldn't be trusted with the lives of his animals..... more likely he was just too cheap to buy them.


----------



## DonnaBelle (Aug 3, 2010)

My Lenora has had lumps about the size of a silver dollar about three times since she kidded mid-April.

I have massaged them a bit after milking her, gently of course, and they have gone away after 2 or 3 days.

I hope that's what you have, I do know they have kits at Hoegger's Goat Supply for testing for mastitis, I've never used one.

I hope someone with more experience will give us a reply....

DonnaBelle


----------



## Rebbetzin (Aug 3, 2010)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> Is the milk still normal and tasting good?


The milk is fine, tastes great, no sign of anything in the initial few squirts of milk.


----------



## Ariel301 (Aug 19, 2010)

Does she have a kid nursing her, or was she maybe milked by someone who was a little rough? Sometimes they can get a lump of tissue or milk that's floating around in there from damage or irritation, that will break up and disappear, or if small enough, come out in the milk. 

You can do a mastitis test with dish soap also, if you don't have a test kit. I remember seeing somewhere. I forget exactly how much milk to how much soap, but you could look it up on the internet.  

She may have a bit of an infection even if the mastitis test is negative. I have a doe who has chronic mastitis but always tests negative and has normal milk, but she gets little milk chunks that block the orifices and have to be squeezed out hard before I can get milk, inflammation, and big hard lumps the size of grapefruit in the upper parts of her udder. When she's feeling bad, I give her an udder massage with very warm water, oregano oil (if you get a good quality one this stuff is good for any infections, but be careful using it because it can burn), and peppermint oil (soothing for inflammation). It seems to relieve her without the need for antibiotics or harsh treatments. You could give that a try, I do it several times a day for Flora until the symptoms go away.


----------



## Rebbetzin (Aug 19, 2010)

She does still have a kid still able to nurse, he is now over 4 months old, We tape her up during the day to get more milk at the evening milking.  but he nurses freely at night.  

The lump is still there, it gets softer when she is milked. Doesn't seem to be getting any bigger.


----------



## Ariel301 (Aug 23, 2010)

If a kid that big is nursing her (and a male, they seem to be rougher!) I wonder if the problem is that she's getting damaged/irritated by him and you are feeling the resulting swelling or scar tissue. I think it may be time to take him completely off of her, he's more than old enough.


----------

