Today was finally Sassy’s kidding day. After giving me signs for about ten days, making me think over and over “surely she will kid within the next 24 hours!” and fooling me each time, she finally pulled out all the stops and gave the final signs. And now that Sassy girl had convinced me I had NO idea about goat kidding signs, I really WAS pretty sure she would kid within hours.
Her ligaments were very hard to find yesterday, but this morning I couldn’t feel them at all. Now, I’d been told when I was first looking for goat kidding signs that “when you can touch your finger around her tail, the ligaments are gone and she’ll kid soon.” That didn’t really work for me. Instead, what worked for me was to find the ligaments beforehand, and monitor them, and when they become so soft you can no longer feel them, that is a sign the goat will kid soon. They are easy enough to find (fiasco farms has a good diagram here) and are a bit hard, about the size of pencils, running from the sides of the doe’s spine in a “V” shape toward her pin bones. Of course, Sassy-girl managed to throw me off, performing the trick some goats will do. She lost her ligaments, only to have them harden back up.
Since talented goats like Sassy can fake it, I found a good sign that can tell you if the ligaments are TRULY gone. The doe’s back legs start to look “posty” … they become straight like posts with very little bend to them. This is a sign that the ligaments are really “gone” and not just playing hide and seek.
Another finally unmistakeble goat kidding sign – Sassy’s udder finally became truly stretched. It had been filling out for some time (and she’s a first freshener – or first timer) and had gotten quite large and full, but the skin was not truly stretched until this morning. It was not easy to determine this, since she skittered away each time I tried to touch it. The skin becomes more shiny when it does become stretched.
Sassy had been teasing me with goat kidding signs for over a week. She had been showing mucous off and on for over a week, even streaming briefly once (almost a week ago). Her behavior had changed from being normally friendly, to super clingy, to “stay AWAY from me” over the course of a couple of weeks. Her udder had ballooned up. I found her stretching, rubbing her sides, scratching her sides. She would lie down and stretch her bead back, or roll on the ground. Her ligaments would disappear, then come back. In short, she had me thinking over and over that she would kid any day, and I lost a lot of sleep checking her all through the night every night. She seemed so large, I was afraid it was a huge kid, and she is still not yet a year old. (In fact, I hadn’t wanted her bred, but she was such an amazingly strong kid and had grown SO well, when she was accidentally bred, I decided she would probably be ok.)
Still, I really wanted to be there for her when she kidded, just in case.
So I figured it really HAD to be today, and finally, I was right. I checked her at least once an hour, and I finally noticed her lying down, when before she had been eating, eating, eating with never a break. So I washed my hands, put on my boots, grabbed my things, and headed for the pasture.
When I neared the place she had been lying, I saw her standing up through the screen of the trees. And beside her … TWO wriggling shapes stumbling toward her. It was TWINS, for which I am so thankful, and one was a doeling! A beautiful little girl, dark brown, with white markings on her sides, and black, brown, and tan legs, a pretty striped face … absolutely gorgeous! And after all that, I missed the kidding, and Sassy Girl hadn’t needed me after all. She had the kids almost completely dry and both were nursing.
I noticed the doeling shivering, and it was cool in the shade with the wind blowing. I wanted to move them into the barn. Sassy got upset … she wasn’t quite finished cleaning up the goo, and as I tried to get her and the kids to the barn, she transferred her attention to the clover and started eating as if her life depended on it. I think because she had been working on the goo. For a minute I thought I might not be able to get her into the barn, and I finally had to drag her in there. I was also afraid she might reject the kids, because then she set to digging in the hay, and ignored the kids, and even knocked them around a bit when they got in the way of her digging. But she had not delivered the afterbirth yet, and that’s what her behavior was about. Once it was gone, she settled down and lay down next to the buckling, and the little doeling climbed on her back. So sweet … *smile*
Soon she was up and they were nursing, and all was well in the goat shed. Only two does bred this year, and I have three bucklings and a doeling. And after all that close monitoring, I ended up missing BOTH kiddings, I was wrong about who kidded first, and neither of the does needed me the least little bit. Which is a relief — I’m very interested in having does that deliver kids easily and kids that enter the world with every possible advantage.
