AboutGoatlady Expertise Specializing in New Goat Owner understanding of goat physiology, goat anatomy, goat care and herd management. *I am not a veterinarian, any advice and information should be verified by your veterinarian before administering to your goats.
(! During times of severe weather in the Midwest, I may experience a delay in internet service due to the interference of the satellite reception - but will answer your questions as soon as service is restored. !)
Note: Keep in mind, the goat expert is volunteering her time to help other goat owners, she also runs her farm with her own herd of 100 goats and may not be at her computer at all hours. Questions are answered as soon as she can possibly read and answer them, usually within 24 hours.
Experience 18 years experience of raising goats and herd management. Active hands on experience with goat herd and research with various Caprine University Research and Extension Centers nationwide. 15 years dedicated to helping other goat breeders/owners with goat anatomy, goat disease and goat health care issues via phone, published goat care articles and internet interaction. The information I have to offer is not only from personal experience and years of research updated often as new information is made available to me, but supported by many Veterinary Research colleges and all medications and information I have to offer on how the medications work and what dosages "I" use, is information I have acquired by discussing directly with the company's veterinarians and staff research experts.
Organizations 5 year active member of International Veterinary Information Service
Publications United Caprine News, Homesteaders Magazine, Columnist for Goat Magazine, Owner and Author of GoatPedia™
Education/Credentials Graduate Programs in Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University
Question you emailed me saying our pet goat must have had kids recently as she is producing a lot of milk. we have had her for 5 months and she has not had any offspring in that time. her udder was quite large when we got her but then shrank. She only started producing milk again about a month ago. We have no male so she hasnt been around a male goat for at least 5 months. How long will she produce please?
Many thanks
Pam
Answer HI Pam,
A goat will be in milk for approximately 10 months after kidding- milk production will decrease unless she is being milked. To have her decrease and then increase in milk production she could be what is called a precocious milker- which is a goat who does not need to be bred to produce milk due to hormone imbalance. OR she (self sucking) or someone else is suckling from her- a stray kid perhaps? Or someone is physically milking her. If you are SURE this is milk and not mastitis, in the case if you are not sure I think your best bet right now would be to have a vet test her for mastitis to make sure this is not an infection in her udder. A goat with mastitis can appear to have a full udder but typically the udder is hot and hard sometimes feels lumpy.
Here is some information on mastitis testing and mastitis: http://goat-link.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=122&Itemid=123
