Mastectomy Saves Valued Breeding Goat
Morgan, a 5-year-old female Alpine goat, was approaching her fourth kidding when mastitis was discovered on her udder. The infection (generally caused by bacteria in the environment or trauma) was severe enough to cause Morgan’s pregnancy to become non-viable, losing all four of her kids.
The breeding and milking doe is from a valued seedstock dairy herd at Shining Moon Ranch. Her previous three pregnancies resulted in nine prized kids. Members of the herd have won awards at national shows and California fairs. The ranch sells the goats’ genetics (either semen or herd sires – buck kids from prize winning does) to commercial dairies, hobby farms, and breeders who want to improve their stock.
Over the next few months, Morgan was treated for the mastitis but fell into a cycle of getting better and then relapsing into a worsening condition. Trinity Malmanis, herd manager at Shining Moon, met with the ranch owner to discuss Morgan’s fate.
Malmanis has spent her entire life around goat breeding. Her family has raised dairy goats since before she was born. Throughout school, she honed her skills in 4-H and raised prized goats. After college, she worked at commercial goat dairy for 10 years and has been herd manager at Shining Moon since.
“Goats have been part of my entire life, both personally and professionally,” she said. “I’ve probably kidded out 100,000 goats in my life. It’s the one thing I feel comfortable saying I’m an expert at.”
After much consideration, it was decided to seek specialty care for Morgan.
“Not only is she a valued breeder, but more importantly, Morgan is a beloved member of our herd,” said Malmanis. “So, we made the decision to bring her to UC Davis.”
Morgan is no stranger to UC Davis, having come into the world at the school’s Large Animal Hospital five years ago.
“Morgan was stuck deep inside her dam’s uterus and had her head twisted back, so that I could not get her out,” Malmanis said, recalling the night of her birth. “So, I took her to UC Davis in the middle of the night for a C-section.”
The surgery was successful, but Morgan’s neck was unable to straighten after being twisted for so long in utero.
Malminis’ sister, UC Davis livestock veterinarian Dr. Fauna Smith, cared for and housed Morgan for the first few weeks of her life while her neck grew stronger and slowly straightened out.
After having all these UC Davis connections, it seems only fitting that Morgan’s life be saved at the university years later.
Following an initial examination by the Livestock Medicine and Surgery Service, Dr. Meera Heller performed a mastectomy to remove Morgan’s infected udder. On initial examination, Morgan didn’t seem to be severely ill, just a bit quiet and lethargic.
“I didn’t appreciate how sick she truly was until the udder was removed and she became a different goat with tons of personality,” Dr. Heller said. “I am always amazed at how stoic and tough some of our patients can be.”
“This was a major surgery, but within 1-2 days, she was a completely different goat,” said Malmanis. “It was clear she felt so much better. She had a fantastical recovery.”
Now several months from the surgery, Malanis reports that Morgan continues to do great.
“She’s gained weight, she’s happy, and she runs around like the experience never happened,” continued Malmanis. “She’s back to being the Boss Girl on the farm. It makes me so happy that she’s so happy now, because she was so sad for such a long time when she was sick.”
Plans are for Morgan to be bred again this fall. Malmanis expects that process to go smoothly.
“She has great vigor,” said Malmanis. “She’s a goat that’s faced a lot of challenges in her life and has overcome them all.”
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