# False labor?



## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

So ...

Last night Sparkle's udder got hard and the baby(s?) dropped, this morning we had a bit of goo and vulva flushed pink, this afternoon (while I was at work) my 'goat sitter' reported mild contractions about 10 minutes apart (resulting in me heading home quickly). By the time I got here, she was back to eating. Twice since, she's escaped the kidding pen (at 5 and now midnight -- this time I reinforced the twine holding that corner together with a bit of chain) and put herself back with the other goats - something she hasn't tried since the first day we put her in the kidding pen almost a week ago (behavior shift then, she didn't want anything to do with them). This is the most active she's seemed in a week (prior mostly content to lay under the hay feeder and munch). Now the vulva is back to normal color and her udder seems to be re-softening (not that she actually cooperated with me checking). 

She's a first freshner - smack in the middle of the two-week window of the period she was with the buck (never saw her actually go into heat, so can't get the date closer than that). 

Was this a false labor? Should I be worried? (I've only assisted with one kidding before - and that not really with all the lead-up).


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

They can have discharge prior to kidding. It could have been some false labor or her just being uncomfortable and babies pressing on nerves.


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## fainthearted (Feb 28, 2012)

They just love to trick us. It will make you want to pull your hair. I think ligs are the best indicator. Good luck with kidding. Also my goat eats hay the whole time she is in labor, only stops when she starts pushing:laugh:


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

thanks. good to know. staying home today -- less because I think she will pop (no signs at all this morning) than because I was up so long at midnight with the adrenaline rush from her not being where she belonged followed by locating her, coaxing her back to the kidding stall, checking that none of the other goats got out (she crossed the open yard to put herself in with them somehow - apparently pushed through the gate at the bottom to get into there pen as the bottom latch was off), checking that she hadn't had a baby outside anywhere, and fixing the kidding pen to prevent another escape.


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

still nothing! No change at all since the 'false labor' on the 13th. No further udder development, discharge or anything remotely like labor. Baby is still low, which has me constantly wondering if she is really pregnant (or really due now -- but doesn't seem possible she could hold off until May -- which would be the window for the other buck that was brought in).

She no longer likes the kidding pen and any chance she has (e.g., opening gate to change water - or just chewing through the twine holding the kidding pen together at the corners) she tries to go back to the main herd. That's a shift back to 'normal' Sparkle behavior (we put her in the kidding pen 'early' because she was standing apart from the herd all the time - not her normal). Angel (the mini-alpine doeling) discovered she can get through the divider from her pen (which she shares with another kid) into the kidding pen with Sparkle. At first, Sparkle was driving her back out, but now Angel seems to spend most of her time in with Sparkle.

Counting from the first day she was in with the buck (she was in with him for 2 weeks), February 28 was 145 days. Which makes today exactly 150 past the last date she was with the buck. Gotta be soon right?


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

and still nothing...156 days from the last day she was in with Corrigan. Starting to wonder if the movements I think I see on her right side are just my imagination. But the udder is not imaginary.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

It seems like there have been a lot of goats going long this year.


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

Still nothing...
170 days from the last day with Corrigan. 

Her belly isn't all that much bigger - though her udder is. 

Starting to think she may not be due until May (I think the earliest date if bred to Slade is May 5). 

She's healthy, eating well and not distressed. Weather is warm enough now (58 today!) that I'm trusting to put her in with the herd during the day (barring other symptoms) and just separating her to the kidding pen at night. She seems happy with that arrangement.


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

And we have a BABY!!! Buckling, nice healthy size, up, clean, dry and eating and doing well. 

We missed the birth altogether - having a rough day and didn't check when I got home as had been my habit since early March!

180 days from the last day with Corrigan. Or I think 134 days from her first day with Slade. 

Pretty silvery color. High on my genetic predictions with Slade was a milk-chocolate version of agouti grey. Hmmm...


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## FunnyNudders (Apr 16, 2013)

Congrat's, do you have pictures? Bet he's a cutie!


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

It was dark in the pen (no overhead lighting in the tent we have set up with kidding pens), photos by flashlight don't work really well. And this morning it was rainy and overcast and not enough light yet to take a photo before I had to leave for work. Hopefully can get one after work today.


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

My daughter's first comment ... he has floppy puppy ears! It would seem the name Puppy is going to stick. 
1 day old.



So, is this how 'regular' agouti greys look at birth? Or is he lighter than usual?


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## nubians2 (Feb 20, 2011)

Congrats! Sounds very cute!


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## neubunny (Nov 7, 2012)

so, checking colors, I think he is a light grey. We knew nothing about goats when we got Sparkle (our first) and I didn't pay that much attention to what color her mom was. Asking Sheri (who picked her up for us) and she thinks Sparkle's mom had white legs too, which would have made her also a light grey rather than an agouti grey as I had noted. 

Now just fingers crossed that he develops wool! That silvery color would be awesome fiber to play with!

Oh, and his name is now officially Puppy. -- Making my daughter's three goats Sparkle (ND), Angel (mini alpine) and Puppy (nigora). 

Angel (January baby) was trying to nurse on Sparkle (she's still small enough to slip through the bars between the stalls). And Sparkle was letting her! Worried she wouldn't leave enough for little Puppy. So I spent an hour reinforcing the divider. Angel is very unhappy. -- FYI she isn't alone, the neighbor girl's nubian buckling (also a January baby) is sharing her stall. But she had 'adopted' Sparkle as a substitute mom.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Congrats


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