Birthing Babies

So let’s see where did I leave you. Oh yes, I hope with a pregnant goat.

A normal goat gestation is 5 months or 145 to 155 days from time of breeding. Another good reason to keep records is to know when the babies will be coming. And I say babies because the majority of goat births are twins, due to their double sided uterus, just like in dogs. Single births are rarer, but not uncommon. Triplets are also common when dealing with goats. The record I have heard of is five at once. When you are talking about that many, not all may survive. Death is part of life.

While Momma Doe is pregnant you will want to give her special care. Feed her lots of treats and you will want to increase her grain ration. She, like any pregnant mother, is going to need the extra calories for the babies, but also to produce milk. Even if your goats are free roaming, you will want to give them grain to supplement their diet. If they are not free roaming, you will need to give them hay. You will also have to give them hay in the winter for their roughage. Goats are like cows in that they are ruminates and have a multi chambered stomach, i.e. It takes forever to get them full. When they do get full, you will see their bellies expand, and often they will find a nice place to lie down and chew their cud. If your goat is hungry, you may actually hear them grind their teeth for lack of cud. Goat anatomy is different than dogs, something I was used to dealing with. When a dog’s backbone and hips are showing, it means they are underfed or starved. In a goat that is normal.

For feed I like Dumor from Tractor Supply. I feel it is a good product. You may have to do your own experiment and research until you find one that suits your and your goats needs. Dumor goat feed comes in regular and sweet. Now sweet is just that, sweet. It is mixed with molasses and has more calories in it. I feed it as a treat, for my older goats who have trouble chewing, and for my pregnant and lactating goats. I find feeding sweet feed gives the milk a sweeter flavor then the regular. What you feed will determine how the milk tastes. I can't say that I ever tasted the plants the girls were eating, but I have used some other goat feeds, over the years, that made the milk taste like dirt! I also like to add a dry supplemental goat mineral that can be mixed in their food. Just a handful in a scoop is more than enough. As for how much grain to feed per goat, well you’re going to have to figure that out on your own. I've never found a chart to tell me. I feed one, 3 quart scoop to my two goats and a pig in the evening time. For goats you must feed in a bowl or something off the ground! Most of the time, when it is on the ground, goats do not consider it food and will not eat it. For lactating does you will want to feed probable twice a day. If you are running other livestock, other than sheep, with your goats it is okay for them to share their food. Cause they are going to want to share anyways. If you have a horse with your goat, it is okay, from what I know, to let them eat the same food, as long as it is a good quality horse food and not all-stock. But that is a decision you need to make on your own based on your research. A word of warning, I feel All-stock feed, a feed that is supposed to be able to be feed to any type of livestock including dogs, is crap. Makes the milk taste bad and is low in certain nutrients that certain animals need. Oh and if you are running sheep with your goats, don't let them share food. I think it is the copper in goat feed that can kill sheep. Somebody check that and get back to me please.

If all goes well, at some point you will have too many goats!!! You will want to rehome, sell or process some of them. We have only processed them once. I will not do it again, and here is what I learned. Before you process your goat you are going to have to pen it up and feed it only grain and hay for at least two weeks. If you don't no matter how you cook it, the meat will taste like roasted brush or leaves. What you feed not only affects the taste of the milk, but the meat as well.

So the days are getting close and you think you will be having goat babies any day. You need to be prepared. I kept a birthing kit packed at all times. You’re going to need just a few things. One is iodine to dip the umbilical cord in. If you don't, it can lead to a horrible disease that can kill babies. Don't worry about scissors to cut the cord or string to tie it off. Most cords break during birthing or the Doe bites it shortly after birth. I also kept a blue syringe bulb to suck out fluid from the baby’s nose and mouth. I started out with gloves, but moved just to hand sanitizer. When the gloves were wet with amniotic fluid they were useless to help pull out babies, and cost you vital seconds to remove them. I also kept a small bottle of Astroglide, yes the sex lubricant, in my bag. If you have to stick your hand in her vagina to pull out or feel a baby, it will be useful. A towel is also useful.

