Udder Care

You know that all mammals produce milk. Even though your milk giving pet may seem hardy, but their udder isn’t. In fact, udder care is an essential aspect of caring for your herd of cows and goats. Just like you focus on your weight management and diet for your cows and goats, udder care can also affect your pet’s quality of life, milk production, and comfort. Caring for cow and goat udders might seem like a simple task, but unfortunately, it isn’t! Therefore, if you want to keep your pets and their udders healthy, you need to take proper precautions. On this page, we shall discuss all that and more.

Let’s begin by understanding the importance of udder care. Note improved udder health results in increased milk production. Usually, udders consist of four quarters or mammary glands, particularly for cows. Each of these quarters is a separate milk-secreting unit. Besides, each of them possesses its own teat through which you can drain the milk from the udder. The status and health of knockers and their traits influence the reproduction status of dairy cows. Apart from that, the standard teat sizes of your pets also impact the overall production. That said, here are a few ways to keep your milking pets healthy, happy, and turning out great milk.

The various aspects of udder care products

Keeping your pet’s udders clean is a crucial step. Before milking your cows or goats, you need to clean their udders. You can use the running water to clean them. But, you could also use other disinfectants and ointments, which we’ll be highlighting in this section, to clean the udders. Once you clean them, you dry the teats with a paper towel rather than the regular towel. That’s because re-using the towels may increase the chance of infection and contamination. You can then start the milking process. But if you’re hand milking, you need to clean your hands thoroughly. Let’s now check out the various aspects of keeping your pet’s teats clean.

Treating udder injuries with cow udder ointment

With regular milking, it’s easy for the animals to injure their udders. But, when this happens, you need to treat them as soon as possible. Well, prevention is also vital in many udder injuries. For example, cows often scraper their udders if they do not keep their feet trimmed. By the way, this means you must also look after their hoofs carefully. Apart from that, make sure that you keep the bedding clean so that the animal doesn’t catch an infection. That said, you can treat smaller scrapes and wounds by using an antibiotic or pain-relieving ointment. But, if they have a larger injury, it’s best to consult an expert veterinarian to treat it.

The importance of pre-milking udder moisturiser

We’ve seen that cleanliness is one of the primary aspects to keep in mind when milking your animal. That’s because any dirty teats make way for infections and pathogen build-ups on the udder and the area around. If you do not effectively remove them, they can contaminate the milk and other animals. And that’s why it’s imperative to use a pre-milking ointment. Pre-milking udder care products have several aims. The first and foremost is to eliminate pathogenic germs and spores to avoid cross-contamination. Additionally, the moisturiser keeps the skin of the teats smooth, soft, and elastic. This ensures that the udders better bear with the stress of milking.

The need for post-milking cow udder moisturiser

Just like your animal’s udder need care before milking, caring for them after the milking process is also an important step. That’s because, during milking, the teat’s ducts double in its diameter and take up to two hours to resize and close. However, if you’re a diligent milking animal owner, you’ll know that these ducts are the only channel for the emission of milk. But, remember, they’re also one of the only pathways for the entry of germs. This is why it’s essential to disinfect after milking your animal. This disinfection process protects the teat from mastitis and other severe infections risk during the critical phase.

Tips on goat udder care

Just like the cows, to help a nursing goat, you must keep their udder healthy and clean. Unlike cows, the goat udders have two halves that are held up by ligaments in the front, back and sides. Each half of the udder has a mammary gland and one teat. These glands store most of the milk. Remember, you must follow a routine and proper milking of the goat to avoid overfilling of or injury to the udder. Besides, washing and drying the udders and teats are also an essential aspect of udder care to minimise bacteria. You could also buy goat udder covers or sanitise the teats to prevent bacteria from entering the teat canal after milking. Above all, promptly care for udder injuries if it occurs.