Kidding season — keeps you on your toes! Now … I’m going to get some rest — finally!
so great, i like it. (link removed)
Lisa,I did a quick search on your issue and coudln’t find anything special. I suspect ringworm but that would only be in patches. I got rid of ringworm very quickly using a solution of 50/50 water/bleach & I’d rub the areas once or twice a day & let dry. Within a week it was all gone. Have you tried a gradual change of diet? Do your goats have continued access to water? Are they scratching more than usual? If they had mites, they’d be scratching quite a bit. Wish I could be more helpful!
awesome blog! i liked your way of description.
Lisa,Don’t bathe your goats.. they really won’t appcireate that. Sometimes I have to rinse little goat butts and it makes them miserable! They hate being wet! Don’t put baby oil either, that will just attract dirt. One final thought are your goats wormed regularly? I’ve noticed that many times my goats coats are shinier a few weeks after worming. You should worm your goats at least at the start of every season. You may also want to brush them every so often.. they’ll get used to that very quickly.
Would love to know where to get very basic goat care, etc. I have llamas, , and we had two pyorags for a year several years ago. We’ve moved to Colorado, and several folks have mentioned goats are great for brush-clearing. Hubby has finally agreed that a few goats might be a good idea. BTW, I promise to write back!
There are a number of good online resources to read about goat care, but the ones I usually go to are not what you’d consider “very basic”. If you want brush-clearing goats, though, your concerns are much simpler than what I have to do in order to maintain dairy goats, for example. If you don’t breed your goats, even simpler. They will not be NEARLY as exposed to parasites if they clear brush as they would be on pasture, for example. You really want a basic working knowledge of poisonous plants they may encounter though, and that has been tough to find, in my experience. One person says this plant is toxic, another person says their goat eats it every day, and someone else claims goats ALWAYS know what to eat and what not to eat. While my goats have never poisoned themselves, I have had a llama do so. It really is a good idea to find out about toxic plants, in my opinion. Being that you are probably dealing with lower humidity and dryer ground, you probably will also have fewer hoof problems, but you may need to trim them. Hoof trimming is actually quite easy – I use a tool similar to a rose pruner. Without knowing the mineral content there, I’d have loose minerals available for them at all times. They generally eat what they need. Make sure they are GOAT minerals so it will be high enough in copper, which is toxic to sheep (which reminds me, keep your llamas away from the goat minerals!). Know your local predators and protect against those. Overall, your situation will be much easier than most of us who keep goats. If you have specific questions, I’d be happy to answer or will try to find an answer for you.
Holy sheep!Those little lambs are the cuestt thing in the world!I miss all you guys n four legged friends!Looks like things are good and beautiful, I was just thinking how I really would like to learn to raise sheep and when googling it, your website popped up.I’m not so sure of the rising before dawn aspect of it though, I’m such a night owl.
Those are goat kids.
They really ARE adorable! Goats don’t really require you to be up so early, depending on if you are milking them in the morning. Cows are worse. It’s the chickens I have to get up for, since they need to be let out of the coop at daybreak. The goats are more likely to deprive me of sleep during the night when they are due to kid. I must admit, you have to be willing to give up sleep anytime where the animals are concerned.
thanks for the share, doing a good job!
Kris, on my website I list a few sites where I get some info. The prleobm with these sites is that they really take goat keeping to another level. Had I read these sites before getting goats, I probably would have stuck with chickens! Goats are very easy keepers and I find that if you feed them good food, you’ll rarely have prleobms. Most people don’t give their goats grain I do just a little it keeps their coat shiny but most important for me is that it keeps them FRIENDLY! I use the simplest methods and what works for me. As for clearing brush, you’d do fine with inexpensive brush goats Make sure to worm them quarterly and protect them from rain and coyotes and stray dogs and they’ll be happy to work for you! If you don’t want babies, then don’t get a billy! And don’t give these guys hay if you don’t have to. You’ll spoil them and they won’t want to eat your brush!Check craigslist in your area you may find some good deals on goats!
Enjoyed reading this, always love to hear about baby goats! Glad things are turning out ok! Please keep us updated.