Mastitis
I have a Nubian doe that I am at the end of my rope with. We got her in early March, paid a bunch for her, and she was supposed to be gallon a day milker. The first couple of days she produced about 3/4 gallon (milking twice a day) and we attributed that to stress of the move. However it never got better. A few days later she showed signs of mastitis (slightly stringy milk) that tested positive on CMT. She was off her feed so we gave her propylene glycol. We gave her an oxytetracycline injection and TODAY. She cleared up the next day, began eating well only to go on to numerous “other” problems. One day she had a sore foot, we treated it with diesel a couple days and it was well. She’s had numerous episodes of mastitis (treated with penicillin and TODAY). We’ve wormed her twice with ivermectin (injection given orally). She’ll be fine for a couple of days then she’ll stand facing the wall (instead of being eager for the milk stand), won’t eat grain, has clumpy stools, coughs occasionally, yawns repeatedly, and sorta shivers. Her milk is never clumpy, but during her “sick days” it is thicker and sticky and has little globules of oil floating on the top (like you didn’t get a greasy glass quite clean). We don’t use her milk for ourselves, but give it to animals, as she never goes three days without being sick.
End of my rope
Natchitoches, Louisiana
I’d guess that your doe still has mastitis and that it’s become chronic. I’d treat her with injectable penicillin for a 7-10 days. Some brands are given daily — others every couple of days. Follow directions with bottle. Don’t use the Tomorrow. I’m not a fan of intermammary mastitis treatment. It often introduces more bacteria and irritates the udder especially if inserted too far into the teat. It should be just pushed in past the muscle that holds the milk in — not way up the teat. Milk her several times a day to drain bacteria out of the udder frequently. — Jackie
Canning potatoes
I have just dug out my potatoes from late last fall, that I canned, and there is a lot of starch at the bottom of the jars. Yes, I know they are starchy foods, but is it normal? How can I get less starch? I did peel and cut the potatoes.
Bev Giroux
Oxford, Maine
Some varieties of potato seem to have this problem more than others. Did you can in quarts? The longer processing time can cause potatoes to soften and break down the starch. — Jackie
To End of My Rope:
Here is a salve that we use on all our milking does which has helped us greatly in treating mastitis:
Fennel Salve for Mastitis
6 oz liquid oil (olive, peanut, safflower or vegetable) = 3/4 Cup
3 oz coconut oil
1 oz beeswax
9 oz distilled water
2 tsp fennel essential oil
5 drops grapefruit seed extract
>Heat oils and beeswax til liquid – let cool
>When still very warm but still liquid add distilled water, essential
oil and grapefruit seed extract
>Use electric mixer and mix til white and fully mixed (will be beige if use
olive oil)
> Put in wide mouth jars
To use; Massage into udder after each milking
Hope this helps – it has helped out girls greatly
Dear Jackie,
Somethimes I wished that I could e-mail you privately. This is one of thoes
times. I was just reading Backwoods home May/June 2008.About the all
purpose family medical kit. I am not sure if you will be covering that also
this weekend for those who want to move out.Any way you were talking
about bandages-gause,etc.Now what I am going to tell you, and I am not
sure how to buy it over the counter, but it is a miracle, if you can get your
hands on it. I have to go to a foot doctor and 3 weeks ago I had a stress
fracture in the foot?? They wraped it in some time of medicated guase.
Told me that I could not get my foot wet for 5 days or the gause would turn
into plaster of paris. There is some sort of medicane in this gause that helps with healing. I left the guase on for the five days. I still should be in
one of those foot things. But I haven’t needed it after the five days. Jackie
I am sorry but the doctors office wraped my foot.But if you can figure out
how to get it, it would be I thing invalveable for a first aid kit.
Blessings,
Debby
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