Livestock Kidding season begins!

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This too shall pass.
I had a doe kid born Dec. 17 (mom is mostly Nubian w/a little Alpine, dad is a Kinder). She's doing great. My Kinder doe kidded in late November (Thanksgiving weekend) while we were away for a couple of days, and lost the kid. The other mostly-Nubian doe may or may not be bred -- I suspect she is, but not due for a couple more months. The Kinder doe is probably already re-bred for a late spring/early summer kidding. Once I have two does in milk again, I'll probably sell the third one. Just the two of us, and we don't need a huge amount of milk. Though surplus is good for the chickens and the dogs.

Kathleen

Momma didn't know what to do with the baby at first (first freshener) so I kept her in the house for a few days and took her out and held momma still so baby could nurse. She's out with mom now and doing great.
 

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summerthyme

Administrator
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DS has three sets of twin lambs so far... the first two sets were identical- one black lamb with a white "snowball" on its face, and one brown lamb. We had to hurry to get eartags on them before the ewes decided to play "trade babies"...

I've never been a goat or sheep fan... I prefer animals with a bit higher intelligence! But I had to learn about them, as it seems no vets have any clue about the species.

Last week, I had a woman stop by to ask if I could try to save a doe in labor. She had called eighteen vets (really!) over 48 hours, and none would come out. She finally decided to see if she coukd find an Amish to help, but they all referred her to me. Sigh...

I agreed to try to help, but warned her thereafter 48 hours, the chances weren't good... the baby(ies) were certainly already dead, and there were no guarantees on the doe.

When I saw her, my heart sank... she was a tiny dwarf breed of some sort, and the morons who owned her (the current owner said she had "rescued" her from the place about a month earlier) had let her be bred to a full sized buck.

Oh, it was ugly... she was in a stall about 3' x 6', and couldn't stand any longer. I had to cram myself in behind her, essentially with her in my lap. And once I got the twins untangled, it was just sheer brute force. I was shocked when I finally got the first one out... it had been dead for probably a day, but it was *huge* (for a goat kid). And the second one wasn't much smaller. The poor doe couldn't have weighted over 35#... those two kids weighed 9 1/2# and 11#! If you figure amniotic fluid, placenta, etc, she was carrying the equivalent of her normal weight!

I treated her with colloidal silver for infection, and we have her some electrolytes, but when I left, she was on her feet and eating. Goats are tough!

Summerthyme
 
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Freeholder

This too shall pass.
DS has three sets of twin lambs so far... the first two sets were identical- one black lamb with a white "snowball" on its face, and one brown lamb. We had to hurry to get eartags on them before the ewes decided to play "trade babies"...

I've never been a goat or sheep fan... I prefer animals with a bit higher intelligence! But I had to learn about them, as it seems no vets have any clue about the species.

Last week, I had a woman stop by to ask if I could try to save a doe in labor. She had called eighteen vets (really!) over 48 hours, and none would come out. She finally decided to see if she coukd find an Amish to help, but they all referred her to me. Sigh...

I agreed to try to help, but warned her thereafter 48 hours, the chances weren't good... the baby(ies) were certainly already dead, and there were no guarantees on the doe.

When I saw her, my heart sank... she was a tiny dwarf breed of some sort, and the morons who owned her (the current owner said she had "rescued" her from the place about a month earlier) had let her be bred to a full sized buck.

Oh, it was ugly... she was in a stall about 3' x 6', and couldn't stand any longer. I had to cram myself in behind her, essentially with her in my lap. And once I got the twins untangled, it was just sheer brute force. I was shocked when I finally got the first one out... it had vpbeen dead for probably a day, but it was *huge* (for a goat kid). And the second one wasn't much smaller. The poor doe couldn't have weighted over 35#... those two kids weighed 9 1/2# and 11#! If you figure amniotic fluid, placenta, etc, she was carrying the equivalent of her normal weight!

I treated her with colloidal silver for infection, and we have her some electrolytes, but when I left, she was on her feet and eating. Goats are tough!

Summerthyme

Shudder. I hope you explained the problem with breeding different-sized goats to them?

Also, why couldn't they pick the goat up and take her to the vet, for crying out loud? I've done that, with a larger doe -- the one and only time, in all the years I've had goats, that I've taken a doe in labor to a vet, because I couldn't fix the problem. Loaded her in the back of the van I was driving at the time and took her to the vet clinic! (I was surprised to get two live kids out of that one, too!)

Kathleen
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
DS has three sets of twin lambs so far... the first two sets were identical- one black lamb with a white "snowball" on its face, and one brown lamb. We had to hurry to get eartags on them before the ewes decided to play "trade babies"...

I've never been a goat or sheep fan... I prefer animals with a bit higher intelligence! But I had to learn about them, as it seems no vets have any clue about the species.

Last week, I had a woman stop by to ask if I could try to save a doe in labor. She had called eighteen vets (really!) over 48 hours, and none would come out. She finally decided to see if she coukd find an Amish to help, but they all referred her to me. Sigh...

I agreed to try to help, but warned her thereafter 48 hours, the chances weren't good... the baby(ies) were certainly already dead, and there were no guarantees on the doe.

When I saw her, my heart sank... she was a tiny dwarf breed of some sort, and the morons who owned her (the current owner said she had "rescued" her from the place about a month earlier) had let her be bred to a full sized buck.

Oh, it was ugly... she was in a stall about 3' x 6', and couldn't stand any longer. I had to cram myself in behind her, essentially with her in my lap. And once I got the twins untangled, it was just sheer brute force. I was shocked when I finally got the first one out... it had vpbeen dead for probably a day, but it was *huge* (for a goat kid). And the second one wasn't much smaller. The poor doe couldn't have weighted over 35#... those two kids weighed 9 1/2# and 11#! If you figure amniotic fluid, placenta, etc, she was carrying the equivalent of her normal weight!

I treated her with colloidal silver for infection, and we have her some electrolytes, but when I left, she was on her feet and eating. Goats are tough!

Summerthyme

What kind of sheep does your son raise?

Kathleen
 

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Kathleen- he's got hair sheep crosses. Solely for meat at this point...

And yes, the woman with the goat knew very well she shouldn't have been bred to a full sized buck (she said they had multiple bucks in with all ages of does- it was a real mess). I don't know why none of the vets suggested she just load her up and bring her in- she said several tried to "explain" how she could help, but she couldn't even fit her hand inside the goat (and was afraid she'd hurt her)

Summerthyme
 

goatsrus

Senior Member
We had one doe have triplets today and another had a single. Just two more to go. These are lamancha and lamancha/Saanen crosses. I originally wanted a cow, but goats are easier for us to handle and transport. We have grown fond of their personalities. You just have to think one step ahead of them. We have a great vet clinic that treats goats in our area, but I’ve learned to provide a lot of care for them on my own. Most of the clinics around me are for pets, not livestock.
 

shepherdess

Member
Lambing for me is still a while off. We start March 15th or so. Ewes are started to fill out pretty well and are uddering up. I love that time of the year.
 
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