# Any experience with this? "Weeping Teats"



## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi--I am dealing with this issue and could use some advice. This is what it says in GOAT MEDICINE (Smith): 

"Some goats have milk secreting tissue in the wall of the teat, especially near its base. If this tissue communicates through one or more pores in the skin to the outside, milk will ooze out. The condition is noticed when the hand of the milker becomes wet. Cauterization with silver nitrate sticks after each milking may solve the problem. If the glandular tissue does not communicate with theoutside, a cyst may form in the wall of the teat and interfere with milking. If the cyst is large it may need to be drained aseptically."

So, I have a FF saanen doe, Violet, and I noticed these two little bumps at the base of her right teat. They are soft and just, well, not problematic or angry looking, just, simply, bumps. Then 3 more form, but smaller, and they are all (5 in total) exactly equidistant around the base of the teat. At first when I saw the original two, I thought, hmmmm....could these be some sort of infection but they didnt really seem to look that way.....???......I watched them....no changes.....just then the other 3 popped up......and I got to thinking, now that looks like extra ducts or something being all equidistant around the teat base like that....???......so, I gently push, and apply a little pressure to see if anything comes out, and milk leaks out of one of them. There is one that seems to have the non-communicating cystic quality (although I would say it is NOT cystic now, just that it has a bit more firmness to the feel of it and does not weep), one that is very soft and milk easily oozes out of the bump when pressure is applied in a certain manner, and the other 3 are very small, just under the surface and sort of "ghost-like" in that there is clearly something there just not productive or even really a bump yet....although they could become so....

ANYWAY! When I hand milk, my hand does not become wet, and I have been meticulous about everything staying dry during the process so I know there is nothing being expressed out of the pores while I milk. She gets wiped down with chlorhexidine solution prior to milking and dipped in it afterward.

I wonder, has anyone had any experince with this?

My first thought upon realizing that she has this additional pore opening, is that this is another potential avenue for bacteria to enter and cause infection. True or not? 

Is this a big concern? Do I do something about it....the styptic sticks....anything else anyone has had done??? Or do I do nothing.....

What do you think??

Thanks so much,

Alisa~


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## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

We have had does that will weep and it is usually only as a first freshener but this doesn't sound anything like you are describing here. The equidistant bumps throws me off - I know what it means but haven't ever seen anything exactly the same distance away from the teat. Can you take a picture and post it?
Tim


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I spoke a little about this in the other thread, when you are breeding for dairy character, loose pliable skin, it effects the strength of skin at the teat also. If you don't deal with these by aspirating them and chemical burning them with the silver nitrate q tips, they will form hard bumps that look very much like a teat was cut off incorrectly. This also goes along with does that have salivary cysts. And ask me how I know way to much about this subject 

If she is just a milker I would just leave her alone, it doesn't hurt anything to just milk with gloves, make sure the whole teat and base of the udder is thoroughly saturated with teat dip after milking, why I prefer spraying to dipping, it's alot more thorough than dipping just the teat. If you are wanting to show her, than deal with each spot on her udder as soon as it forms, or you find a weeping area. Vicki


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Do I have to milk with gloves? That sounds like a PITA to me, I use a surgical scrub before I milk. I will get the q-tips, is it easy to apply them...I have dealt with the blood-stop powder, not a pencil/q-tip...is that the same/similar thing or altogther different? I saw one used on my son's navel when her was a newborn, she just applied it with firm pressure.....Am I making sense LOL? She is probably not ever going to be shown, but I like the idea of closing off those pores altogther regardless of whether she is ever shown...I dont want to have to worry about milking with gloves and what kind of nasties might enter those pores....


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

The number one mode of staph transmission is our hands. Your doe has open pores from the outside of her teat to the inside of her udder via these weeping surfaces in her teats. Most only have to deal with the orifice in the end of the goats teat. Yes until you resolve this issue with your doe, and your hands no longer are getting wet, you need to wear gloves. Even the best hand washing is not going to help when you have wet milk hands milking this goat. Sorry PITA yes. Ask your vet, septic (OK this isn't right) sticks are simply cauterizing powder on the end of qtips, your right it is held on firmly to the exact place you want to stop some bleeding (nose bleeds) in your case to burn the skin to stop the weeping area. Vicki


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Thanks Vicki 

FYI anyone interested, as soon as I am able I will post a photo.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I have a LaMancha heavy milker that has the bumps on her teats mainly just one abt the size of the tip of your little finger but they don't leak. Then I have another doe a Nubian that leaks milk along the upper side of her teats but no bumps.


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## Sharpgoat (Feb 7, 2008)

I had two Alpines with this problem, :down
And I had to put down one she had Pseudomonas aeruginosa mastitis from getting dirt in the holes that were on the back of her udder and her doe kid had the same holes as her mother and had mastitis as well so she is gone as well.
So if this goat gets mastitis send a sample in don't try to treat with out getting a culture done 
I would have saved hundreds of dollars if I had tested to start with. :bang
Fran


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Thanks Sharpgoat, I will keep that in mind...I am sorry for your losses...

