# Bad udder discussion thread



## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Rather than further hijack the thread on weaning, I'm copying some of the questions over here.

First, a pic of Sophie's bad udder.









The question Luvzmybabz asked:
OK now I have some ?s are those considered bottled, and why the lumpiness (not even sure if that is a word or not). I think your goat could be the poster child of what not to look for in a udder and I do not even know that much about udders.

I saw a doe at the fair I recently attended that her teats were huge fat around I forget what that is called very nice udder from what I could tell BUT weird teats. She won her class and I think the senior Best doe also. is this from dam raising or what?

My answer:
I have no idea what to call it other than "the ugliest udder in the universe."  Sophie apparently comes from a genetic line of bad uddered Alpines. After some research, I found that many of the does in this line have poorly attached, poorly constructed udders. The breeder of this doe is apparently no longer in the goat business.

The sphincter muscle in her right teat that should retain the mammary tissue in the udder has failed, and the tissue slides into the teat. I have to manually maneuver it up into the udder before milking in order to milk her without hurting her.

Her udder attachment in the top is so poor that it's about a four inch diameter connection of skin. Imagine a basketball in a grocery store plastic bag that you've gathered at the top. That's how little attachment there is.

I have located other breeders who, like me, bought does of this line and have had to eliminate them. There's really no excuse to sell offspring of this type of doe to the milking community. All of Sophie's doe kids will go to the dining table. The males are wethered and can go to be companions or pets.

With the udder support, she can remain a milk producer in my herd. She peaks at a gallon per day, but on the next lactation, her udder would be on the ground without the bra.


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## Wonderland (May 26, 2009)

Oh, wow.

I think this should be made a sticky, and other people could post pictures of their bad udders. It would be helpful to new people to see what NOT to buy.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Also, when you are buying a doe in milk, the time of day that you see her affects how the udder looks. At mid-day, her udder isn't as full or pendulous as later or very early in the morning.

I learned many things with this doe.:cowboy:


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

I learned that just because they can give a gallon, doesnt mean they should. The first dairy I bought this doe didnt have jack on, I have yet to see udders any worse looking than hers. Thanks to this forum though I know what to look for and now have a reasonably good doe with a good udder, shes not perfect or as large but well attached in my opinion.


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## Ark (Oct 5, 2004)

Oh! OH!!!
My goodness - I'll have to go out and take a pic of the doe in my herd with the bad udder.
I cringe when I look at her. 
If you saw her pedigree you would not believe it - she comes from a show herd of beautiful does with fabulous udders and I will NOT badmouth her breeder by mentioning her registered name. 
But, at her first kidding (I didnt own her yet) she had been sold to a person who did not know that if the udder gets THAT BIG before kidding, you darn well better milk her out!
So, basically, the udder "exploded". There was a blow out - all ligaments blown. Rips and tears all over the udder. Blood, etc.
*shudder* Her second kidding (with me) went fine. 
I got a beautiful daughter out of her, then sold her because the udder makes me cringe. I got next to nothing for her, but I told them up front that you HAVE to milk her out before kidding. 
They didnt do it... and once again she had rips, tears, bleeding, etc - ugh.
Poor girl.
So, they GAVE her back to me. 
As soon as she kids this time, I am seriously considering just putting her out of her misery. Her daughter is a fabulous milker in my herd, so if she has another doe kid I would likely keep it.
Anyone wanna see a pic?  LOL


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I was also going to put Sophie down until the udder support turned out to be so successful. She's comfortable and happy, so she can stay. :cowboy:


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## Wonderland (May 26, 2009)

Ark said:


> Oh! OH!!!
> My goodness - I'll have to go out and take a pic of the doe in my herd with the bad udder.
> I cringe when I look at her.
> If you saw her pedigree you would not believe it - she comes from a show herd of beautiful does with fabulous udders and I will NOT badmouth her breeder by mentioning her registered name.
> ...


Poor thing...that sounds so painful


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## DairyGoatSlave (Dec 27, 2008)

Ark, It sounds like you should end her explosions once and for all 
and yes, id like to se a pic

My girls have pretty good udders, Im now just working on getting higher attachments, will post pics pre and post-kidding


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

I'd like to see more pics please. And some more info on the bra's for them please? Peaches came to me this year~ one side is severely descended and we were just recently discussing how IF her udder gets bad enough to drag on the ground we would have to cull her even though we love her and her sweet/loving personality. We would love to keep her healthy and happy.....and are willing to put some extra work into keeping her........but one side of her udder is definitely at risk of dragging on the ground if she were "full".


