Young doe, first time kidding, teat issues

[KatyDaly]

Beatrice is not a year old yet, and delivered 1 healthy kid about a month ago. We allow our kids to feed off their moms until weaned, and then start milking. Beatrice had 2 normal-looking but small teats when she gave birth. Now, with only 1 kid feeding off of 1 teat, the other side has dried off (I think) and the teat has shrunk and is kind of sticking out to 1 side. Is this normal?

She appears perfectly healthy otherwise, and the kid is growing fast and is perfectly healthy as well. I am just wondering if there is something we should do now, or should have done before? I have never seen this happen like this, even with other does feeding only 1 kid.

 

[maritown]

Are you sure the shrunken side isn't the side the kid is feeding off of?
What often happens is that kids will favor one teat, drinking it until it's empty. Because the other teat is not being relieved it will become hard and often painful, causing the kid to either not want to struggle to drink from it or for the doe to not allow it because it hurts. Is the full teat hard?

 

[OneFineAcre]

If she is only nursing one side you should be milking the other to try to keep her even
It will dry off

 

[KatyDaly]

My husband milked her a bit yesterday from the larger side and he said the udder was hard, and also hard to milk because the teats are small. But she was not uncomfortable with him milking. I will try to pay attention to which side the boy is feeding off, but that could be the case, that he is drinking her dry on the one side and not touching the other.

Thanks for your replies. I will follow up with more info when I have it. Going out to milk her some right now.

 

[maritown]

My husband milked her a bit yesterday from the larger side and he said the udder was hard, and also hard to milk because the teats are small. But she was not uncomfortable with him milking. I will try to pay attention to which side the boy is feeding off, but that could be the case, that he is drinking her dry on the one side and not touching the other.

Thanks for your replies. I will follow up with more info when I have it. Going out to milk her some right now.

If the udder is hard, I would begin compresses with water and peppermint to soften. You can also give Milk of Mag orally if it's really bad but if she is not in pain it's probably not to that stage yet.
We have had does with hard udders and though time consuming, sometimes it is necessary to hold to doe and cover the other teat so the kid nurses from the hard teat, or milk multiple times a day from the compacted teat to relieve pressure and encourage feeding.

 

[KatyDaly]

Just milked her a bit from both sides. The udder (to me) was not hard, but definitely had milk in it. The teats are very small, so I did not get too much milk (about a quarter cup). And I was also able to get milk from the small side without too much trouble. I guess we will just try to get some every day and try to pay more attention to which side the kid is feeding from. As I said initially, she is small,and less than a year old. I expect she will be in better shape next year. Here's a pic of her with her kid—Beatrice and Ted. The udder you can see is the large one.