Need kidding help ASAP

[Luvinthefarmlife]

Im sorry you lost the babe. I pray that blossom will pull through and that both of you will heal. Im sure you’ll be giving her some extra love these next few days.

Oh yeah she'll be getting extra attention and pampering it's been a hard day I know it happens and I can try again now she will heal up be her normal self have her milk bag dry up hopefully and in 2-3 months I might try again I wasnt planning on having baby goats just ended up keeping her so my neighbor wouldn't eat her she was too sweet to have that happen and shes only 2 years old has a long life ahead of her

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry you lost the kids. Yes, I expect letting her get bred by a full sized buck caused this issue. Glad (tentatively, not out of the woods yet) she seems to be recovering. So glad you didn't continue to wait and got her to a vet.

Please keep a close eye on her udder. It's going to be over full and painful to her and you'll most likely (from the pics you've shared) need to milk her out some to give her a chance to shut down production. I would milk her out completely at least the first couple of days and then only milk her out 1/2-3/4 and decreasing over time. Milk production is not like an "on/off" switch... It's going to take her a while to completely shut down and stop. I'd say to plan for a 3-4 week period more or less. Since she's on antibiotics right now, I don't expect she'd contract mastitis, but no sense taking chances. When over full, her orifices will open to relieve pressure and that can allow bacteria to enter.

ETA: If you want to try goat milk, I would wait at least 3-5 days of milking to clear out the colostrum (nasty tasting) and get to pure milk. Mine tastes bad for about a week with twice a day milking out. To get the best tasting milk, filter and then chill as quickly as possible. I prefer to store in glass. For a trial, you can filter using a coffee filter in a funnel into a ball jar. My Lamanchas provide very sweet, creamy, delish milk.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sorry, but I disagree with milking her. I wouldn't milk her at all. Milking her out will not help her shut down production - it will encourage her body to produce more milk and that's a stress she doesn't need. The stress of the surgery itself will help her dry up if there is no stimulation of the udder. This little gal needs every ounce of her strength to heal right now. Just my opinion...

 

[Ridgetop]

I think if her udder gets so full that it is hard and painful, milking out just enough to relieve her each day for a few days would be ok. Just milk out enough to have some softness to the bag. I would not milk her out completely. Be sure to clean the udder well before milking anything out. Milking her completely out will stimulate milk production. By the end of the week with just taking about a cup or so to keep her comfortable you will notice that she is not bagging as much. At that point you can stop milking completely. Since she is recovering from surgery, you want to keep up her protein.

When weaning lambs or drying off my does at the end of a full lactation, we would pull all water and feed for 24 hours (usually in winter when it is cool) to encourage them to stop production. Then they would get water and hay, no grain, for another few weeks. This works well, but they were not recovering from surgery, infection, and were at the end of a normal lactation when they are starting to stop production naturally. I also always did a dry mastitis treatment at the end of each lactation but then we had 20 milkers and it was easier to pretreat before the next lactation.

Since you are hoping to keep Blossom (I love that name by the way!) as a pet, I would just watch her closely to make sure she continues to heal up. If she starts to get droopy, goes off her feed, or looks depressed, I would call the vet and get more antibiotics. Vitamin B complex helps a droopy goat too. BTW, if you decide to breed her again, use one of the dwarf breeds. Her previous owners used very bad judgment keeping a dwarf breed doe with a full sized buck. Glad you have her now and can look out for her.

Hope to hear she is all better soon.

 

[MiniSilkys]

I just saw you post and I am sorry you lost your first kids. I hope Blossom is healed and happy now. My first pygmy doe lost her first twins as well. She walked around looking and calling for them for about a week. We all lose some. But I believe it was irresponsible of her previous owner to let her get bred by such a large buck.