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## LaManchaPaul (May 21, 2008)

I have a doe that has grapefruit sized udder and very small teats. That's not so bad, but the orifice on both teats are pinholes! Honestly, I have to apply so much pressure with only two fingers. The teat becomes pressured, but only a very thin spray comes out. What a mistake.

The first time she was on the stand I remembered Vickie's advice: &#8220;&#8230;milk her before you buy her." Well, some of us just HAVE TO EXPERIENCE it to learn it!

I will not sell her without full disclosure, but I sure wish that she lived somewhere else OR that I could afford a milk machine. Paul


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Udder support from Hoegger, but I've modified the one I bought.
http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=3482&cat=0&page=1


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Side view:


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## Ark (Oct 5, 2004)

OK, here it is, and darn it, I didnt realize it was so dark. It looked ok on the camera. 
That kid she adopted is still nursing on the left side, so the right side is MUCH smaller. It's always smaller but looks even worse now. 

You should see this udder swing when she runs! It's downright freaky.

The doe is 3 years old - tall and lean.


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

LaManchaPaul said:


> I have a doe that has grapefruit sized udder and very small teats. That's not so bad, but the orifice on both teats are pinholes! Honestly, I have to apply so much pressure with only two fingers. The teat becomes pressured, but only a very thin spray comes out. What a mistake.
> 
> The first time she was on the stand I remembered Vickie's advice: ââ¦milk her before you buy her." Well, some of us just HAVE TO EXPERIENCE it to learn it!
> 
> I will not sell her without full disclosure, but I sure wish that she lived somewhere else OR that I could afford a milk machine. Paul


Like trying to milk pimples on a balloon, huh?

NeHi


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## luvzmybabz (Sep 8, 2008)

I have a goat that on Saturday I noticed had a swollen udder she hangs a little about 1/3 of the does of Ark She is not bred and I had put the buck with her a little and she did not act like she wanted anything to do with him. It is about the size of a golf ball around and about 2 golf balls high. I made hubbie get down there and she does have milk in it. She is older about 7 years old. I was thinking a dose of tommorrow and antibiotics ( just not sure which one) ? and vet here wants to see my goats before prescribing anything even though I usually know more about goat issues then he does.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

I guess some things we all just have to learn by experience. My first goat, about 26 years ago, had teats the size of summer sausages. She was a three-year-old first freshener, a really good milker with a decent udder, but huge teats. The huge teats were not from dam-raising her kids, because they were bottle-raised (by the people I bought her from). When she freshened the following year, it was like her udder fell into her teats -- it had been hard enough to milk her the first year (and I was new at it!), but her second year, I couldn't milk her at all. Sent her to the auction! Around that time I was given a pretty Saanen doe with a nice udder, but small teat openings, making her really hard to milk, also. The doe I just sold (and her mother) had small teats and small teat openings -- the only reason I sold her. I'm too old to be milking teats like that, and I have a lovely Oberhasli doe who is really easy to milk even as a yearling. 

So, as Vicki said, MILK BEFORE BUYING, LOL!

Kathleen


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## deafgoatlady (Sep 5, 2007)

I have a picture of my mother in law's goat. OH it was horrible experience for me. I am soo glad that I didnt have like that in my herd.. OH MAN!! Let me get the picture for you.. HMMM.. HERE IT IS..


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## luvzmybabz (Sep 8, 2008)

deafgoatlady said:


> I have a picture of my mother in law's goat. OH it was horrible experience for me. I am soo glad that I didnt have like that in my herd.. OH MAN!! Let me get the picture for you.. HMMM.. HERE IT IS..



OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    :stars::stars::stars::stars:those last few are from the concussion she must get every time she tries to run, Does this goat try to run?, What breed of goat is this


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## deafgoatlady (Sep 5, 2007)

She is a nubian goat.. We had to milk her out before she had her 4 babies. One of them died becuz it was not devolped right. Anyways.. We have to pick her up and put her on the milking stand and she cut her self to the udder. not that deep. thank goodness. And we milked her out and we got 7 qts of colostrum! Oh man. It was horrible. She runs like it dont bother her! But it make me sick to see her like that. And she didnt get pregnant last year., WHOO. I am glad..


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