I’d definitely prioritize keeping the wound clean. I’ve used an herbal wound protocol that involves cleansing the wound with mildly salty water, an herbal infusion  (use calendula, plantain, and rosemary—whatever you have on hand), and then coat the wound with dried rosemary powder. Repeat this process 2-3 times a day. I’ve used this protocol repeatedly on my farm (mainly on goats and dogs), and have had great success with it.

Do you have her on any medications right now? If not, I would suggest giving her a good sized clove of garlic once a day with probiotics (in the form of raw yogurt or kefir, if you have them). I’ve used it repeatedly on my goats to fight off infection, and it has worked very well. It is my first go-to before antibiotics. Of course, definitely monitor your goat very closely, and if she starts getting worse, I’d contact your vet to be on the safe side.

Hope this helps!

P.S. I’ve found the best way to get garlic down my goats is to chop it finely, mix it with the yogurt (about a large spoonful), add a little blackstrap molasses or raw honey, and use bran to thicken it until you can mold it into balls. The goats will typically see them as a great treat, but if not break the balls up into pieces and hand feed it to them.

As far as how well she will be able to function after her wound heals, I think you’ll just probably have to wait and see, unfortunately. If you keep addressing the wound with the herbs and keep it clean, it should heal up. If possible, I’d keep the area she is in very clean to minimize flies and further contamination.

A good book for future reference that I’d highly recommend is Juliette de Baïracli Levy’s “Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable.”

I wish you all the best with your goat! As I mentioned in my first response, I’ve used the wound protocol I listed above on many of my farm animals, including abscess cases in goats. I learned about it from Juliette’s book, and it has been a God-send!

Your goat may be healed up by now, but I had a donkey get strangles right after I got him. So he had a huge abscess form under his neck. It eventually blew similarly to how your goat’s abscess did. I gave him internal immune support (echinacea, probiotics, vit C, etc.) and rinsed the area twice a day with colloidal silver. It healed up amazingly. A year or so later the same donkey was attacked by a dog. The dog ripped up the flesh on his rump and around his tail horribly. Again, I rinsed regularly with colloidal silver and gave internal immune support. These wounds were so deep that it took 6 weeks for them to heal (even using comfrey to speed the process up). With the flies and his tail swishing past the wounds all the time, I was sure they would get infected. The only wound that got infected was a wound I had not noticed and thus had not rinsed with colloidal silver. And it only got infected when I stopped the internal supplements. Colloidal silver can be expensive to buy. And with the animals, it is easy to use a lot. So we just got a Silver Edge colloidal silver maker so we can use all we want!

This thread got past me somehow.

I’d get that goat tested and make sure it isn’t caseous lymphadenitis. If it is, cull her as it’s very contagious and lives in the environment for a long time.

If it’s just an abscess from the mastitis, you can treat it with Immunity Support and BugBuster internally (don’t use either if she’s pregnant or nursing) and manage the wound like any other wound (see the wound management lessons) by spraying poultice tincture on it that’s been diluted 1 tsp tincture to 2 oz H20

Infectious Disease Formulas