# Ligaments question



## Perfect7 (Apr 19, 2010)

Thank you all for being patient with me! I watched Stacy's ligament video (multiple times) and have been checking my girls to where I actually feel proficient checking them now...well, except for on the nubian who has such a boney rump I can't tell if it's ligs or hip bones but that's another issue....and so is the doe who has dancing ligs who come and go on different days and even multiple times a day. They couldn't make it easy for a newbie now could they?
My question is about a ff yearling boer/kiko doe who appears to be close to kidding. She has her ff udder filled in (within last week). Today I checked her ligs (and so did a very experienced goat lady who came out). The ligs are easily felt at the base of the tail where it meets the spine, and then they dip WAY below the tail bone and disappear before where they should attack to the pin bone. She is obviously hollow on both sides of the tail (just looking) and hollowed in front of her hips. In the last 24 hours she has dropped to where she looks more deep and less wide. So what would you call those ligs? Soft? Dipping? Mushy? Gone? They were hard pencils previously, just like her two yearling sisters and it's easy to feel on the ff.
Thanks for helping me learn!!! I promise with 7 girls going this year I should get good at checking the ligs. :hug:


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## firelight27 (Apr 25, 2009)

It sounds to me like she is very close, maybe within the next few days. All of mine have ligs that turn into noodles and dip down like that before disappearing entirely. Keep an eye on her and keep checking those ligs. You shouldn't be able to feel any bit of them at all by the time she is ready to go...but she sounds very close if she has dropped as well.


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## Perfect7 (Apr 19, 2010)

Thank you firelight! I just checked on her and all that remains now is the part I can feel that is soft at the tail head. I can't feel the part that dips down anymore either. It's neat to keep checking and actually feel them going away. I think I'm getting the hang of it!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I agree it's very cool to feel the changes! Trouble still had some ligs yesterday morning, and through the day her udder filled, and by afternoon she had lost her ligs. Kids at 5am! My other does followed about the same, lost ligs about 12-14 hours before they kidded. 
Also I've caught all 4 of my does so far pushing the kids into position. That's another thing to watch for - lots of stretching, up and down, and chewing cud like they are mad as hell-o LOL.


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## TheMixedBag (Oct 16, 2010)

My doe's doing the exact same thing with her ligs, they're probably just a bit harder than your doe's are. They're really soft, she's really hollowed out and deeeep. She's got no udder yet, but if her dam is who we all now think it is, it'll go from teeny tiny to ginormous within 8 hours, which may be a good reason why she hasn't been building on it, but has been showing other signs.


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## Perfect7 (Apr 19, 2010)

I hope she shows you some udder signs, Mixed Bag! The guessing game is hard and last year I swore I'd be hand breeding my girls so I'd know the due date. Then life got busy and I got lazy, so off in the pasture the buck went.  
This girl has a small udder and tiny teats but is a ff, so I don't expect to see much of an udder on her this year. Of my three yearlings, she has the nicest teat set with a perfect 1:1 and nicely shaped (small) udder. Not that it matters on a commercial meat goat herd as much...
This next fall I am not going to be so lazy so I can know due dates (I say that now).


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