Soothe Sore Teats and Relieve Mastitis with Homemade Udder Balm for Dairy Animals
An ideal way to include essential oils in your farm health medicine chest is to make your own udder balm. We found this recipe on ‘mamaonthehomestead’ blog but there are many more online all using different essential oils and base creams.
The important addition for mastitis is to add peppermint oil.
From Mama on the Homestead:
These ingredients work together to moisturise, protect, soften, & clean the udder:
- 1 Cup Shea Butter
- 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
- 1/2 tsp Vitamin E Oil
- 5-10 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil
- 5-10 drops Lavender Essential Oil
- 1/4 Cup Beeswax
Directions
Melt the shea butter, beeswax, olive oil, and coconut oil in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler then you can use 2 saucepans , one slightly larger than the other. To do this, you will need to pour about an inch of water in the larger sauce pan. Place the smaller sauce pan on top of the larger one and place them on a heated stove. Put your ingredients in the top pan and stir until melted.
- Add Vitamin E Oil and 5-10 drops of each essential oil to the melted mixture.
- Pour the mixture into clean containers, making sure that you are using ones safe to take hot liquid.
- Let the balm solidify for a couple of hours.
- Rub straight onto the udder to clean, moisturise, and protect.
Top Tips
- 5-10 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil can be added to the recipe to help induce milk letdown. This is especially helpful with mastitis as it also cools the area.
- Calendula tincture can be added to soothe chapped teats.
- You can add a little more beeswax if you want the balm to be more solid or add less beeswax if you want it to be more of a butter (you might even add a little extra shea butter).
- Aloe Vera Gel is a useful addition for a ‘slacker’ balm.
You will undoubtedly notice the benefit of using this on your own hands too!