# Stillborn kid and rough labor



## ISmellLikeGoats (Oct 4, 2017)

I have a doe I bought already bred. She is a teeny tiny pygmy, only 18 inches tall. She was really huge and I was hoping for twins or triplets. I didn't know the day she was bred, just approximate month - she's been up in the barn since December.
Well, that isn't what happened. On Sunday morning, sometime between 2 AM and 6-6:30 AM she finally went into labor. She had a mal-presented kid hanging - shoulder dystocia - both feet were back and only a head and neck presented. Baby had already passed. I did manage to pull the kid, couldn't push it back in to free up the legs because the neck had swelled but managed to get a finger under the shoulder and wiggle it sideways and it came out. Not a lot of working room in that tiny doe.
There are no others, she got and is getting antibiotics due to my invasive hand (I also checked to make sure there weren't more after pulling the stillborn).
She is swollen, who wouldn't be, and not mourning the lost baby. I did let her clean it off and not to anthropomorphize, but she seemed to get that it had passed.
She's eating fine, and other than some swelling, seems to be ok. I won't breed her, and had planned on selling her after she kidded and they were weaned. Now it won't be until she's healed up.

I know that's long, but my question is, her udder is absolutely huge, so much she can barely walk. She's almost too tiny, and I'd think too sore, to put on the milk stand and milk out. I'm pretty sure I couldn't get a bucket under her.

What would you do here? If I just leave her be, will she dry off? I would think milking her would encourage her to produce more, which I don't want, but am I risking problems by not alleviating it?
I do have 2 bottle babies right now (milking their mom, Nigerian Dwarf) I could put on her and she'd probably accept.

This doe was buckwild when we got her, and hadn't improved much, but is now pretty tame with me after the whole kid pulling event. Kind of weird that now she is affectionate with me.


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## Kath G. (Jul 13, 2017)

ISmellLikeGoats said:


> but am I risking problems by not alleviating it?


YES.
IMO you need to milk her out some, relieve her pressure in some way, probably 2 or 3 times a day at this point. Trying to graft the kids is probably a good option. Even if you wanted to use the kids to baby-milk her, that would still fill the function of what you need to happen. Leaving her as is is asking for serious problems and is painful for her, even if you don't end up with mastitis. Just ask any human friend who's nursed a baby and had the baby go on a nursing strike!

If you want to dry her off, don't milk her all the way out, just enough to relieve pressure and keep things moving. It won't increase production doing it that way; it just keeps her comfortable and safe. If you're not trying to collect the milk, you don't need to get a bucket under her; have any pigs or dogs that would appreciate the milk in a shallow pan? And failing that, milking onto the ground still does the job.

Sorry for the difficult delivery; sounds like you did what was necessary, in the best way possible. She's very lucky to have you!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I am so sorry for the loss. 

I agree with Kath, very good advice.

You can put hemorrhoid cream on her swollen vulva area it helps with swelling.


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## ISmellLikeGoats (Oct 4, 2017)

Kath G. said:


> Just ask any human friend who's nursed a baby and had the baby go on a nursing strike!


I nursed all 5 of my kids and when we stopped it was uncomfortable a couple of days and then relief - I never had issues in that department, so can't speak from experience. That was why I was wondering if just letting nature do it's thing was more warranted than trying to mess with her. 
I have no problem grafting the babies on her, I don't really want to bottle feed them, but since I'm milking mama, they're getting the bottle. It would be cool if the "tight as a tick" pygmy girl would take them, I'm going to try that.

Thanks for the input, barring her taking the bottle babies, I'll ease her up a bit.


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## ISmellLikeGoats (Oct 4, 2017)

ETA: I'll try a shallow pan if that doesn't work - my milking stand is in the barn, I can't just dump it on the concrete


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## Kath G. (Jul 13, 2017)

LOL! Yes I nursed mine too! Does it make you feel like you understand what the goats are going through? As you said, not to anthropomorphise too much, but still... the mechanics are all basically the same...

So sorry for the loss of the kid. Forgot to say that earlier .


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## ISmellLikeGoats (Oct 4, 2017)

I kind of had a bad feeling she was only going to have a single and have problems - intuition perhaps? My Nigerian cross had triplets. All 3 of those didn't weigh as much as this one, it was nearly 4 lbs. I sold out all my other small goats awhile back, but kept this one because she was so close to kidding and really buddy buddy with my ND doe. 
I definitely understand how she feels, I just didn't want to make it worse on her accidentally. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and whatnot, lol.


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## MadCatX (Jan 16, 2018)

I hate you went through this but it has a been a very knowledge bearing read for me. I have a runt pygmy and when I do breed her I think she will have some issues just because of her size. 

Sorry you went through it but thanks for the details.


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