So Fleur had her kid yesterday and things seem to be going swimmingly. My only concern is that she has only one kid and TONS of colostrum. The kid appears to be nursing on one side only while the other side is getting very hard and lumpy, even her teat on that side is getting huge and hard, almost deformed looking. I don't want her to get mastitis (what symptoms should I keep an eye out for with that btw), but I also don't want to keep sending the message to continue with that level of production by milking that side out completely. I have milked out some twice now, once this morning and once at lunch time. This morning, I got about half a quart of colostrum and it just barely softened the side and teat. I didn't milk out nearly as much at lunch time. Am I doing the right thing? I do intend to milk her twice a day for our consumption in about two weeks, but I don't plan on milking consistently until then.
You should be milking her on that side- or just milking her out dry and bottle feeding the kid. Its normal for kids to prefer one teat over the other, some kid groups tend to be 'teat assigned' with each kid only ever nursing the same side each feeding. You can go ahead and milk that other side out dry so she keeps up production, otherwise it'll want to just dry up. Store the colostrum in the freezer in baggies or jars- or give it to your local dairy farmer. It'll last in your freezer until next years kidding. Its good milk for other critters too- try craigslisting it. I would go ahead and milk her out twice a day on that side, you're not doing her any favors by waiting for two weeks. As long as she's hydrated and well fed her body will produce what you take out of it. Its normal for her to bag up and get hard on one side when its not being nursed or milked out, once her post kidding hormones balance out her production will lessen to the demands of just one kid.
