The babies are doing great so far. One of the boys got hurt the day after he was born, and we ended up losing him, but other than that they are wonderful. It is so fun to watch them, as they are finally kind of starting to play. They are wandering out of the shelter more and more each day. Cathy is starting to be more of herself, which is really good, as she was just a grouch to deal with for a couple days after. The really good thing is that she is being an awesome mom, and VERY protective. Wow, it was really interesting the other day when her a Jerry almost got into a fight over her babies! For a little bit there, I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be!
Well, here we are, the goats are always out to prove you wrong no matter what you do. I checked four girls today, Pie, Hershey, Oreo and Gretchen. Oreo and Gretchen went in the OB ward and Pie and Hershey are still out in the pasture with the rest of the goats. Gretchen will probably kid Tuesday or so and Oreo will probably kid Wednesday or Thursday. You never can tell when it comes to goats, they decide when they’re gonna let them babies drop.
The first sign that mine usually show is that they will start “bagging up”, what this means is that their udder will start to look bigger as it starts to fill will milk. I have some girls that will start to bag up as much as 4 – 5 weeks before they kid.
The second sign is their hip bones will start to protrude more, it is not because they are poorly fed, it is their bodies getting ready to have babies. During this time if you very gently (it may take another person to hold the goat), grab the goat just above the base of the tail, you will notice that the ‘ligaments’ that surround the tail will start to get softer. By the time they are ready to kid, you should be able to almost touch thumb to fingers around their vertebrae, right at the base of the tail. This is called losing the ligaments. I have some girls (Jelly) that will ‘lose her ligaments’ a couple weeks before they kid; whereas I have one girl (Just My Style) that still had about half her ligaments the day before she kidded.
Another sign, not so pretty, is their ‘back end’ (the vulva in particular) will start to swell. It’s not very cute when I wander around the pasture begging the girls to lift their tails because I want to look at their butt! It seems that they always lower their tails when they see me coming!They can be so aggravating sometimes!
There are several signs that a goat breeder looks at when they have girls that are about to pop, and this is just a touch on it. I am hoping to go into a lot more details in another post. Of course, it does help if you have a breeding date so that you know within just a few days of when they ’should’ kid.
But, you know it is this time of year that I remember the joys of raising goats. Watching the babies play and romp around is always enough to bring a smile to your face, if you don’t bust out laughing first!
Just a look at what is going on with Gretchen. She is my 88% registered Boer. She is two years old, but this is her first time kidding. She is not due until March 7, my birthday, but she is about as big as a house! I think she is either carrying triplets or really big twins. I’m not gonna be real happy if they are all boys! Oh well, God knows what He is doing here, and if I’m supposed to have a boy year, then I guess that’s the way it will be.
This is an article that is very cute. It is by an unknown author.
A Doe’s Revenge
Doe’s Secret Code of Honor
The doe’s secret code of honor is as old as goats themselves and is ultimately the species best kept secret. No doe shall ever kid before its time. (Its time being determined by the following factors):
1 – No kid shall be born until total chaos has been reached by all involved. Your owner’s house must be a wreck, their family hungry and desperate for clean clothes, and their social life nonexistent.
2 – “Midwives” must reach the babbling fool status before you kid out. Bloodshot eyes, tangled hair and the inability to form a sentence mean the time is getting close.
3 – For every bell, beeper, camera or whistle they attach to you, kidding must be delayed by at least one day for each item. If they use an audio monitor, one good yell per hour will keep things interesting.
4 – If you hear the words, “She’s nowhere near ready. She’ll be fine while we’re away for the weekend,” Wait until they load the car, and then begin pushing!
5 – Owner stress must be at an all time high! If you are in the care of someone else, ten to fifteen phone calls a day is a sign you’re getting close.
6 – When you hear the words “I can’t take it anymore!” wait at least three more days.
7 – You must keep this waiting game interesting. False alarms are mandatory! Little teasers such as looking at your stomach, pushing your food around in the bucket and then walking away from it, and nesting, are always good for a rise. Be creative and find new things to do to keep the adrenaline pumping in those who wait.
8 – The honor of all goats is now in your hands. Use this time to avenge all of your barn mates, think about your friend who had to wear that silly costume in front of those people. Hang onto that baby for another day. OH, they made him do tricks too! Three more days seems fair. Late feedings, the dreaded diet, bad haircuts, those awful wormings can also be avenged at this time.
