# PLEASE HELP...... New Momma Down



## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

I'm not a new goat owner but new to a goat kidding. We have a 6 year old Boer goat that we got from my husbands brother 3 yrs ago. She had kidded several times prior to us taking her with no problems. We recently got a pigmy dwarf billy but didn't think he could mate with Boer since he so much smaller, well he did and now we have new momma down. She kidded one week ago and everything was fine, she had two kids (male dwarf and female boer though on the small side). Two placentas passed no problem and both teats working great. On day 3 momma was down, and one udder was huge, hot and hard (like brick), she had diarrhea, not eating and not standing. On day four we moved her out of barn (where she has stayed since kidding), had to practically drag her out as she wouldn't stand. went to feed store to check with them about issues and they said she had Mastitis and to give 3.5ml Agri-Pen for 5 days. This is day 4 (july 6 2017) with very little change. She does eat but very little, been on straight grass and water with a mineral block. We got some bag balm and massaged her udder (which she enjoyed) but no milk only yellow/clear stream. I have allowed the babies to continue to nurse but been supplementing with a bottle. Momma is real weak and wont stand for very long just to pee and poo and then right back down she goes. What in the world could be wrong we have done just about all we can do but hate to see her so miserable. She was our most active and vocal boer and this is just heartbreaking. The kids are good, jumping and playing, they are only taking about 12 ozs of bottle a day so they must be nursing so not worried about them. PLease help


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## jschies (Aug 15, 2014)

Check her eyelids for anemia. Worms can overload a goat after kidding. Also, think about milk fever (??). I don't have experience with that. Others will not agree with this, but I would give her a tablespoon of molasses or corn syrup, a tablespoon of corn oil, an egg, and some milk mixed together and give with a turkey baster or syringe while you are trying to figure out what is wrong. You can also give a shot of B complex. If she is anemic, she will need iron. But...you will need to figure out if it is just mastitis or something else.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You need to do warm compresses, massage and milk multiple times per day. You need to get the udder milked out.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

I just figured out how to reply to your answer. Is it okay for the babies to continue to nurse. I just came back and got her moving around some but she looks miserable. Babies are still good and the billy he is a pig so he ate about 8 ozs and the female about 3ozs . He is very aggressive when he eats so momma don't like him nursing but lets the girl nurse. The enlarged bag looks better today but she still doesn't let me mess with it. I'm going to town to get the stuff you mentioned and a wormer so Ill keep you posted and I'm including a pic.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

ksalvagno said:


> You need to do warm compresses, massage and milk multiple times per day. You need to get the udder milked out.


Have done that and can not get it milked out completely.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

Is Agri-Pen a penicillin injection? I've not found penicillin to be very effective against mastitis. I've used Exceed or Naxcel with good results, but you'll have to get those from a vet. You'll also want to pick up some antibiotic teat infusions (such as "Today") that you can put directly into the udder. 

I've never removed kids from a mastitic doe. They don't tend to nurse off the bad side until the milk is mostly normal, and mama won't let them touch it while she's sore anyway. However, there are different schools of thought on this. If the kids are drinking from the yucky side, I'd tape it off. It's not good for them. Make sure to milk out that bad side as often as possible until you can get some antibiotics into the udder. 

Vitamin C and probiotics are also helpful in treating mastitis. I hope she pulls through for you.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

I have milked and milked, massaged and massaged and nothing but clear/yellow liquid comes out. very thin stream. She had a good milk stream from both sides day after kidding, I went out of town (husband was home) for 2 days and came back to 1 brick udder, been working on it ever since.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

Damfino said:


> Is Agri-Pen a penicillin injection? I've not found penicillin to be very effective against mastitis. I've used Exceed or Naxcel with good results, but you'll have to get those from a vet. You'll also want to pick up some antibiotic teat infusions (such as "Today") that you can put directly into the udder.
> 
> I've never removed kids from a mastitic doe. They don't tend to nurse off the bad side until the milk is mostly normal, and mama won't let them touch it while she's sore anyway. However, there are different schools of thought on this. If the kids are drinking from the yucky side, I'd tape it off. It's not good for them. Make sure to milk out that bad side as often as possible until you can get some antibiotics into the udder.
> 
> Vitamin C and probiotics are also helpful in treating mastitis. I hope she pulls through for you.


Ive been reading about ("Today") but how do you get it in the udder?


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

It is an infusion that you put into the orficie of the teat. Milking out that udder mutliple times a day with massage and compress will help greatly. I would tape off that side until she has a normal milk flow.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I totally second the massage and hot compresses suggestion. Your doe may kick at first, but she'll realize how good that massage feels and she'll settle down real fast. Massaging helps break up those hard lumps. 

