# Birth weights ?



## MysticHollowGoats (Sep 10, 2008)

What would you say is your average birth weights are? 
Mine seem to be on the large side, right around 4 lbs. Honestly I think they are too big and we are working on getting them a bit smaller.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

i didn't get to officially weighing mine last night, but one was about 3 1/2 and the other is about 2


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## Julie (Oct 6, 2007)

Well, I only weighed one of my kids from this past kidding season ... I used a baby scale to do it, and he weighed in at 9lbs at birth (pygmy buckling) ... I couldn't beleive he was that much ! I even questioned if the scale was correct. After that I didn't weigh any of the others, they looked healthy and were doing good, so I just didn't bother. Plus I thought I was crazy for reading 9lbs on a pygmy buckling :scratch: :shrug: So I didn't bother weighing the others.


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## RunAround (Feb 17, 2008)

Well it depends on how many siblings there are. But I had one that weighed about 5 to 5 1/2 pounds(single). WAY to big for a ND. And another that weighed under a pound(out of quints).


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## capriola-nd (Jul 6, 2008)

Typically 2-3 lbs. I feel like we have fairly small kids. . . . but we have mostly triplets. The one set of twins born this year, the boy was pretty big, but I didn't weigh him. He must've been 4 lbs. though, he was hefty looking.  I have to get better about weighing the kids. . . .

Do you often have to pull babies? Is that why you're working at getting them smaller?

When we were raising pygmies. There were some bucks known for throwing large, over-developed kids. Thankfully our buck threw small babies, average of 2 lbs.

I find the articles here to be very helpful. You probably know of this website though. There is a lot of info on kidding difficulties and the causes. http://kinne.net/articles.htm


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## MysticHollowGoats (Sep 10, 2008)

We had to assit with one birthing this year, but the babies were a bit tangled. My smallest kid this year was 3.6 and it seemed to be the quickest one out. I was talking with another breeder I know and her eyes got real big when I told her my averages but she did admit that she doesn't regularly get birth weights so I thought I would ask all you guys :greengrin:


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

I had a really big one this year, 12lbs, at birh, single doeling. Calypso. but umm, shes boer, not nd.


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## heathersboers (Sep 5, 2008)

With boers we had a 18 pounder??? Our smallest was a 6 pounder from a first timer. When we had pygmies-they were averaging about 5 lbs


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Typically with my ND and my ND/Pygmy crosses, the bucklings are on the heavier side...3 1/2 lbs...the doelings average 2 1/2 to 3 lbs...even the single doeling this past year was 3 lbs.....my tiniest was a doeling out of triplets and she was 1lb 8oz.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

I didn't get birth weights on my first kiddings...but Carly's kids (b/d -NDG) weighed 2.75lbs each.


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## Pheonix08 (Mar 9, 2008)

Nubians and Alpines: Between 2 and 13lbs


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## eliya (Nov 20, 2007)

This is the first year that I was truly good about getting weights. Here is what we had from our MiniNubians:
Twins from a full size Nubian doe bred to MiniNubian buck - buckling: 6# - doeling: 4.5#
Triplets - 5# buck, 4.5# buck, 3.75# doeling
Twin bucklings out of a small MiniNubian doe: 6# (HUGE for this doe) and 4.5#
Triplets - 3# doeling, 3.75# buckling, 4.5# buckling
Twins from a first freshener - 5.5# buck and 5.5 lb doeling. These were BIG for their dam's size
Quads - 2.75# buckling, 3.5# buckling, 2.5# buckling (was too small and didn't make it past 30 hours), 3.5# doeling
Triplet bucks, these kids were LARGE for the dam. She delivered them fine, but even though she has a lot of body capacity, they took up all her space - she could hardly breathe! One was 6.5#, the others were 5.75 and 5.5
Triplets - 4.25# doeling, 5.25# doeling and a HUGE buckling at 7.25 lbs!!!
Single buckling from a first freshener - 7 lbs
The last doe to freshen this year was my largest - she weighs about 120 lbs and usually has triplets or quads. This year she had twins and I think the buckling took the food that would usually have been given to a third kid as he was enormous! He was 8 lbs and his sister was 5.5


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## MysticHollowGoats (Sep 10, 2008)

Well in the world of Nigerians I guess mine are quite large :shrug: 
The girls won't be happy but my wallet will be when the reduction of feed starts this week.
Honestly I think it is the alfalfa pellets that we are heavy handed with, not grain as it seems 
most of you guys feed way more grain than I do. The most grain fed to any doe here is 1 1/3 cups 
per day.
Thanks for all your input guys


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## capriola-nd (Jul 6, 2008)

Is 1 1/3 cup what you feed to lactating does? Man, I wish my milkers would do good with that small amount! We typically give 2-5 cups to heavy milkers, about 2 cups to does w/ twins. We mix the alfalfa pellets in with the grain, so maybe that's why we have to feed more grain. :shrug: This coming year I'm trying a different grain recipe for milkers, we'll see how it goes!


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## Amy Goatress (Oct 2, 2008)

We give a full scoop to our does that are milking though especially the heavy milkers but the ones that aren't milking they get maybe a half scoop and some get a handful of grain since they tend to get on the hefty side.


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## capriola-nd (Jul 6, 2008)

> We give a full scoop to our does


Amy, just curious but what does a full scoop amount to?


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## Amy Goatress (Oct 2, 2008)

Olivia,

I think it's a pound.


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## MysticHollowGoats (Sep 10, 2008)

capriola-nd said:


> Is 1 1/3 cup what you feed to lactating does? Man, I wish my milkers would do good with that small amount! We typically give 2-5 cups to heavy milkers, about 2 cups to does w/ twins. We mix the alfalfa pellets in with the grain, so maybe that's why we have to feed more grain. :shrug: This coming year I'm trying a different grain recipe for milkers, we'll see how it goes!


All of my mature does are in milk and are milked twice a day( 2 are ff's and I am trying to set lactation lengths). The 1 1/3 cup is grain only although only one is feed that much, the other 2 get 1 cup per day (1/2 cup per feeding). I do mix in 1/3 cup of alfalfa pellets just to slow them down a bit for milking ease.

They were getting 1lb of AP (alfalfa pellets) in the morning and night now they will be getting 12 oz each time and I might try to go down a bit more. We use only whole oats, BOSS and just a bit of calf manna for our grain. They do great with it and I know exactly whats is it...no grain byproducts! I know a lot of people feed alfalfa hay but I find too wasteful here, mine get eastern orchard grass hay.

So if you feed AP how much do yours get per day?

Olivia, care to share you new grain recipe?


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## capriola-nd (Jul 6, 2008)

Hmmm. . . .whole oats, maybe I'll try that instead of COB. Right now, everyone is getting a 14% protein blend for any type of livestock (labeled for goats as well) it makes the milk taste so nasty! Yuck! Our milkers get a special blend of COB, alfalfa pellets, BOSS, and we'll be adding wheat bran and something else, gotta double-check on it. I got the recipe from SDK, I think she got it from someone else on TGS. I'll look around for it. I don't have any milkers right now. . . . but we will in February!! Yeah!

Does the calf manna make the milk taste funny??


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## MysticHollowGoats (Sep 10, 2008)

No funny tastes here.....I compare our milk to raw cows milk with a hint of sweetness. Course all my girls get an animal cracker after milking cause they r spoiled :wink: So the sweetness might come from that too.


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