# First Goat Kid Born on My Farm



## HangtownMeatGoats (May 12, 2012)

Well we've had an eventful evening today. I had 3 does that are expecting any day. This morning I had a lapse in common sense and decided that my herd was getting cabin fever, so I opened up the gate and let them out onto our unfenced acreage to get some browse time. They were all so thrilled. They were going this way and that eating fresh grass and tons of acorns. Eventually they wandered up to my neighbors house(who is half owner in my herd). He called me to let me know where they were and i told him not to worry because i was letting them have some time out today. He said ok and we went on with our day. Until an hour later when he called and asked "is the white one with black markings pregnant?" I said yep, and he says "mayday she's having it now behind my wifes yukon". The 30 seconds it took me to get there was more than she needed. By the time i got there she was done and walking away. Yes, walking away. She had no interest in her new baby buckling. I talked to a goat friend who advised me to pen her up with the kid and work with her to get her feeding him. With supervision tonight he got a full belly of colostrum and went to sleep under the heat lamp. My wife checked her cervix to see if it was still open and to check for any other kids. After that she(the doe) smelled her baby and gently nibbled and licked him. I think that she is going to take him now. She's only 10 months old so her mothering instinct might not be all there yet, but she did great delivering her baby despite her small size. I think my wife checking the goats cervix tricked her into thinking that she had just given birth to this little buckling.


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

Congratulations, he looks gorgeous!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Adorable, congrats


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## Engebretsen (May 16, 2012)

What a cutie!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

So sweet!


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## Tayet (Feb 9, 2012)

He's super cute! What a little sweetie.


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## Used2bmimi (Oct 3, 2012)

Oh my goodness, sweet baby! Great story, I think we all have those lapses from time to time. Thank goodness for your attentive neighbor. Good job getting baby and mom together. And good luck in your meat goat venture!


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## bayouboergoats (Dec 30, 2012)

So cute! And good luck with mom hope she turns into a great mother!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

How exciting! Congrats on that lil cutie too.


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## crzenner (Dec 23, 2012)

HangtownMeatGoats said:


> Well we've had an eventful evening today. I had 3 does that are expecting any day. This morning I had a lapse in common sense and decided that my herd was getting cabin fever, so I opened up the gate and let them out onto our unfenced acreage to get some browse time. They were all so thrilled. They were going this way and that eating fresh grass and tons of acorns. Eventually they wandered up to my neighbors house(who is half owner in my herd). He called me to let me know where they were and i told him not to worry because i was letting them have some time out today. He said ok and we went on with our day. Until an hour later when he called and asked "is the white one with black markings pregnant?" I said yep, and he says "mayday she's having it now behind my wifes yukon". The 30 seconds it took me to get there was more than she needed. By the time i got there she was done and walking away. Yes, walking away. She had no interest in her new baby buckling. I talked to a goat friend who advised me to pen her up with the kid and work with her to get her feeding him. With supervision tonight he got a full belly of colostrum and went to sleep under the heat lamp. My wife checked her cervix to see if it was still open and to check for any other kids. After that she(the doe) smelled her baby and gently nibbled and licked him. I think that she is going to take him now. She's only 10 months old so her mothering instinct might not be all there yet, but she did great delivering her baby despite her small size. I think my wife checking the goats cervix tricked her into thinking that she had just given birth to this little buckling.


Cute kid!


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

congrats!! he is handsome


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## HangtownMeatGoats (May 12, 2012)

Thanks everyone. We are really excited. We talked about getting goats for about three years and have been waiting now, with the goats for over a year. Finally we see our first goat kid, so we're way stoked. Next project- get more acreage fenced so we can break even with feed cost, ouch. Update on the kid, he's doing really good and mom is somewhat affectionate toward him but still resists him eating on her. I'm holding her while he eats about 3 times a day now. Hopefully she catches on soon. I finish by milking her out to help her production come up and then i have milk to give him from a bottle before i check out for the night.


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## HangtownMeatGoats (May 12, 2012)

I have a question concerning this doe. It has been 11 days now since she kidded, today she has a stringy whitish/tannish looking discharge with pin needle size blood drops. She has already shed her afterbirth and is feeding her kid finally. I think it is possible that she may have kidded prematurely because of the steep vlimb she did that probably put her into labor(since she kidded at the top of the hill). The other reason i suspect she was premature is because she walked away from the kid as soon as it was out and it took me 2 days to get her to accept him. Do you think it is possible that she still has another in there? Or do you think she has an infection? Or is the discharge completely normal? Thanks. I should add too that her vulva is still quite puffy.


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## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

Congratulations on the new baby. The doe is probably just doing the normal clean out of the uterus. This happens off and on for several weeks.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

If your doe had another one in there you probably would know it by now, as they can not retain a kid, once labor starts, any kid in the womb has to come out.

Sounds like normal discharge to me, they can have discharge for weeks after delivery. The only reason i'd be concerned is if she started acting 'off', or started to get a really bad odor coming from her vulva.


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## HangtownMeatGoats (May 12, 2012)

Cool, thanks you guys. I talked to my wife who is a new L&D nurse and she agreed that this is normal for up to a few weeks in people as well. People are obviously different than goats but we're both mammals so some stuff will be the same. It sure is handy having her knowledge available to me but she's so unsure about saying anything or helping, the goats intimidate her for some reason.


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## HangtownMeatGoats (May 12, 2012)

And I have 2 more(or 4 more?) birth announcements. This evening one of my does, who has had me relentlessly watching her, had a boy and a girl. No assistance needed, and let me tell you this baby girl is beautiful. Then tonight as I was falling asleep i heard the goats talking, something didn't sound right, so i got out of bed, got redressed and went out to check on them. A doe who I thought had a few weeks left had her sack bulging out. I quickly and carefully led her into the maternity shed and watched her intently. She was having a real hard time pushing and had significantly more bleeding than the other 2 does had so I decided to help her out by pulling on the feet that were already out. First one came out as a boy, the 2nd one seemed to just be lingering, upon examination i saw that the tongue was hanging out of it's mouth and remembered reading that was a sign that they are dead, so disappointment set in but i helped her get it out and then my wife said she saw it breathing and sure enough he popped up just healthy as can be. So I'm up to 4 bucklings and 1 super cute doeling. That should conclude this phase of kidding. No deaths yet and all "fairly" easy.


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## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

Congratulations on live babies.


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## imthegrt1 (Jan 13, 2013)

We need some pictures


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## Engebretsen (May 16, 2012)

imthegrt1 said:


> We need some pictures


I second that!


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## emilieanne (Oct 15, 2012)

Engebretsen said:


> I second that!


I third that!!!! 
And imthegrt1, your catching on quick, needing pictures!!!


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## goatgirlzCA (Mar 9, 2011)

Congratulations! Just my two cents from my ONE year of experience  - I had a doe kid last year that pushed a doe out, got up and walked away. First timers don't always know what it is. My husband took some of the "gunk" and made her smell it, and put a little on her mouth, then she went to licking that, and then put the baby up to her and she starting licking the kid. 

My other doe, also a first timer, I had to help pull her baby, and then she went to licking everything, including my hand, looking for her baby, and man was that baby ever clean! But she was a real nightmare getting her to let baby nurse - she didn't want anything to do with that, so I would have to hold her horns and make her stand still. ANd she's a big strong boer doe! It too took a couple of days. You just never know what they are going to do. All sounds perfectly normal to me.


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