And yes, an udder infusion goes right into the teat orifice. It's tricky and you'll need to have someone hold the leg up on that side so she can't kick you. Milk out completely before inserting the antibiotic. Wash and sanitize your hands thoroughly and use an antibacterial spray such as Fight-Bac to disinfect the teat before inserting anything into it. I also spray Fight-Bac on the cannula on the syringe if the doe manages to kick it back out and I have to reinsert it. It's important to avoid adding more and different bacteria into the udder. To insert the cannula, pinch some milk down into the end of the teat to inflate it and expand the orifice a little. Once the antibiotic is in the teat, massage it upwards to the top of the udder and all around.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

UPDATE... Went to vet and he gave antibiotics, TODAY, and anti-inflammatory and to continue penicillin for 4 more days and probiotics. Suggested I dry momma up and bottle feed the babies all the time. Came home separated babies and fed them, they both took 8ozs straight down no stopping. Since Ive been bottle feeding off and on they know me and come right up to me when I go out so the feeding is not gonna be a problem. Cleaned momma up real good with the hose and she loved it, right up the back side, go figure. Vet did suggest if the poo doesn't firm up by Monday to bring sample and will test it for, something I can't pronounce so I cant write it, sorry. Thank you for all the help and will keep updating.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Glad things are going OK.

You can give pig scour guard orally, double the dosage it says on the bottle, give 2 x a day for 3 days. This takes care of other ailments in the gut your vet may be talking about.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

*UPDATE..... *Momma is doing much better, we put her back with the other goats Saturday evening and she's back to walking around and grazing. Babies are doing great too, they are at about 30-32ozs per day and are eating small amounts of grass and hay. I cut back on the baby male cause I was feeding what he would drink and he would drink up to about 40ozs, but his poo is runny and not firm like the girl. I will worm them next week and start introducing feed (a very small amount) too. I believe our other female is pregnant and so I have some questions.
1. what are the chances of her getting sick too
2. who can I breed to who (father to daughter, mother to son, etc....)
3. I have 3 billys and 3 does and 4 will be related (mother/father/son/daughter) so I'm kinda worried about inbreeding. we want small goats so that why we are letting the dwarf and boer breed but with these new kids it looks like we are gonna have one of each 
I have a young billy picture attached, I think hes Saanen but my brother in law says Nubien. Ive read that nubiens get to be about 180lbs and we don't want one that big. Can anyone tell me what I have?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

He looks Nubian. He is pretty thin.


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

I am so glad that your doe is improving! Great job!

Do you have your bucks and does together all year long? That white buck you just posted a picture of looks to be a Nubian, or Nubian cross. How old is he, do you know?

I haven't had time yet to read through all of the above posts - (so you might have already answered this) but did you figure out what your Boer doe had exactly that made her sick?
Personally I wouldn't linebreed/inbreed my goats. I don't know much about it, other than I've read that sometimes you can get deformed kids, while other times everything is fine and you can get some really great kids. You can read a little about linebreeding/inbreeding in this link:

https://fiascofarm.com/goats/breeding.htm


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

The Nubian is on grass and about 2 cups of sweet feed. We are in the process of enlarging their area and we just wormed all the goats. I don't know how old he is a neighbor brought him to us thinking he was ours so we kinda adopted him waiting for someone to come looking for him. We've had him about 2 months. I think momma got Maltese and she just didn't bounce back after kidding and the infection.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Griz said:


> 1. what are the chances of her getting sick too. You never know, just feed her a good diet throughout her pregnancy.
> 2. who can I breed to who (father to daughter, mother to son, etc....) That is too close.
> 3. I have 3 billys and 3 does and 4 will be related (mother/father/son/daughter) so I'm kinda worried about inbreeding. we want small goats so that why we are letting the dwarf and boer breed but with these new kids it looks like we are gonna have one of each If they are that closely related I would get an outside buck to breed them. Boers do get pretty big. If they are from good pedigree.
> I have a young billy picture attached, I think hes Saanen but my brother in law says Nubien. Ive read that nubiens get to be about 180lbs and we don't want one that big. Can anyone tell me what I have?The white buckling pictured looks nubian to me. Yes, they do get big too. I would recommend getting a smaller breed buck if you are wanting to stay smaller.



My answers are in red.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

As anyone keeping up with my post I am bottle feeding 2 baby goats and they are both right now at 30ozs per day. They have drained all bottles for 2 days and I'm considering increasing to 36 ozs per day. I have some questions
Is 36ozs per day ok?
I can't find a dewormer for babies, any ideas?
i can't find any starter feed for goats, is sweet feed ok?
How long before momma goat drys up?
When can I put babies back with herd?


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

I have included pics of the babie


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Dewormer for the kids, do you mean for coccidia? If so, I would do Baycox. 

Sweet feed is fine. 

How long have they been separate? Is there any milk in the doe's udder still?

They are cute


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

They have been off for 7 days and the swollen udder is down but not all the way. The other side is dry. I just thought the babies needed wormer at a certain age.


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## Griz (Jul 6, 2017)

I thought the babies needs deworming just as a precaution not because anything is wrong. The one udder that was infected is still swollen but not like it was. No milk coming out or anything, just wondering if it will dry up. The other side which was the side the babies were nursing on is already dry.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Griz said:


> .. I just thought the babies needed wormer at a certain age.





Griz said:


> I thought the babies needs deworming just as a precaution not because anything is wrong. ..


They need to be treated for coccidia.


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