# Kidding stall bedding



## Iwantgoats (Mar 1, 2011)

Hello everyone, this is my first kidding season and I had a couple question.  First I was planning on bedding the kidding stall with straw.  Sent a family member out to get straw and this person did not buy ti because she felt it was too rough for momma to give birth on and wanted to line the stall with soft timothy hay!  I think straw will be just fine I mean she is a goat.  So, what should I use?

Also, the prenatal shave, is it necessary?  Our doe is skittish and we have no stanchion at the moment so I was kind of dreading it.


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## freemotion (Mar 1, 2011)

I prefer shavings with straw on top.  The straw is really to keep them above the puddles and hence, nice and dry.  Hay will pack down more quickly, but wasted hay becomes bedding, so it is not so bad.  Around here it is about the same price, but when I am bedding I prefer straw for the above reason.

You can skip the shave but expect to do more washing afterwards.  Which will mean more handling of her backside in the long run!  You can tie her up short and pin her with your body.  Better yet, get a strong, steady person to restrain her gently but firmly and work quickly back there.  It doesn't have to be pretty!


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## ksalvagno (Mar 1, 2011)

I didn't shave my girls and there wasn't that much mess to clean up. I was able to clean up their tails pretty quickly.

I just use straw for the kidding stalls.


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## chandasue (Mar 1, 2011)

I prefer straw or wasted hay.


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## RockyToggRanch (Mar 1, 2011)

I didn't shave mine either. I also dreaded the thought. I procrastinated until it was too late and it worked out just fine. 

I used wasted hay for bedding.  I would probably prefer straw, but I have lots of hay here.


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## Livinwright Farm (Mar 1, 2011)

I have been wonder the exact same question... "is it necessary?". My Maude is very skiddish, and will do anything to not be touched from the shoulders back.
As for bvedding I was just gonna go for cheap and use the softer mulch hay. Mulch hay is anywhere from $2-5/bale here... compared to the $7+/bale for straw.

If I notice imminent kidding process beginning, then I will grab what I can for empty feed bags and save as much of the bedding as possible!


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## freemotion (Mar 1, 2011)

I had one doe kid two seasons ago and was perfectly clean.

Two does last season and both were a sticky mess!  Ick.  It took many washings to get it all out, then they both goo'd and sticky/crusty for days.  I am thinking about doing at least a light trim as each doe's big day approaches.  Not as much as many of the pics we see here on byh because my does get to browse and I think that the long hairs protect their udders like a cat's whiskers...they feel the branch long before it rips and shreds.  I've had no injuries in spite of some pretty amazing acrobatics from the does to reach that high, juicy leaf.


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## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 1, 2011)

For me it's not so much the messy rear at kidding time, it's the the couple weeks following.  Unless you plan to wipe them down regularly following kidding that discharge can just keep building up a thick crust in the tail hair.   When it's dry it flakes easily off the skin and webbing, but those hairs on the outside edge of the tail can really hold on to it and you'd end up pulling hair trying to get rid of it.  The does would probably appreciate all that even less than the 2 minutes it takes to shave tails.  Especially as it warms up and there are flies about.

I don't shave around the ligs anymore, I just edge the tail and down the thigh to the top of the hock and shave udders.  I do like me a nakey, washable udder.


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## goodhors (Mar 1, 2011)

I would suggest hay or straw as bedding in birthing stalls over shavings or sawdust bedding.  

With the horses, mare straining, the baby and any covering material may touch the bedding and have it stick.  Some babies seem to go in and out of mother, before finally getting born.  Sawdust and shavings REALLY stick to wet tissue and you have much more potential of getting those smaller pieces get back inside the mare for infections.  Straw and hay are usually bigger pieces, don't seem to have that sticking problem as bad, in horse studies conducted on bedding materials.  All recommendations were for straw as first choice, any type.  Then 2nd was large fibered hay of the grass types, not alfalfas with small leaves and firm stems.

Second reason for straws would be for the newborn landing on the bedding and breathing in sawdust or shavings when their small nose is near or into the bedding.  Again, baby won't breathe in bigger pieces of straw or grassy hay, like they can with the tiny pieces of shavings or sawdust.  Those little fibers or shreds of woody stuff breathed in, sticks inside moist nostrils, can get into the lungs, then becomes a good source of pneumonia.


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## RockyToggRanch (Mar 1, 2011)

Very nice explanation 


			
				goodhors said:
			
		

> I would suggest hay or straw as bedding in birthing stalls over shavings or sawdust bedding.
> 
> With the horses, mare straining, the baby and any covering material may touch the bedding and have it stick.  Some babies seem to go in and out of mother, before finally getting born.  Sawdust and shavings REALLY stick to wet tissue and you have much more potential of getting those smaller pieces get back inside the mare for infections.  Straw and hay are usually bigger pieces, don't seem to have that sticking problem as bad, in horse studies conducted on bedding materials.  All recommendations were for straw as first choice, any type.  Then 2nd was large fibered hay of the grass types, not alfalfas with small leaves and firm stems.
> 
> Second reason for straws would be for the newborn landing on the bedding and breathing in sawdust or shavings when their small nose is near or into the bedding.  Again, baby won't breathe in bigger pieces of straw or grassy hay, like they can with the tiny pieces of shavings or sawdust.  Those little fibers or shreds of woody stuff breathed in, sticks inside moist nostrils, can get into the lungs, then becomes a good source of pneumonia.


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