Goat Birthing and Kid Care

Knowing when a goat will kid can be very difficult if you don't keep track of the breeding date.  Just ask me, I always do things the hard way.   I mean to write it down, and then a week goes by, and then two, and pretty soon I can't remember, was that last Saturday... or was it 2 Saturdays ago?   Its even harder if your doe is bred accidentally by a young buck you didn't think was up to it yet, or an escaped male who hops a fence.   Whatever the reason, you need to figure out when to expect your kids.

PattyCake, our Saanen, and her babies, Larry, Mary and Curly  (My daughter would not let me name a Girl Moe)

While there is no way to predict the exact date, there are a series of signs and symptoms you can watch for leading up to the event.   Usually the goats "pooch" or hind end will be swollen as she gets closer to delivery.  You may also see yellowish discharges off and on.  Very similar to when they are in season, except that the swelling accompanies it.   They will tend to "flag" almost nonstop in the last month or more of pregnancy as well.  Flagging is when a goat walks around with her tail up.  This is not a sure sign though, as I've had goats who flag often.  They will also loose a "mucous plug" similar to humans once, twice or even multiple times in the weeks before birth.

Your goat may paw the ground, and nip at her sides, in effect talking to her little ones, and preparing her birthing area.   She may be extra whiny or vocal, and seem stressed at times the closer she gets.   But unfortunately there are many goats who do none of these things.  One of my does that delivered showed many signs, but she never seemed stressed until just moments before she lay down and started pushing.  Also she is a very noisy girl, and she actually quieted a lot the last week or so.  And even after her kids were born, she talked to them in very sweet hushed tones.  It was so pleasant to watch her interact with them.

Lucy and Ethel our 2013 Nigerian Kids

Another sign that is more definite is the loss of ligaments on the hips right before the tail.   If you feel on their rump, you can feel a nice tight ligament going down each side.  24 hours before birth, this ligament becomes so loose that its like it has disappeared.  This is in preparation for the babies to pass through the birth canal.

Mary

Baby goats are one of our favorite things about having a farm.   We look forward to the babies every year.  I personally let the moms care for their kids, and nurse them as I believe in doing things the way nature intended it.  Not to mention it is much less work for me.   I do watch closely the first few days to make sure kids are latching on and eating regularly.   If your babes are born too early in spring, or more like winter, sometimes you'll need to provide extra heat in the barn for the first week or so.   You can do this with a heat producing light bulb, OR an outdoor heater.   Just don't use one that use propane unless you can be sure theres enough ventilation and minimize the risk of fires.

At about 2 weeks of age, if you desire, you can start separating the kids from their moms at night.   I usually do this by putting them in an enclosure right next to their moms so they can still see and interact, and I've even locked them in a large dog kennel inside their moms Pen before, and that works too if you only have a couple kids.  They started going in there one there own to sleep after a few days.   This allows your doe to fill up with Milk all night, and then you can milk her out in the morning and let the kids back on her during the day.   This is how you increase milk production, and especially "train" a new milker to produce well.  Don't worry that the babies won't get enough milk.  Mom will hold back a little for them, and also with the new demand, she'll begin to produce more.

It is also crucial between 2-3 weeks of age to have the horns burned if you do not want to deal with Horn issues.    If you wait past 3 weeks the chance of the baby having scurs is higher.

To grain, or not to grain?   Personally I don't think it is necessary as long as the babies have access to good clean water, hay or pellets, and loose minerals.  I have only ever grained one baby and its because she was getting picked on and not getting enough to eat.

Minerals are super important for goats.   I know a lot of people who have had nutrition deficiencies and problems because they either do not use minerals, or had let the minerals run out for even as short a time as a couple weeks.   Mineral blocks or salt licks are not as effective as Loose minerals.  This is ESPECIALLY Crucial at delivery time and for several weeks if not months after.  I use the Meat Maker Minerals from Sweetlix, technically made for meat goats, but its the best nutrition for all goats.   I feed it free choice in a bucket that is attached to the wall of their stall.

 

We raise goats mostly for the milk, so we are very careful about what goes into our goats mouths because we are sustaining ourselves with what they produce.   I try not to feed too much corn, and I've heard that Purina doesn't use any GMO's in their feed.  I still have yet to verify this, but I am using the Purina Goat feed for graining at milking time.   Quantity of grain directly affects quanitity of Milk, keep that in mind and don't be stingy on the grains if you are looking for good milkers.

