Pygmy Goat swollen utter

[Hitte’sHens]

Hello I have a year old Pygmy goat that has no chance of being pregnant.

Today I noticed she has a full utter and milk is coming out.

What should I do?

 

[cassie]

Nothing. If it gets full, milk her out to prevent mastitis. There are two things that will cause an udder to swell and fill in a non pregnant doe. One is infection, and the other is if she is a precocious milker. If it is an infection, the udder will feel hard and/or lumpy. If she is a precocious milker it will just be full of milk. Precocious milkers aren't common but they aren't all that rare either. Occasionally it will even occur in bucks.

 

[Hitte’sHens]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your help!

 

[CJLR]

How do you know that she is not pregnant?

 

[MountainGaurdian]

Nothing. If it gets full, milk her out to prevent mastitis. There are two things that will cause an udder to swell and fill in a non pregnant doe. One is infection, and the other is if she is a precocious milker. If it is an infection, the udder will feel hard and/or lumpy. If she is a precocious milker it will just be full of milk. Precocious milkers aren't common but they aren't all that rare either. Occasionally it will even occur in bucks.

An infected udder will also tend to feel rather warm to the touch on one side or the other or both sides dependent upon where the infection is.

If she has an infection you want to milk her daily and keep her udder clean. Avoid salves and things as much as possible so that you don't chap the udder. Just wash it well with warm water and a little bit of soap and then rinse and dry well.

If she is pregnant it won't hurt to milk her and if she is simply as stated a "precious milker" you want to milk her down so that she doesn't get swollen or get infected. After raising goats for twenty years I would say that surprise pregnancies are common. We have had goats bred through the fence before.

 

[CJLR]

Maybe a false pregnancy. it happens did she have any discharge or water sac I had a goat once who had a false pregnancy. if she gets to full milk her out to prevent mastitis with is NOT fun to deal with I know from experience you can tell if its mastitis if the milk is pink or red and her udder is hot if it is you have to milk out every 5 hours and there is medication for it too please keep us posted