non-chemical remedies for sub-clinical mastitis?

[vegaburm]

I have a doe that "could" have sub-clinical mastitis. She tests much less than 500,000 on the SCC (there was barely any tinge of color on the test strip), has no lumps, though she does have a "meaty" udder if you know what I mean. However, when kids have nursed her all day she is very loose and such. There are no clumps, blood, etc. in milk. However she has always had a taste to it that I want to go away. I've described it as tasting slightly green, like an unripe fruit. Food changes don't change it, I am handling milk extra carefully, cooling ASAP. Still there. I know it could just be her. However if she has Sub-C Mastitis I want to try to treat it and see if that changes that flavor. I DON'T want to do teat infusions. She is a beast already and I don't want to make her worse. And I really prefer not to use chemicals, so I want to try natural means first. So, here are some things I have read. I am wondering if anybody here has experience with these things...

- Mastoblast homeopthic liquid from Hoegger's (given orally)
- Goat Serum (given Sub-Q)
- 1 tsp Vit C and Dolomite given 2 X's per day
- peppermint oil rubbed onto udder

Anybody tried these things? results?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I haven't tried any homeopathic remedies, because I drink the milk and don't want to be "playing around" (my words) with treating mastitis. My doe tested positive (scant amount in one half) for staph and I really don't want to be taking the chance I could be drinking that milk. I treated with antibiotics via teat infusion (just the very tiny tip of the syringe went into the teat) with Spectramast for 5 days. I dumped the milk for another 7 days, and then we were good to go. I personally don't want to try homeopathic stuff when it comes to the udder because I dont' want to take a chance of mastitis getting worse, I want to nip it in the bud ASAP. My only recommendation is if you do use homeopathic stuff to keep monitoring her milk and if it gets at all worse consider using conventional remedies.

What type of prepping do you do before milking? Make sure you're washing the udder well (or even using a pre-dip), and use a post-dip to prevent any bacteria from entering the udder.

I also thought I was cooling the milk quick enough, but I found out my fridge wasn't set cold enough (needs to be about 35*) and I started putting the jars into an ice bath before going back to the fridge. The milk finally tastes good again!

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Why don't you send a sample in to have it tested? That would eliminate the possibility of using antibiotics unnecessarily, which sounds like it's the main concern. If the doe indeed has subclinical mastitis I wouldn't fool around with anything but proper antibiotics, like aggie said.

 

[vegaburm]

I use udder wipes (the pre-made wipes from Hoegger's) before milking. I just started using a post-dip, well (fight bac spray). I wasn't using it before because she has kids that are on her like crazy as soon as I let her out. make s teat dip rather pointless, and not really good for the kids.

I chill in an ice water bath in the fridge. I chillin 1 Q jar and that are only half full, so it chills quite quickly. I sterilize all equipment before using, wash afterwards, and acid wash for milkstone once a week. All with dairy soap and sanitizer. I really don't think this is an issue of milk handling.

I have tried variations in feed, eliminating extras and slowly adding things back in to see if there was any difference. There isn't. I have tried a lot of things and nothing changes it. The milk is not undrinkable, I just would like it to be better.

I think we are down to it either sub clinical or simply being that this doe has different tasting milk. I HAVE tested using the SCC Goat milk test and it is very negative. I may test again a few days just to double check, but it was nowhere near the line for mastitis. If she tested positive or showed any signs other than this milk flavor I would not hesitate to use chemical methods, but she doesn't.

 

[vegaburm]

and just for informational purposes, this is the test I use.

http://www.portacheck.com/pdfs/GoatBrochure.pdf

The color was not even near the < 500,000 block , which by this test says even if it were there it would be normal. By this test I would say mastitis is not a problem, but then other people on the forum are still saying they bet it is a low-grade infection. ahhh.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I meant a lab test to identify if she has something bacterial and if so what it is.

 

[vegaburm]

Yes I understand what you meant. Trying to find someone that does them. I'm skeptical that it will tell me anything, but I am not always right. lol.

 

[vegaburm]

Just an update for everyone...

For the past 4-5 days I have been doing a couple things extra.
1. The girls have gotten a teaspoon of vitamin C evening and morning (which doubles what I normally give them)
2. they are also getting Molly's Herbals Immune Support Tincture 2X's a day
3. Doing Molly's mastitis salve on the doe I was most wanting to change milk flavor on. Started with 2 x's a day on that. Just once a day now.

Each day the milk has gotten better. Yesterday my hubby (who I call my professional milk taster as he is more of a milk drinker than I am) said he could barely tell the difference from cow's milk and would be willing to drink a glass like it was. Yay!!! Today she gave me half again what I am typically getting. I was regularly getting 1# each milking, sometimes slightly more, sometimes slightly less, and today she gave 1.5# and her udder felt good and soft and less "meaty" than in the past. Looking forward to tasting the milk today after it cools and seeing how we are progressing. I'll give them a couple more days on the extras and them back off on them and see if the milk stays this way. I'm also going to order some dolomite and make it a regular addition to my feed, from what I read it can help too.

Figured I would post this so that people who are like me and hate using chemicals will have some hope that something else could work! But, I am also going to add that had I seen evidence of CLINICAL mastitis I would have went right for the antibiotics, or perhaps tried goat serum. This was a goat who my only concerns were that she had off tasting milk from freshening and it didn't change over a 10 week period.

She is also milking easier now, milk coming out faster and less kicking! This could also be her settling down and getting used to it.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

LSU does them free of charge.

 

[vegaburm]

I'll have to look into that. I called our vet school in NC and they were supposed to get back to me, but nothing. Will try again next week.