We only had a single birth on the farm this year.  Born to our yearling, Boo, a 1/2 Saanen 1/2 Nigerian Dwarf cross which is becoming widely known as a Mini-Saanen.   She had a big baby boy, of course.  :-)   He's adorable though, and came out eating.   He found the food within minutes of getting his legs under him.   Here is Boo right as we noticed she was in Labor:

I put these photos in small so you don't have to look closely if you don't want to, but above left you can see her mid contraction, body tensed, and the mucousy liquid just starting to come out..

She had the baby out within about 20 minutes of this, and I just moved him under her nose so she could clean him, and bond, etc.

This is the afterbirth hanging out.   Usually it is much bigger, probably with multiple births.   And it can hang on for days.   Whatever you do, never PULL it out.  It will usually take care of itself within a day or so, but sometime takes a few.

IF you want to watch a normal kidding, I have links to that below:

Sugars First Kidding, May 4, 2013 

Sugars First Kidding, Part II, Breech Doeling

Cayenne, the Wonder(ful) Pepper!

When you research the medical benefits of Cayenne one of the first things you will find is its amazing properties for healing.  Blood circulation specifically.  Knowing this, you can imagine my surprise when I found myself in a emergency situation with one of my goats and was told to use Cayenne to STOP the bleeding.    I was trimming the hooves on my Nubian/LaMancha Doe and I accidentally cut too much off of one hoof and struck a large vein.  She bled through several rags in a matter of minutes and I started to panic.  I called a friend, a lady who has a large herd and much more experience than I do and she knew immediately what to do.   She directed me to get a clean rag and cover it with powdered Cayenne (which I happened to have on hand because I feed it to my Chickens.)  I packed the rag up tightly against the hoof and wrapped it in sports wrap.  I was astounded that she never really bled through this "poultice" of sorts.  I left the wrap on for days and when I removed it, there was what looked like a large clot directly over the initial wound.  Cayenne actually regulated the blood pressure and started the blood coagulation immediately.  Now in a pinch, white flour can actually act similarly because it absorbs the blood and mimics a clot which is part of the function of the Cayenne-- mimicking a clot.   But Cayenne is actually naturally anti-bacterial so it will also help prevent infection at the site, and reduce swelling as well as pain.   Not only had the bleeding stopped, but the goat was walking on the affected hoof seemingly without flinching.  Going about her business as if nothing had happened.   To me this was nothing short of miraculous.

I also occasionally sprinkle Cayenne in my chickens food.  Especially during the winter, or the wet months.   It actually creates heat within their bodies with the increased circulation which helps to keep their immune systems up and prevent disease.  Chickens don't really have a sense of smell, and they DO have taste buds, but they are so far back in their mouths that by the time anything hits them, is probably too late to spit it back out.  So they don't really complain about about the "Mexican food" I serve up. :-)

And just so you know I practice what I preach, these methods work just as well on people as they do the barnyard critters.   My husband and I both will take a few drops of super hot cayenne extract by mouth when we have a cold or sinus infection.  It literally blows out the infection, clears out the mucous and sets your senses on fire!  I'd also like to clear up a bit of a misconception on hot peppers.  Many people are afraid to try them on an open wound because of the "burn" factor.  But I have found that in a situation where your body is already inflamed and aggravated Cayenne can actually be soothing to the touch.    I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but next time you get a paper cut, try it out and see what you think.  Sprinkle a little in a bandaid and slap it on your finger.  If you don't notice how fast you heal, you weren't paying attention.

I'm going to step out further on my every growing limb here and declare that Cayenne can even stop a heart attack in its tracks!   Famous herbalist, Dr. John Christopher, N.D.  sang the praises of Cayenne pepper and declared: "In 35 years of practice, and working with the people and teaching, I have never on house calls, lost one heart attach patient and the reason is, whenever I go in--if they are still breathing--I pour down them a cup of cayenne tea (a teaspoon of cayenne in a cup of hot water), and within minutes they are up and around."   That is a pretty powerful statement, my friends.  Now of course I am not qualified to give you medical advice, but I think if i were in this type of situation, I would sure want somebody to give me some cayenne!

My husband even remembers when his little sister was badly burned on an iron, and their mom cut open a fresh Cayenne pepper and rubbed it directly over the burn.  The capsaicin prevents the blistering and stimulates healing.  Cayenne has numerous other uses including aiding digestion, boosting metabolism and helping with weightloss.  So I would encourage you to study up on it even more.  There is lots of information available about it online.