As the days get closer you will want to keep an eye on your doe. If you have the luxury you may even want to separate her. You will want a safe, soft, quiet, dry and warm place for her. For bedding, now as always, you will want to use straw. And make no mistake, straw is not hay. Hay is to eat and is made of dried grass. Straw is the leftover from the wheat plant, once it has been harvested. It is a yellow and has kind of a thick stalk. After she births you will want to rake it out. If you have a dirt floor you may want to put down some lime. This is available at your local feed store in a big bag. Sprinkle it over the floor to absorb the smell of pee and other bodily fluids. You may also want to sprinkle in diatomaceous earth to help kill and control bugs. Oh a word on bugs here. Lots of goats carry lice. Don't freak out, just sprinkle some lice powder on them. You will know if it is really a problem if the goats start scratching a lot or rubbing their fur off. This may also be an indicator it is time to change your straw out. Goat lice are species specific, meaning you can't catch it. Come the warm weather you also have to deal with Horse Flies. These boogers bite and hurt. They look like a big fat fly, about the size of your thumb. Apparently they like all kinds of livestock. I use bug spray with DEET in it, to repel them. Goats don't seem to mind them too much. I believe there are sprays you can use on your goats to repel them. You should check at your local feed store.

You are down to the last few days. My girls were always great. They let me know they were ready, by hiding in the barn. They didn't want to come out of the pen to graze. At this point you will have bring her grain to her. Most goats will "bag up" prior to birthing, but this can happen anywhere from a few weeks to a few hours prior to birthing. To bag up means the udder begins to swell and fill with milk. She may also begin to vocalize a lot, or talk to the baby. Mine liked to bite at their sides. I knew they were close then. Their vulva will also begin to swell and elongate, as she begins to dilate over the days prior to birthing. If you raise goats, you spend half your life staring at a goat butt, trying to figure out what is going to happen next!

If you are very lucky, you will have to do nothing. Momma will birth the kids all by herself and you will wake up to new babies, leaping about in the barn. Right! In all the births I attended this happened once. Here are some notes for times when things don't go as planned. So your doe had indicated it's time to birth. Now comes the waiting game. You may end up sleeping in the barn with her. You’re nervous, she's nervous, you will both be okay. This is a lot easier if you have buddy who can run to the house if you need something, or a buddy you can call who can talk you threw all this. When she is ready, most of the time she will lay down on her side. Your job is to catch. In "Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats" on page 165, 2001 edition, is a picture of the different ways a kid may try to present. You may see any of the following:
  • Two little white capped feet -she's okay don't pull or assist unless she has been struggling for a while. Getting the head out is the hard part.
• Just a head - don't assist.
• You may see a butt or a tail - you will have to help. Lube up your hand and gently pull.  
• You see a bubble. What you are seeing is the amniotic sack. This may come before the baby. Give her a minute. If she doesn't push the kid out, pop the bubble by tearing it with your finger. Watch out for liquid. Hopeful the baby will come soon. If not you may have to reach in for a foot or something to pull out.

Remember once that baby is in the birth canal; it only has the air in its sack to make it to the outside. The baby may only have 5 - 10 minutes before it suffocates.

So the baby is out! What now.... Tear the sack, so it can breathe. Don't dry it off!! Let Mom do that. By her licking off the baby it triggers important hormones in her body to make her claim the kid as hers. I have had cases where we had healthy babies, died them off and mom rejected them because she didn't understand it was her baby. It smelled too much like me. The less you do at this point, the better. In a few minutes you will want to dip the cord in iodine. But give them a moment. More than likely she is not done birthing. She may stand up between birthing babies. I usually wait about 30 minutes. If by then she has not birthed a second or third baby, you are probable exhausted, but safe. It is time to do the bump. Stand behind your goat, now lie on top of her back and lace your fingers around her belly. You are going to give her a gentle Heimlich like maneuver. Push up and pull back towards her hips. What should come out is amniotic fluid and the rest of her placenta. Oh and you’re going to get wet, remember what I said about closed toed shoes.

Now she may eat her placenta or she may not. That's kind of up to her. It's full of nutrients she needs, but don't force her. If she doesn't snack on it in the first few hours, remove it. I believe keeping it round alerts the other critters such as coyotes to the presents of a new kid, and puts both at more danger. She, like most ladies, will bleed for a few days after, as her body cleans itself out. I did have a case where the doe, Ostara, birthed triplets. She was bleeding excessively, and the bleeding did not stop and was coming from both her anus and vagina. Turns out she tore her intestines birthing, and had to be put down. Hopefully this will not happen to you. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But death is part of life.

