# FF blues



## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

I've got a doe that will be a FF this year, her udder first became VISIBLE from far back about 2 weeks ago, so I'd say she's been building it for 3 weeks. By my estimated duedate for her, she should be due in about 2 weeks (150days)..but could be as many as 6 weeks out. She's not "poochy" in her vulva yet, but has been stretched out long for awhile now. She gets her feed/treats in the milking stand except for the hay. I tried to give her a haircut, but honestly the clippers scare her still. I just wanted to start a thread for anyone going through FF blues/annoyance. The waiting game is killing me, and I know I've got a lot more work to come with her being a FF. Yes Im going to milk her after the first 2 weeks, plan on doing it once a day, first thing in the morning after she's been separated from kid/kids all night. Then turn them loose with her to milk freely during the day. Will milk 2x a day when kids are eating something other than just her good mommy milk. lol. Good plan? She's a dwarf Alpine (cross) and my goats are a hobby, ment only to supply my family and be pets. So volume isn't a big deal, but of course good volume is the goal for every dairy goat. Did I mention I have a 3 month old baby myself? Maybe my own hormones are out of whack and that's why Im going crazy over my goats...:hammer:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Good luck!


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Hope it works out well


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Trying to get a pic of her udder up. Here goes.. ok, this is a terrible picture. You can see she only tolerated about 5 seconds with the hair trimmers, and I wasn't going to stress her out more. But I mostly wanted to be able to see any change in her udder. Keep in mind that until 3 weeks ago (about) she only had two nipples attached to flat belly. So this is progress..The wind has been blowing like crazy the last two days as well and my yard is not tolerating it well.


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Better picture, natural stance due to freshen in 2 weeks


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Well it's gonna be the second date. Ugh. I just know both my girls are waiting for me to be out of town! My senior doe has a huge udder now and I just don't see how it can be much longer for her, unless she's carrying triplet boys and just making a huge supply.. my soon to be FF looks happy as can be, like she'd gladly be preggers another 5 months lol!!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

She is building a nice udder.


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## LoriH (Jan 12, 2014)

bboyd1 said:


> Did I mention I have a 3 month old baby myself? Maybe my own hormones are out of whack and that's why Im going crazy over my goats...:hammer:


I hope that's not it because I am in same boat as you feeling the same overwhelming feelings and I do NOT have a new baby to blame hormones on. I can only blame the goats ;-)


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## LoriH (Jan 12, 2014)

I love how fuzzy and hairy your goat is .... is that the breed?? Mine are Saanan mixes and have short straight hair. Your goat look almost cuddly


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

LoriH said:


> I love how fuzzy and hairy your goat is .... is that the breed?? Mine are Saanan mixes and have short straight hair. Your goat look almost cuddly


A lot of it is she has a kinda fuzzy winter coat. I'm brushing her but she's still fuzzy. She is an Alpine and Nigerian Dwarf cross. My senior doe is full Saanen and for sure has coarser, slicker hair. I've also been fighting a bit of copper deficiency in this black girl also. I'm gonna post updated backside/udder pictures later and would love opinions. Neither are especially poofy right now...


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

This is Rosie who will be a FF and looking like she needs more copper.


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Mimi my Saanen sr doe who will need a bra, looking rather heavy, and still waiting to kid


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## scubacoz (Nov 7, 2013)

How can you tell if she needs more copper. I have one due to kid around May 1, I need to send y'all a picture of her udder too. This will be my first delivery. 


Sent from my iPad using Goat Forum


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Just looking at her coat scubacoz. She's black, and loosing pigmentation is a sign she's lacking copper, so she has what looks like copper colored hair in some places where the black is loosing pigment. I haven't been doing this long, and that's just what I was told. All my goats have free access at all times to minerals with copper so IDK...
Hopefully someone a lot smarter than me can explain different things that may cause this discoloration. I've been told sun bleaching can look very similar on dark brown or black goats.


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

No change in vulva, but getting a pretty udder for a soon to be FF


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Mimi actually looks like she's starting to open up some. May be my imagination lol


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

They can open a bit toward the end.