The hotness and intensity of peppers is measured in heat units, or Scoville Units and Cayenne usually falls in the 30,000-50,000 range, but you can find it in the 60,000-90,000 range if you want to increase your intake after a while.  It is not the heat alone that heals, as Cayenne is more beneficial than other hot peppers.  So give it a try, and tell me what you figure out! Here are some good options if you want to start taking it as a supplement  (Click image to see product details and purchase info):

         

Also for animals, like I said you can just get the really inexpensive stuff, its still potent enough to help. And here is a bulk bag of it:



Now just to cover my @$&  I need to say that these statements have not be evaulated by the FDA and that this information is not intended to be used as medical advice as the author is not a physician.  Cayenne has not been proven to treat, diagnose or cure any of the above mentioned ailments or diseases.  Blah blah blah, yadda yadda... :-)

Udderly Delightful!

     In case the title doesn't quite give it away, we are talking about goats.   My family has been enjoying and learning about goats for quite some time.  Well, lets be honest, I do the enjoying, and they do the learning, ha ha.  First let me start off by introducing you to a couple of my girls:

     Left is Cocoa, a Nigerian Dwarf/Nubian cross.  She is not quite a year yet, and I hope she's expecting. Then my big white girl, Zeba, a 4th generation Mini-Mancha (Nigerian Dwarf crossed with LaMancha) she is about 3 years old, and the best milker I've ever had.  She's mild tempered, and quite friendly.  And then just barely you can see the eyes of Sugar poking out behind her.  She is Cocoa's sister but is pure white, and I hope she is expecting as well.    They have all been exposed to this handsome fella:

     This is Rocky.  Up until recently he was our resident stud man.  He's a purebred, registered Tri-color Nigerian Dwarf.   And I soooo hope we get some of his babies.   He was so active his first year that we had to get rid of him because he started stinking at a very young age.  I wasn't planning on keeping him forever, but we did bottle feed him from a baby, so he was a doll.
     I had always wanted to have milk goats.  And at first it started because we had 2 kids allergic to milk as babies and I had read that most people with milk allergies can tolerate goats milk because it has smaller proteins and is easier to digest, among about a million other reasons.   We bought our first milker in about 2004 or so and discovered after having her home less than an hour, that our yard and fencing wasn't sufficient to keep her.  She ran away twice that afternoon and so we had to tie her to a tree.
     I really didn't have the heart to keep an animal tied up, so the previous owner was gracious enough to take her back.   After that we tried a couple of Pigmy goats and a Nigerian dwarf.  The pigmy's weren't bottle raised and wouldn't have anything to do with us, so really we didn't get to enjoy them much.   We had to sell our animals when we moved so we went about 4-5 years before having them again.
    About 4 years ago I decided to try again.  A friend was moving and had to sell her milker and a Yearling.  And this time we had bought property with a barn and corrals so we were sufficiently set up to care for them.  We all really enjoyed it at first, but sadly my kids have mostly lost interest except for one.  But he is a trooper and milks every day, twice a day for me, and I really think he doesn't mind except for occasionally when other activities interfere and cause him to have to go out at late at night when its dark and snowing to take care of the milking.
   When we bred our yearling, Lucy and taught her to milk it had to be one of the most horrific experiences (for both her and us).  I'm not sure how we all made it out alive.  Likely quite comical for any passers by.  But she was so stubborn, she'd do a double back kick on the milk stand trying to clear the room of any potential milkers.   It took 3 of us at first to get her milked.  2 to hold each of her back legs, and one person to milk.  (Below is Lucy in front with her 2 babies behind, followed by PattyCake)

She was a full size dairy goat, a Saanen, and it was all we could do to keep her under control.  She eventually settled down, and by the next year was a very well behaved milker, as long as you didn't dawdle.

  I really enjoyed our other Saanen, Patty-Cake, she was 10 years old or more, and very mellow and well behaved.  Not to mention too fat to cause any real trouble, ha ha!  And did I mention the VERY best thing about goats?  BABY goats!  :-)  Here is PattyCake with our very fist babies!  Oh how we loved them!

   

We eventually sold our Saanens to try some smaller goats. 

 (The first ones pictured at the top.)

Hopefully you enjoyed your introduction to my herd, I will do several follow up posts on milking, the benefits of goat milk, and more!  I am more of a fair weather milker, just ask my boys, so once it warms up you will see alot more of what goes on around here. 

Check back again soon, and thanks for reading!