# Leaky teats



## happy vagabonds (Jun 24, 2012)

I understand that leaky teats are common especially with high producing does and it happens when they are especially full. I understand that merely laying on their udders will be enough to cause them to leak and that even just idly standing there, they will leak.

I have been (a glutton for punishment) milking my does 3 times a day. At first was milking at 6AM, 2Pm and 10PM - (8/8/8). I have been slowly moving the first and last milking times further apart so that I may move them to twice a day schedule (12/12). Right now I have them at 7:30AM, 1PM & 9PM (5.5/8/10.5). That 10.5 hour stretch is leaving Doughnut quite full and tight in the morning. She is FF and milking just over 8lbs/day at 28 days into her lactation. 

Anything that I should be doing for this? 

I have a new (Sunrising!) doeling coming home today and I can't afford any decrease in milk production right now, so I am planning to continue milking 3x a day for at least a few more (agonizing!) weeks. I would like to continue the track I am on with slowly adjusting the milking times to move closer and closer to 12/12 schedule. But with Doughnut leaking at a mere 10.5 hours... I am unsure about how to proceed. 

Suggestions? Comments?


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## Junkscouts (Jul 18, 2010)

Hi Frankie,

I'm milking 3x a day too and I have a leaker as well. My first and last milkings are usually 5:30 and 7:30. Mine are 2 months into their lactation and for the first month or so I had some very tight udders. I had some leaking from the one doe, but their udders have been stretching and they are never that full anymore unless I skip a milking and my production hasn't decreased at all. So I suspect that as you start lengthening the time between milkings Doughnut's udder will stretch and she will have enough capacity to hold her milk with 2x a day milking and still produce closer to what you are getting now with 3x a day.

I'm not an expert so someone please correct me if this is bad advice, but you might try milking a little later one afternoon and then skipping your night milking and let her get really bagged up which will help her udder stretch. If you can do that once or twice a week for a little while I think you should be able to increase her holding capacity without effecting her production. I didn't do it on purpose but had to skip a milking here and there and it actually seems to have helped.


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## wheytogosaanens (Oct 26, 2007)

I don't have a solution for you - except to milk Miss Leaky Pants 3X/day until she doesn't leak anymore.

Have to say that it is a fallacy that high production does tend to leak. Ours do not. At a show when they have been uddered up for 14-16 hours, they may start to let down (hoping that our leading them means that we are on the way to the milk stand) and we just pinch the teat and make an ehhhhk noise and then she stops. Sometimes really fine udder texture can tend to be leakers, but this is not the norm (that we know of).

Just so you know, Tarkheena, also a FF yearling is giving 10.5#/day now and does not leak. She is almost 6 weeks fresh.

Hopefully with time, your doe will stop leaking. There is such a mastitis risk when they leak. You may have to breed to a buck with better udder traits (ie, no leaking in that line) to get away from it.

Some folks feel Vitamin C helps because it helps the udder overall - heard it, haven't had to try to see if it does work.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I used Dr. Naylor's Stop a Leak and that helped. Leaking/spraying when they are on their way to the milkstand is not such a worry since the routine is likely triggering the let-down reflex, but those that leak when they get full are troublesome! Huge mastitis risk.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

I agree with Camille; you may want to breed for better udder traits. I, too, have Alpines, all are FF's or 2FF's and are milking between 12 - 17 lbs per day. Only one leaked once because I was late and she didn't leak until after I wiped her udder and hand-squirted the first few strips out.


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## happy vagabonds (Jun 24, 2012)

Meh. This is disheartening. I will keep an eye on it. I went to check her yesterday before I milked and she was laying on the spindle... there was a puddle of milk under her udders and a wet spot on the ground beneath the spindle. 

*sigh* Doughnut is my golden girl... I have a lot of hopes for her. I have put so much into her... I've been working so hard to do the best I can for these girls. This is not good news.

She's only 4 weeks fresh yet... so she has yet to hit her peak, I am guessing.


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

She needs to develop capacity, and she probably will. I have an alpine doe with a real pretty udder, but she tends to be leaky, too. Her udder is probably not as stretchy as some of the others, so takes time to grow and stretch. Try to find a buck with nice capacious udders behind him, and stretchy dairy skin to breed her with. Don't be surprised if she is leaky again next year as her production makes a big jump for her second freshening. Hopefully, by her third it won't be quite so bad because things have had time to grow and stretch. (Hopefully.)


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Also unless you are seeing her leaking while grazing or laying...do not equate leaking with a normal milk let down at milking time. My does will start leaking as chore time starts with me clanking around in the milk room. This is not a fault. It is hormonal, a normal milk let down. Does will do this if you are milking twice a day or three times. I always milk FF 3 times a day, I do not want them strutting that udder. 

But sadly yes, at shows you see does spewing milk all the time. It should be counted as a genetic fault with the does put at the end of the line, but instead they are not...which just lets breeders bag their does more and more. Vicki


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

I don't know about that. They might look good in pictures, but way overuddered does do not look good otherwise. They walk funny, hunch up, udders are hard as a rock when judges feel them, shelves in foreudders, etc. I have seen does leaking, but I don't see why people would do that on purpose. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what time a judge is going to get to a certain breed! My first milker I showed was an alpine and that show was in reverse order. She did end up leaking a bit, and I milked her some ringside to relieve some pressure. Not necessarily the best thing to do, since milk in the top of the udder empties first, so you lose udder height...plus some does when you start keep leaking with letdown! It's all a balancing act. I decided this year at this early show I am going to soon, I will not let most of my does go past 12 hours...I tried an experiment and waited 14 hours, and most of them just did not look as good with that much milk.


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## Junkscouts (Jul 18, 2010)

For the first month Nutmeg (my leaker) would have a saturated leg every so often from leaking while she was laying down, but her udder stretched enough so that that doesn't happen anymore. She's gone from 6 or 7 pounds a day to 9 or 10 in the last month (not fantastic, but not bad for my girls) and she doesn't leak anymore between milkings that I can see, so don't give up hope.


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