# Pregnant momma



## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

This is Gabby, our very pregnant Kiko (5-6 Year old) doe. We got her in August/September and her breeder wasn't sure how far along she was as they lived a couple miles away from the farm. They told us was that she would probably have her kids when it was cold and/or raining. Obviously, _that_ was (not) very helpful! She is very large, her udder is quite big, and she lays down ALL the time!

Can anyone on here tell me how far along they think she is as well as how many kids she might have. It is really so annoying waiting for our first kids!:GAAH:

The last pic is with her scratching with her back leg like a dog!


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## MoKa-Farms (Jun 19, 2013)

Uh-oh- don't think any of the pictures came through! I bet she's lovely, though! I know what you mean, 2 months until our first kids and I am sooooo impatient about the whole thing- I tell her, "Give birth in the daytime. Give birth to no more than 3. Make them all blue-eyed and polled. Give birth around your due date." pretty much every day. A grueling 5 months, this is.


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

Okay, I finally figured out how to get the pictures to load!! Yah!!!


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

She actually looks more huge in person! The pictures don't seem to quite show it though!


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## Crossroads Boers (Feb 19, 2011)

She is cute! I love her markings. She looks more like a Boer/Nigi cross to me with her coloring. 

Do you know if she has kidded before? She looks pretty far along. If I had to guess I would say she should kid in the next week or two. Do you know how to feel for ligaments by the tail? That definitely helps to know when she might be kidding/or how close she is. 

She has a nice big baby belly, too!  I'm gonna guess twins.


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

Yes, she is full- blooded kiko and has had a couple sets of twins. No, we don't know how to check for ligaments--still new to goats and all!


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## Crossroads Boers (Feb 19, 2011)

Wow! I have never seen a Kiko that looks like that! She is very pretty. 

Well since she has already kidded you can't go by her udder that much because usually the "experienced" does will not fill their udders full until they are in labor. At least that has been the case for most of our older does. 

To feel for the ligaments, put your fingers on one side of the spine and your thumb on the other side. Now run your hand slowly down her spine towards her tail, feeling along the spine and the areas just to the sides of the spine (about 1 inch along each side). As you run your fingers down the spine, you will feel the ligaments. The ligaments are located on either side of her spine about halfway between her hip bones and her tail. The ligaments seem to come out of the spine and slant down toward her pin bones. They feel similar to the size of pencils. If you can't find them, keep trying, going slowly down the spine. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but now it is just second nature. Just takes practice. As the birth nears, the ligaments loosen. At first they will feel hard, like pencils. Then they will gradually start to soften and once they're "gone" labor is close at hand. 


Get used to running your hand down your doe's spine to check the ligaments and the raising of the tailhead. Once you no longer feel the ligaments and you can practically touch your fingers and thumb together around her tail head, the doe will probably kid sometime within the next 12 hours.

Hopefully this helps! All of our does always "lose" their ligaments a couple hours before kidding. And usually they start to soften several weeks before kidding. 

Here is a picture for reference.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Crossroads Boers said:


> Wow! I have never seen a Kiko that looks like that! .


Me either. I would have pegged her as a boer mix. ..specially with her color.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Looks just like a Boer/Alpine I had.


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

Hello everyone! Gabby _still_ hasn't had her baby(ies) yet!


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

MoKa-Farms said:


> - I tell her, "Give birth in the daytime. Give birth to no more than 3. Make them all blue-eyed and polled. Give birth around your due date." pretty much every day. A grueling 5 months, this is.


Feed them at night. I was sceptical but we did that last year and none of ours kidded at night.


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

She was acting kind of strange this morning--not wanting me to touch her. She also appeared to have some amber discharge, and her udder is still very big. I'm not really sure how to check the ligaments, but hopefully someone knows what's going on.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

If it's amber I would stay close, could be amniotic fluid. Is there a lot of it?


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

Not really from what I could tell, as I said, she really wasn't interested in letting me get close. 

I'm going to go crazy if she doesn't have them soon! And it wouldn't even be so bad, except for that we don't even know when she was bred!


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Take a picture if you can. Zoom is great when they're being shy


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

Her poop had weird mucus in it today, and she had some on her butt. What does it mean? Is she any closer?


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Quite possibly. What color is it?


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

It was a strange, sort of tan guey substance. It was pretty much gone today. GARGHHH!


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