# **HELP** My goat just had three kids!!!!!!!!!!



## mlw987m (Mar 18, 2011)

I have no clue what to do - they are all up moving around, but I'm afraid only onew is getting milk, can I use regular milk and a bottle? 
What else di I do?


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## theawesomefowl (Mar 18, 2011)

Bottle feed the others with the mother's milk, or if she isn't producing use cow's milk or goat milk replacer.


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 18, 2011)

They have to get mother's first milk. move one over to the udder and see if it will nudge on her. bump on its back by its tail, to stimulate they baby to want to nurse.  
  The first milk is the colostrum and they need this.

Is mom showing interest in licking each of them?

And what time were they born?


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## theawesomefowl (Mar 18, 2011)

I feel stupid--yes, of course they need that colostrum!!!


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 18, 2011)

theawesomefowl said:
			
		

> I feel stupid--yes, of course they need that colostrum!!!


You just assumed she had gotten that far, and I am picturing wet new born kids.


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## mlw987m (Mar 18, 2011)

Yes, wet newborns, I just go thome from work, momis doting on them but I have yet to see them drink other than the one


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 18, 2011)

This can be tricky and confussing, but you need to work with one at a time and get them up under mom and get them on the teat. There are a couple tricks to it.

check her teats and get the milk flowing


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 18, 2011)

If you can't get a sucking reflex, then I give them a teaspoon of corn syrup mixed with a couple squirts of mom's milk to thin it. I use a 3cc syringe to feed them around 10 to 15 cc. This burst of sugar helps kick start their sucking reflex if they have gone to long with out.  

But my guess is you just need to get them near her and help out. If mom smells them and starts kicking then you may have problems.


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## mlw987m (Mar 18, 2011)

I am probably blowing this out of proportion, but it seems she is cleaning them up and they all seem to at one poiint be able to nurse from her. I pulled on one of her teats to get the milk flowing. I got nervous because nothing came out, but jeeze, I squeezed and they seem to be OK. I am going to get some milk and a bottle just to err on the side of caution. She also has the afterbirth (Ithink) hanging from her back end, and seems to be eating it? Is that  right?  For all I know, this may be her third or fourth live birth, or more. So, she seems to be thrilled with it all


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 18, 2011)

yes, that is all normal.

Some goats can nurse triplets, but if there is a runt, it can be hard on them to keep up with the other two bigger onse. 

It sounds to me like everything is going well. 

some vit D milk and a bottle wouldn't be a bad idea to keep on hand with triplets on one mom.

I would check on them every  2 or 3 hours through the night and make sure none of them seem to get weak. Or are crying a lot. A crying baby is a hungry baby.  A newborn baby that refusses to be bottle fed or syringe fed is probably just full.


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## cmjust0 (Mar 18, 2011)

WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!!

Please understand that the decision to  bottle feed will affect the next 8-10 weeks of your life with 3x/day feedings, and will affect that goat for the rest of its life.  You just said you got home from work and found them...that means you work for a living...*really think* about this before you do it..  

It's not something you wanna decide to do on a whim...ideally, you should have already decided it's something you *want* to do.  And if you decided ahead of time that it's not something you really *want* to do, you should exhaust every effort to leave the kid on its mama until you're thoroughly convinced that it's just..not..gonna..work.  Trust me on this.

Now, having said that...if you want them to nurse mama, and if mama's receptive to being nursed (which if she's doting, she will be), then stop freaking out and switch off the part of your brain that causes you to be frustrated when you see someone trying to stick a round peg in a square hole..  If you see a kid grab a teat and go YAY only to realize the end of the teat is actually hanging out the side of the kids mouth and it's not getting anything...and that happens to 100% of new babies, btw...and that makes you want to cry and/or shoot yourself in the face...walk away for a lil while.  It's really OK.  

Be patient...they're not gonna keel over dead in the next few hours if that's how long it takes them to "get it" to the point that you feel confident leaving them be..  And it may take that long, or longer..  

And please understand that if they only get a little milk from a few seconds of painfully awkward nursing before laying down, looking for all the world like they've given up on even trying to live, that's actually pretty normal..  

Oh yeah...BREATHE.


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## mlw987m (Mar 18, 2011)

Ahhhhhhhhhh - it feels so nice to hear those words I was wishing for - thank you guys so much, I really was thinking that I had better let Bonnie do her thing, since she did have a stillborn last year according to the rescue we got her from. She seems to be fine with her family, and Clyde is the happy dad, so like you said, I will take a deep breath and step back, and let her do her thing because they really do seem healthy. But totally freaked me out when I saw all the blood and the afterbrith and three babies walking around! I reall thought it would be another week


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 18, 2011)

Hey, congrats on your triplets, Is this your first baby goats on your farm? They sound like they are in good hands.


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 18, 2011)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!!
> 
> Please understand that the decision to  bottle feed will affect the next 8-10 weeks of your life with 3x/day feedings, and will affect that goat for the rest of its life.  You just said you got home from work and found them...that means you work for a living...*really think* about this before you do it..
> 
> ...


That was a good explanation of it. Thank you. I was trying to figure out how to tell her it just can take time, and it can be really frustrating not being suew if they already nursed, but bottle feeding is a big commitment and that is why right now all of my triplets are still on their mom's.


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## mlw987m (Mar 18, 2011)

Thanks for all the help!! Yes, these are my first babies and the last, since I had Clyde castrated, they were rescues froma slaughterhouse and she was in heat when I got them. Love them like crazy


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 19, 2011)

Hope it is all going well for everyone this morning.


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## ksalvagno (Mar 19, 2011)

Sometimes the best thing you can do is go have a cup of coffee and watch from a distance. 

Congratulations on the triplets.


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## lilhill (Mar 19, 2011)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> Sometimes the best thing you can do is go have a cup of coffee and watch from a distance.
> 
> Congratulations on the triplets.


  And congratulations on the new babies.  Sounds like mom knows exactly what to do and will take good care of her babies.


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## Emmetts Dairy (Mar 19, 2011)

Congratulations!!  Thats great!!! Enjoy your new babies!!


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## oakmarsh nigerians (Mar 19, 2011)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> Sometimes the best thing you can do is go have a cup of coffee and watch from a distance.
> 
> Congratulations on the triplets.


Love it! I find that's true for a WHOLE lot more than I did about 20 years ago! Congrats on the new babies!


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## mlw987m (Mar 20, 2011)

Mom seems to be doing OK on her own, you're right, no reason why I should interfere. I just panicked seeing them al l walking around and she was happy as a pig in poop


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