Goat Kidding - Post Birth Doe Care

Care of the doe.

• Give the doe a warm drink of water with a smattering of molasses or dark karo.

• Keep the doe in a confined area until she is cleaner
  

• After the doe has rested a bit take her into the milk room, get her up on the milk stanchion and milk out the colostrum, after ensuring that all of the kids have recieved some.
  

• You may have to help her up on the stanchion. If the doe has had a really rough kidding, you may have to milk her on the ground
  

• After she is milked out, you can medicate her if necessary.

• Keep the milk separate for three milkings as it still contains colostrum in decreasing amounts if you seperate the doe and kids. Allow the kids to drink as much of the colostrum as possible.
  

• Watch the doe's grain and water consumption carefully for the next couple of weeks. If she goes off feed or seems depressed you may have cause to be concerned about ketosis. You may give her a bit of molasses or karo. It is then advised to ask an experienced veterinarian for advice on treatment.

Goat Kidding - Post Birth Kid Care

Supplies for caring for kid after:

• Nipples and bottle and/or multi-kid feeder
• Milk replacer
• Bottle brush
• Kid coats or blankets if needed
• Dimethox - treating coccidiosis in kids
• Dog house or kid hut
• Mo'milk mix - may aid in improving lactaction of the doe

Normal things that happen after the birth:

• The bottoms of the baby's hooves will "shed" their protective white coating right after birth.
• The kid may poop and pee right after birth, even before he has his first meal.
• The kid's first few poops will be soft sticky "black tar".
• The kid will poop "yellow mustard poops" for at least a week after birth until he begins to eat solid food.
• Some mothers are better than other at cleaning their babies. You may need to clean the kids butts off on occasion. Make sure no hardened poop plugs up their anus.
• Sometimes it takes a couple days for the babies legs to straighten out completely and/or work properly if this seems to be the case you may want to give them a Selenium Supplement
• There is usually one afterbirth per kid, but sometimes there is only one per kidding even if there are two kids. If you don't find the afterbirth, the mother probably ate it. Watch the doe for any signs of her not feeling well in case the afterbirth was retained.
  
• Starting after the kidding, the mother will begin to "leak" blood and birthing products for about a couple of weeks.

POST-KIDDING PREPARATION

Care of the kid.

1. Clear the newborn kid's nose and mouth of any fluid . Then dry it off if the mother is not doing so. This is a critical bonding time for them if you are leaving the kids with the doe. If the kid seems weak or chilled use a blow dryer or rub vigorously with a dry towel. Place the baby in a box of clean straw and put a heat lamp on it until it is dry if seperating. Kids should be trying to stand up within 10-15 minutes.
2. Dip the naval with 7% strong iodine. Use a little cup or film canister and keep it off your hands. It will dry them out. Repeat twice within the first hour to make sure the entire umbilical area is covered. If the umbilical cord is bleeding, tie it off with dental floss or navel clamp about 1 and 1/2 inches from the body. If the umbilical cord is too long, tear it off about 1 and 1/2 inches long. Use your fingers to tear it. Do Not Cut with scissors as it tends to bleed more. Redip with strong iodine.
3. The newborn kid will need colostrum in the first 4 hours. Keep coaxing the newborn to nurse. They may do better if it is quiet and there are no distractions. Let the baby have all the colostrum it will drink. If it refuses or drinks very little, wait 1/2 hour or so and try again. In subsequent feedings continue to feed colostrum until the baby has consumed as much as it can, and then switch to regular milk. Newborn kids should be fed 4 times a day for the first couple of days and then you can cut back to 3 times a day until they are consuming a least a pint at a feeding. Then you can cut them down to 2 times a day if you need to, more feedings is still better on the kids digestive tract.

   Giving new babies their first bottle(s) is sometimes a trial. Just be patient and keep, trying until you get the baby to nurse. Most of them will start sucking right away but you may have to pry their mouth open to get the nipple in. Just remember, the baby is programmed to reach up to nurse its mother so you need to elevate the bottle and make the baby reach for it. Keep some tension on the nipple by pulling the bottle slightly away from the kid. Pulling away helps straighten the neck and allows the milk to flow into the proper area of the stomach. Do not push the nipple into the baby's mouth.
   

