All Natural Homemade Bag Balm with Essential Oils
This Homemade Bag Balm recipe is an affordable and simple DIY alternative to store bought balms.
Keeping a dairy animal’s udder clean and moisturized is vital to a healthy mama, healthy babies, and a quality product. It is a great practice to use an oil or balm on the udder for hydration and protection. Many goat owners use whatever balm is offered at their local farm store like the original Bag Balm or Udder Butter (and that works fine), but did you know that you can make your own homemade bag balm?
I love making my own products for my livestock because I get to see exactly what goes into them.
You can watch the full video tutorial here!
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How to Make Homemade Bag Balm
Bag Balm Ingredients
These ingredients work together to moisturize, protect, soften, & clean the udder + it smells great!!
- 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 Tee Tree Essential Oil
- 5-10 drops Lavender Essential Oil
- 1/4 Cup Beeswax
Homemade Bag Balm 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 make a simple one like this!
- Add Vitamin E Oil and 5-10 drops of each essential oil to the melted mixture.
- Pour the mixture into clean mason jars. Make sure that you are using jars suitable for canning because the liquid will be hot and you don’t want to shatter the glass. It is also a good idea to run the jars under hot water before pouring the hot bag balm mixture into them.
- Let the balm solidify for a couple of hours.
- Rub straight onto the udder to clean, moisturize, and protect!
Tips for Making Homemade Bag Balm
- Peppermint Essential Oil can be added to the recipe to help induce milk letdown. This is especially helpful in goats with mastitis.
- 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).
- Bag Balm isn’t only for your four-legged friends… It is great as a hand moisturizer for severely dry hands and even for nursing mothers to soothe dry and cracked nipples.
More Goat Resources
- Natural Goat Care for Your Herd
- 10+ Dairy goat Essentials for Your Small Herd
- Keeping Small Herd Goat Records
- Giving Copper Bolus to Your Goat Herd
- Draining an Abscess on a Goat
- The Goat Record Book
Thanks so much for sharing! What is the storing recommendation for this? Pantry, fridge, etc? Also, does it only last for a certain amount of time or can you basically use it for months/until it runs out? Thanks!
Storage really depends on the temp of the area that it will be in. If it is really hot outside, then I recommend storing it in a fridge. That will make the balm a little more solid, but you can hold your fingers on the top of the balm for a few seconds to warm it and make it easier to use. If your temperature is not too hot that it will melt the balm, then you can leave it out. I always kept mine on a shelf under the milk stand. I also used it for months and months until it ran out. I haven’t had any go bad on me. I haven’t tested a batch to see how long it could go without drying out or going rancid so I can’t say for sure, though.