Re:grit in milk??.. Need dairying advice

[Guest guest]

I have had a couple of does that made stones or sand during an isolated

period of their lifetime lactation. One had a stone the size of a small

lima bean that suddenly dropped into the teat and stopped milk flow one

day. Quite a shock. She couldn't be on the machine milker anymore, of

course, but I could work it back up the teat canal with one hand and

empty that side of the udder by hand. All my research found cow info,

and the only remedy suggested was to use a small alligator plier to go

into the teat, grip the stone and crush it. Not an option with a goat.

I finally opted to just dry that side off. I continued to milk the

other side for the rest of the lactation.

Dreading her next lactation, I found that the stone seemed to have

fragmented on its own, and I was able to get it out a little at a time.

The biggest piece was about the size of a grain of rice. I was horrified

she was going to get mastitis and she did end up with a brief flare-up,

but I was ready for it and it cleared right up.

I assumed this was calcium or other mineral depositing in the udder, but

an instructor at a cheese class I attended that winter said those

deposits are protein. All the book info I could find said they happened

from incomplete milking, but I needed the milk and was milking them

pretty thoroughly, best I could tell.