Vicki, is the styptic stick treatment very effective? I am going to do it, but in the GM book it says it "MAY" solve the problem...

Also, how long do I hold the stick in place? How many will I need? Will I have to treat this over and over again until I see it is no longer open? I am wondering how many sticks to purchase...do I need a new stick for each bump? If the bump/pore does not leak when I apply pressure do I need to treat anyway as a precaution?

Vicki, how often do you see this? Is it fairly common? 

Sondra, how long have you been milking your nubian with this condition? What are your milking techniques. 

I am so freaked out that Vi keep a healthy supply,,,,as is everyone.....I am totally new to this dairy goat thing LOL and it is so much more complicated than I thought it would be! Seems something new is always around the corner....

Also, is this considered some kind of extra/supernumerart teat situation? They are definately not teats....just a little pore with a small pool of milk just under the skin....just wondering about how they might be classified....


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

If you really look at the weeping area it is like a blister of loose skin, some does form a blister that never leaks, but it usually becomes a cyst if the milk is left to pool under this area...it never effects anything other than a seal on an infaltion if they get really hard and they look awful if they get more than one.

So if you take the stick and place it against the leaking pore, it cauterizes it.....you can tell because you are really burning the skin. I know someone up north who used long qtips and the liquid nitrogen from her AI tank, the same we would burn off warts and the like at the doctors office.

Mine are in a tube, I never just bought one, but I do pull one out and use it on the hole. None of mine ever had mutiple places though, it was fix and area this lactation, and another one next time.

We never saw it as hereditary, except in the vien that your whole bloodline had very thin skinned dairy does.

It never has kept does out of the showring, it certainly doesn't (with undestanding about teat dipping and cleanliness of the whole teat) hurt production. The herd I purchased my first buck from had this, so I know I dealt with it in my herd sparatically simply because of the bloodline, which is still intermingled even in my new herd. Since it's where most dairy character comes in, in the nubian line, I would say it's pretty darn common  Vicki


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Ok...one more question....what if, when I cauterize it, the milk just keeps pooling under there? You say it is a problem if the milk is left to pool...what stops it pooling? I guess it just does what it does and you get what you get? Anyway, it sounds like the condition is not something all that terrible....so there's that at least....

As of now, they really do not leak unless I specifically go to the spot and apply distinct pressure and a small bit leaks out. Then it just looks the same afterward, it just keeps filling right back up....Is it problematic to close the pore and then have no means of getting the pooled milk out? Or will it just be reabsorbed....I can see one of them is sort of a little knot under the skin. Its the one that does not communicate to the outside. Maybe it is a cyst? I dont know. It doesnt seem to affect the way the milk comes out of the orifice...its a nice stream. I know you said if she's just a milker I should leave it...is that because burning could make potential problems? 

I milked with a glove this morning--a bunch of milk ended up on the stand, and I had to keep wiping it up so she wouldnt slip on it while trying to stretch out. Since she's a first freshener, her teats are small and I can only use two fingers, the latex and my hand gets in the way and the milk ends up running along the glove because of the way I have to hold my hand, and it just is more difficult to milk with a glove on until her teats get bigger! ....OY! Someone get me a styptic stick and shut me UP!!

Sorry this was a little bit if a rant LOL....


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2009)

I always milk wearing nitrile gloves and cannot imagine not wearing them. It is part of my strict routine for udder health and milk quality.

Sara


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Alisa, do what you gotta do. I can't even wear gloves to do pelvics on my own goats, so I know exactly how you feel...although I wear leather work gloves daily working in the barns and gardens.

If you simply can't stand the gloves than just make sure your hands are clean, milk and then really pay attention to cleaning the teats after your done. Maybe she will out grow some of this when her teats toughen up. I know I cured my one doe of this when I used a diplitory on her to 'shave' her udder for a show. It gave her a slight chemical burn (never use Sally Hanson again!) but after the peeling was over, it had toughened the skin on the upper teat enough that she never has had a problem again.

So although that's some awful remedy it is really what you are doing with the sticks anyway, chemically burning the spot so it plugs the whole and stops leaking milk into the skin. Vicki


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## Tracy in Idaho (Oct 26, 2007)

I had a yearling doe years ago that did this. It was really the only reason I sold her -- and she is the one goat I've always regretted selling!

Her's weren't bumps at all -- but just "thinner" spots on the top of her teats at the sides where milk would leak through. Not a huge amount, but enough to be annoying.

Tracy


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

speaking of wearing gloves. I wear them at work all the time in the potato chip factory. I'd like to wear them to milk in also as I am milking for other people this year and am truley concerned about keeping the milk extremely clean. I went to harbor freight to get some gloves as I know they carry them. They had nitril, and some others. None said food safe. I'm wondering what kind to buy to hand milk in? At work I wear latex, which is labeled as food safe, but I know some people are alergic to latex and I didn't know if it might cause a reaction in the goats. Any thoughts or preferences on glove types to hand milk in?
Thanks
anita


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