9 – If you have fulfilled all of the above and are still not sure when to have the kids; listen to the weather forecast on the radio that has been so generously provided by those who wait. Severe storm warning is what you’re waiting for. In the heart of the storm jump into action! The power could go out and you could have the last laugh. You have a good chance of those who wait missing the whole thing while searching for a flashlight that works!
10 – Make the most of your interrupted nights. Beg for food each time someone comes into the barn to check you. Your barn mates will love you as the extra goodies fall their way too.
Remember, this code of honor was designed to remind man of how truly special goats are. Do your best to reward those who wait with a beautiful doeling to carry on the Doe Code of Honor for the next generation of those who wait!
Well, we are doing it again, watching and waiting. I have two girls (goats); Pie and Hershey that should be kidding any day now. Of course, I’ve been saying that for almost a week now.I don’t know which one will hit the ground first, but I’m betting that Pie will, just because of the way that she is presenting. There are several ways to look at a goat to be able to tell if they are about ready to kid.
We have not put them in the OB ward yet, and the piglets are still in there, but we are watching them very closely. Checking on them about 3 times a day now.
Watching Cathy having her babies yesterday was an eye opening experience. I have seen puppies being born, and goats being born, but never pigs. When puppies, or even goats are born most mothers will clean up their babies and paw or nuzzle them to suckle and stand up. Pigs are completely different.They are actually born with two ’sacks’. the outer sack has all the liquid and nasty stuff in it, and the inner sack is basically dry. When they are born, they move around quite a bit to break the sacks and get out. Then they almost immediately start walking around to the belly of the mama. Within just a minute or two they are basically dry. Mom does not lick them clean, nor does she nuzzle or try to move them. She is basically laying there in labor, almost oblivious to the squirmy things now moving around her body. She is not a ‘loving’ animal to her newborns. The babies immediately go and start looking for milk, without any help. That experience was just really amazing to me.
Shortly after she was done, it started snowing. Well, the pen that they were in, the babies were actually getting snowed on, so we needed to move them. Of course animals (and humans) tend to always have their babies right when a storm is moving in, whether it be snow or rain. I have heard it said that it has to do with the barometric pressure, but I don’t really know.
We moved all the babies, and finally enticed Cathy enough to move her. When she finally ate and drank and went to go lay down, she was very attentive to her babies. Here is a 4-500 lb. pig that wants nothing more than to lay down and go to sleep, but if any of the piglets started to squeal, she was right up waiting for them to move out from underneath her. She does get a little upset if she is laying there and while we are handling them, they start to make some noise, but other than that, she is not the attentive mom that you would think they (as in pigs) might be.
Went out yesterday to go look at a girl (goat) that is having some issues, and I thought, ‘well, I need to go check on Cathy while I’m out here’. Walked into her pen, and there was two little squirmy things laying next to her! She’s havin’ her babies! 
So I sent Gideon (my 15 year old) to go get Jerry, and Gerrod (my 11 year old) to go get towels and the heat lamp. That was at about 4 pm. She stayed in labor until about 10 pm. She ended up having 9 babies, but one was still born, we tried to save it, we just couldn’t. We got 4 girls and 4 boys! Cathy is doing great, and all the babies are wonderful.
In all my ramblings, I have not said much about our dogs. We have had a heck of a time trying to find a couple of good dogs. Let me back up a little more. The first year and a half or so that we had animals, we kept losing them, we lost 38 chickens in one year, then we lost 24 chickens after that, not including the goats that we lost; all due to predators.
So, I got to doing some research on Guardian animals. Basically if you want an animal to guard your livestock, you pretty much have 3 options; Llamas, Donkeys, or Dogs. With all the research that I did I didn’t like the idea of Llamas because, well, some predators will kill them, then what’s the point? Donkeys may work great for some people, but I have heard a lot of negative stuff about them, too. I got to looking into Guardian Dogs. Now, there are several breeds that have been bred for hundreds of years, to specifically guard goats and sheep. A lot of breeds have not quite made a big impact over here in the United States yet, but are very common in other countries. A great place to start with research is lgd.org. They have a wealth of information, not only about the different breeds, but also about health issues, breeding issues, etc.
Well, I left out on the road at about 6 am on Sunday morning to go to work. Just My Style was fine on Saturday evening, still had ligaments, and didn’t really look ready, well she was out to fool me, I guess. Jerry called me at about 9:30 as he was fixin’ to go to church, and she had twins on the ground! MORE BOYS! Well, that is okay for her, as they are 100%, and the biggest weighed in at 11 1/2 lbs.! Holy cow, he is a monster! The brother weighed in at 8 1/2 lbs. and they are both beautiful.
