# First Freshener Kidding Questions...



## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

I have a FF that is due to kid sometime this month and she hasn't kidded yet. We got her already bred and were told that she was probably three months along at the time. Well we got her five months ago and figured now that she was bred right before we got her (the breeder had several bucks jumping their pens at different times and having a hay day with the girls....). We were all fine and good until she started looking like she was going to kid, her back got kind of hunchy, her vulva started to swell, she was looking big for her, and she became more aggressive with the other does (including her best friend). This was about two weeks ago. Since then, she looks smaller around the middle and her vulva got really small. I know that her great grandmother was the same way and changed a lot during the last few weeks before kidding (getting big then small and so on). So I don't know if this is normal or what is going on (by the way, this is my first time going through a kidding as well). One more thing, she has not dropped her udder yet, but I was told that it may come in after her kids are born. Her teats have enlarged quite a bit this last month and she has colostrum in there, but no udder...:whatgoat: 

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Dont worry about her udder, it will get bigger, that's correct; sometimes they dont form one until the day they kid, especially on FFs.
Now just leave her teats be, kids need that colostrum. Furthermore, they contain wax plugs to keep out any bacteria. 
Happy kidding to you! What breed is she?
And welcome, whereabouts are you?


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## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

Thanks for your reply! She is an Oberhasli, and we are located in the northern Spokane area of Washington.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

Why don't you run out and snap some pics for us. We can give better advice if we see the goat in question.


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## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

Pardon the frankness of these pics... I took these earlier this evening. I hope this helps give an accurate description. Like I said, she doesn't look like she is going to have anything anytime soon...:shrug:


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## eqstrnathlete (Mar 16, 2013)

She doesn't look bred to me. Even as a FF she would be showing more. Have her teats gotten any larger?


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

She doesn't look bred to me. But I'm still kinda new, just had my first kidding.


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## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

Well I don't know what to say...she has not gone into heat since we have had her (all through breeding season). My biggest worry is that the kid(s) are dead inside her:tears:. I will get some pictures uploaded of her from about two and a half weeks ago. She looked much more pregnant then.


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## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

Here are the pictures from a few weeks ago. The last two are taken a few days after the first three. Her vulva was much larger when the first three pictures were taken (I just wasn't able to get a picture of it then...she was too wiggly), then the last two pictures show. Oh and her teats have gotten much larger in the last month.


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## nubians2 (Feb 20, 2011)

I have one that didn't look bred till the day she kidded. I felt the baby kicking a month out.


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

This is a strange one..... I really think that her udder would be at least starting some development. I know a lot don't develop completely til the day they kid but I think they all have something there, even a little handful of udder....... She doe look swollen more in the older pics. If she is acting okay then I doubt that the kids died inside her, she would be major sick..... Just keep an eye on her.......


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## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

I believe I have felt kids in her (but like I said this is my first time going through this too, and I may be wrong). However they seemed to have stopped moving... She had contractions about two weeks ago, but they were 20 minutes apart, so I kept waiting for them to get closer and closer...... Still waiting.


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## sandhillfarm (Feb 25, 2013)

Hmm, confused on this one. Is there any way she kidded a baby somewhere? Just not sure she looks preggo. If its been more than 5 months since purchasing her I would say she's not  Normally this is some sort of udder forming. Keep us updated

Sent from my iPad using GoatSpot


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

its really hard to tell by the pix..so I wouldn't want to give false hope or disappointment.. if you have had her for 5 months...kids are on their way...if you run into month 6 then she either was never bred, had a false pregnancy (larger teats..some colostrum) or lost the pregnancy early on...to me the first sets of pix do not look like a bred doe and the last set looks like one in heat...
I had a doe who went her full five months in false pregnancy..delivered a burst of water and went on like nothing.. udders got large and one side filled with water like junk the other a milk like stuff...waited a bit and rebred her...


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## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

sandhillfarm said:


> Hmm, confused on this one. Is there any way she kidded a baby somewhere? Just not sure she looks preggo. If its been more than 5 months since purchasing her I would say she's not  Normally this is some sort of udder forming. Keep us updated
> 
> Sent from my iPad using GoatSpot


We have had her approx. 151 days so she could be late. I have checked for any sign that she might have miscarried or aborted, but nothing. No blood either so I take this as a good thing. I agree, she does not look pregnant to me. I will keep everyone updated on how she turns out...hopefully kids!


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## Pacamamma (Apr 8, 2013)

One thing I forgot to mention, is that we have a high iron well. We just recently found out that the iron in the well will make them copper deficient. We got a different mineral block and that boosted their copper levels. However I still wonder if the copper deficient time they had would affect her babies.:scratch: Also can you administer selenium capsules to them to boost selenium levels?


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