Thursday 30 March 2017

Milking Pinkie

goats Mar 17 (17)

Pinkie's health has been of some concern recently. She stopped milking early in December, nearly two months earlier than the previous cycle. She has been getting a bit thin and when she seemed unwell a couple of weeks ago, the vet came out to look at her and suggested she may have a breathing problem. He also said that she wasn't pregnant. In a sense, we were pleased about that latter point. We want her to get her health back and put some weight back on. That wasn't going to be achieved if she were pregnant again. In the meantime, we've been feeding her more food (not easy with the other 3 goats around).

However, over the past 10 days or so, her udders have been swelling up. She has started lactating even though she is not pregnant. Tonight, I decided to milk her. She gave us 1.5 litres. Though Pinkie is our only milking goat, I'd prefer her not to be lactating. I need her energy directed at putting weight back on. So even though we have increased her feed, we are going to increase it further. Fortunately, spring greenery is growing so we can add this to her diet.

goat udder Mar 17

goats milk Mar 17 (1)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

She does look like she needs increased nutrition....have you had a fecal done to determine her parasite load? I feed my goats separately, depending upon their individual needs. It takes a little more time, but it helps keep them healthy. Good luck with your girl!!!