While mom is visiting with her babies, you have a few minutes to clean up. She will be hungry and thirsty. Take her water bucket and mix in warm water, with something sweet; Karo syrup, molasses, sugar or honey. Also adding a little salt or baking soda is good for her at this point. When you go back into the barn, within an hour you should see the kid stand. Walking may take a few hours. It is vital that they get milk in the next few hours. You may see mom pawing at the baby. What she is trying to do is get it to stand and suckle. You may have to help. Kids have very limited vision at this point. I have milked a little in my hand and rubbed it on her udder, so the baby can smell the milk. If you have a kid that won't stand you are going to have to give it a drench. A drench is a mix of syrup and water in a syringe. In a bowl you want to mix either Karo syrup or molasses and just enough warm water to get it to kind of melt. Draw it up in a syringe with no needle, you are going to need to squirt it in the baby’s mouth and down its throat. Try for the side of the mouth. It should work in at least 15 or so minutes. If the baby will not stand by then and is lifeless, you may be fighting a losing battle. Don't leave until you see the baby suckling. You may have to even physically put the nipple in its mouth. What is vital for the baby to get at this time is called colostrums. It is a special milk the mom makes for the first few days, and it tastes awful!!! After she births and over the next few days you will see the udder become larger and larger.

If the mom begins to show signs that she is rejecting the baby, such as stepping on it, head butting it, moving away from it when it tries to suckle, or just ignoring it. Congratulations! You are now a goat mom! And your life is now 2oz, every two hours for the first two weeks. Yep you guessed it. You’re going to have to go to the feed store again. Ask them for powdered goat milk, most of the time it has colostrums in it. But you should ask. I found it easiest to mix in a mason jar and shake with the lid on, and then pour into the bottle, with a funnel. You will want to get a nipple it's red with a yellow screw bottom that attaches to a 20 oz. plastic soda bottle. Oh and I found that a lot of water bottles, like the kinds that come by the case, don't have enough tread on them for the nipple to screw too and leak. My girls favored the green soda bottles. I don't know why, but they did. My guess is they naturally associate green with food. What they didn't eat, I just put back in the refrigerator. They do not have to have warm milk after the first week or so. They will drink it either way. On the back of the bag is a chart. You will be on bottle duty for several months. Goats don't learn to drink water until they are about 4 or 5 months old. But they learn to eat grain in a few weeks. Also if you can take them out with the herd, others in the group will teach them what is safe to eat and what is not. As most farmers know getting away from the farm is tough, because you have so many animals depending on you. You will have to schedule your life around feedings, just like with any other baby.

A word on poop, yes I said poop. When the kids have their first poop it may be black and even have blood in it. That is normal. For the next few days after that it will be yellow and sticky, from all the fat in the colostrums. Mom usually eats it, and that is normal. After you will have the normal little brown goat berries. If you are bottle feeding, my kids always pee right after they finished. Kind of like, "Thanks Mom! My tank is now full!" So you will want to give the bottles outside or at least have a towel handy. Oh and kids have these little white caps that cover the hooves to protect the mother while they are in utro. Goat hooves are pointed and can be very sharp. These caps will fall off in a few days. That is normal.

Your doe may stay in the barn for several days and not want to go out with the herd to browse. Remember she is going to be famished. When her hunger win out, she will get up and leave the baby. Now you get to baby sit. I would go out in the field with my goats and sit with them while they ate, with the baby wrapped up in a blanket. These are some of my happiest memories. Mom will not wander far and will probable keep looking at you and baby to check on you two. Assure her nothing is wrong and the baby is safe by showing her the baby. She will go back to eating, well at least for a few minutes. Make sure to go out every day and hug and kiss on the new baby. This will get them used to you and being handled. After a few days I would turn the herd loose and take the baby into my house while they were eating. When it was time to put up I would just put the baby back. If your do this method, remember to bring the baby out ever few hours for mom to see and also so the baby can suckle. Every 2 to 3 hours or so is about right. When they are little like this I would not leave them with the herd unsupervised for fear of hawks and coyotes. Remember hold them while they are young, you will not get this chance again, and all too soon they will be too big for your lap.

Once the first few days are over, and you have recovered, you will have a few decisions to make. Your doe is now full of milk. What you worked so hard for. You will either have to separate her from her baby, so her body can build up enough milk for you, or you will have to bottle feed the babies. But I feel you are just making more work for yourself. Kind of like, I want milk, to save money, so now the babies are here I have to spend all this money on formula, and all this time bottle feeding to get milk. Kind of defeating the purpose to me, but if that's what you chose so be it. I found the easiest, for me, was to separate baby from momma overnight. Put the baby in a pen where mom can see the baby, but not nurse. Take her out in the morning and milk her, and then put her back with baby.

So how do you milk a goat?
Ask me tomorrow.
Ilsa