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Ok, this is about my Sr doe Mimi, her ligaments have felt like rubber-bands for the last week or so, and today they are *almost* gone. I had a very hard time feeling for them, I can reach around her mooshy tail-head very easy with just skin between my fingers when I do so. I know this can happen on and off several times before the onset of labor, so Im not exactly afraid to leave the house yet, but Im sure getting excited. She's also pretty swollen back there!  I just thought I'd share the info, and if she's foolin me I'll just look like every other person who has been fooled by silly goats. lol. Today or tomorrow would be beautiful days to kid, as the temps will be very baby-friendly even over night. Although if she waits then the thunderstorms for-casted for Thursday night might do the trick of jumpstarting labor!! As long as she DOESN'T have them on Saturday when Im gone ALL DAY, my hubby will be home and will check on her, but not every 2 hours like I do. lol Here's hoping!!!!!:whatgoat:


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Another day, and no babies. I didn't really expect them last night since the girls were acting like their normal selves when I shut them in. Watching them today, Mimi keeps detaching herself from Rosie's company, and I actually had to close the gate to create a separation because Rosie just gets up and follows Mimi after she realizes she's gone. lol. Both are being lazy-girls, like I was at that point in pregnancy. Watching for any changes in behavior, but other than the separation they are both content to lay around chewing their cud. We will have storms here in south-west Missouri tonight, its 10:56am my time now, and when the weather changes I'll have to keep a good eye on them. Hoping the high-winds and storms don't cause many problems. My dogs act like they know its coming, and that usually means a big one. Keep us in your prayers, its tornado season here in the ally, and we've been fortunate these last few years. But these are the perils of kidding so late in the season. Gonna have to make sure we catch the girls heats earlier next breeding season and try for mid-March babies, although here that's still risking an ice-storm and power outages. LOL. Guess there's always something. I'm gonna go read through some happy birthing stories on here just for some happy time.


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## scubacoz22 (Nov 27, 2013)

bboyd1 said:


> Just looking at her coat scubacoz. She's black, and loosing pigmentation is a sign she's lacking copper, so she has what looks like copper colored hair in some places where the black is loosing pigment. I haven't been doing this long, and that's just what I was told. All my goats have free access at all times to minerals with copper so IDK...
> Hopefully someone a lot smarter than me can explain different things that may cause this discoloration. I've been told sun bleaching can look very similar on dark brown or black goats.


Mine have free choose to a goat block which has copper in it. Her coat looks good nothing abnormal


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## bboyd1 (Mar 22, 2014)

Well, my goats are just teaching me a lesson in....well whatever. Mimi is back to acting normal today after she seemed to be in early labor yesterday (I wasn't really sure, but man was she crazy) Now she's happily grazing and mostly laying around chewing. Really praying nothing happens tomorrow while I'm gone. But I'll check for changes in her in the morning before I leave and she'll be the first thing I check on when I get back home at night. Hubby will be around but honestly he wouldn't know what's normal and what's not.....until a kid popps out. My FF Rosie is doing great other than she's still pregnant. Looking at her tiny teats I have no idea if I'll be able to milk her or not. And this is after they have grown some just from her developing an udder. Really hoping her babies stretch them out a bit the first couple weeks before I start, but the udder SIZE gives me hope. Won't know how she milks till I get to milk her--haha. Judging by her udder she'll be a great milker in later freshenings (for a half Nigerian Dwarf that is) and any does she produces should be easy to sell. Mimi produces TONS of milk, (lol) but her poor attachments don't give me much hope for any of her offspring unless I can get another buck whose mom has some awesome attachments, I think I may just retire Mimi after this year. Hafta wait and see how she holds up this year.


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## scubacoz22 (Nov 27, 2013)

bboyd1 said:


> Just looking at her coat scubacoz. She's black, and loosing pigmentation is a sign she's lacking copper, so she has what looks like copper colored hair in some places where the black is loosing pigment. I haven't been doing this long, and that's just what I was told. All my goats have free access at all times to minerals with copper so IDK...
> Hopefully someone a lot smarter than me can explain different things that may cause this discoloration. I've been told sun bleaching can look very similar on dark brown or black goats.


Ok I see it now. Thanks!
:leap:


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