   After the babies are on regular milk, give them one to two pints of warm milk in the morning and one to two pints of warm milk in the evening. It is best to feed them at about the same time every day. DO NOT OVER FEED! The babies are greedy little pigs and will eagerly drink somebody else's bottle, so keep track of who has been fed. Too much milk will make them scour. Just be sure to keep everything clean. 16oz pop bottles work fine and are cheap. Pritchard nipples seem to work well for younger kids and then they can be graduated to another type of nipple as they get bigger.

4. It may be important depending on your area to establish a regular prevention program to control coccidiosis in the baby kids.

5. The babies acquire immunity to most diseases from their mother in utero and from the colostrum and are protected for the first 30 days their life. After that they need their own vaccinations to remain protected. Assuming the doe received the requisite vaccinations while pregnant the babies will need vaccinations/shots at 30 days. For vaccinations required please see here.

Goat Kidding - Preperation

Before Kidding (2-3 days) :

• Clip around the goats udder, tail and anus, down the back legs to the hocks with a number 10 blade. You may also use a number 40 on the udder.
• Prepare Kidding Pen
• Trim your nails

Supplies to have on hand for kidding:

• Phone Number of an experienced helper - we recommend the phone number of a vet but realize that isn't always possible
• Garbage bag for disposing of afterbirth and any paper items
• Flashlight - can shine through bubble if needed to ensure kid in correct position, also depending on the doe, may make the doe less anxious than a light.
• Clean towels, burlap sacks, paper towels, puppy pads, or other item for drying kid off
• Bucket for warm water
• Betadine or Provodone scrub
• Quiet Hairdryer - not Necessary but can jump start weaker kids
• 7% (if possible) iodine and small cup - for dipping the umbilical cord
• OB loop or small chain
• Newspaper - may be handy for cleaning area if spread before hand
• Scissors
• Molasses or dark Karo - mix with wrm water to prevent ketosis after kidding
• Goat Serum concentrate - not necessary unless the kid is born immuno-compromised or does not receive good colostrum but a good item to have on hand
• Needles and syringes for administering serum
• A Save-a-kid syringe - This is a large syringe and a feeding tube for administering milk into the stomach of a weak kid
• Colostrum replacer - Keep on hand to administer to a kid that is not receiving enough colostrum or no colostrum
• Kid Kare concentrate - vitamin, protein supplement
• Nutri-drench or probious Gel - supplemental bacteria and nutrition
• Navel cord clamps - not required but may be nice (dental floss may also be used)
• Long disposable Gloves and Lube - Hopefully you will not need these but have on hand anyways
• Kid I.D. bands - may be wanted
• Udder wash - cleaning up doe if needed, prewash vaginal area if doe will allow

Signs of pending Kidding:

Ligaments dissapear - Feel the ligaments right on either side of the tail head. They should feel like two pencils, one on either side of the tail. If they dissapear then kidding is likely to happen in the next 24 hours. They have been known to be hard to find and appear gone and then reappear.

The doe's tail head may be noticeably raised. If you can almost put your fingers all the way around the spine in front of the tail head and her spine appears to be more level towards the butt then kidding may happen sometime within the next 24 hours.Her vulva may get "flabby"

"Far away" look in the doe's eyes. Space case, her eyes are wide. The whites of eye may get slightly bloodshot.She may continually look behind her.

Pawing at the ground (making a nest). They may start to do this a long time before kidding so this is not as reliable of a sign. Keep checking on her and looking for the other signs

Shifting positions often, getting up and then laying down.

Long string of mucous may be hanging from the doe's vagina. If it is amber colored, not clear or opaque white, it is part of the amniotic fluid and kidding should happen very soon.

The doe's udder in full and tight. This is also called bagging up, it is also an unreliable sign because not all does will "bag up" before they kid. The udder may also become shiny or glossy

The doe wants to be alone The doe may go off to be alone to have a kid, keep a close eye on her so that she doesn't wander to a bad location for kidding, it is probably a good idea to put her in the kidding stall at this point

The doe may becomes more vocal. If a normally quiet doe suddenly starts making a big fuss put her in the kidding stall.

The doe may do a lot of stretching and/or yawning. This can be done to help arrange the kids in the correct positions for labor

The doe may become more affectionate toward you. Or she may start acting aggresive, every doe is different and will have her own signs

A doe doing anything abnormal around her due date should result in her being watched more carefully.