Early signs of pregnancy? How do I know?

[Rarely Herd]

Sorry if this is a dumb question ...

This is my first breeding season, I have alpines and nubians. Have the girls separated by breed and have been co-habitating with the respective bucks for the last 5-6 weeks. I have been gone with work a lot and seen some mounting going on, but I cannot testify to any successful completion.

How can I tell if the does are bred/pregnant? None of them seem to have been in heat the last 2 weeks or so, of either breed and the bucks seem to have 'calmed down' a bit. I've heard mention of a blood test, but not seen details on how to do that.

Thanks!

 

[freemotion]

The heat cycle is 18-21 days, and since your girls have been exposed to the bucks for at least two cycles, maybe three for some, they are likely preggers. The only way to be sure is to wait a month and send blood samples in to Biotracking. There is a link to some instructions on their site.

 

[Ariel301]

Blood testing is the only for sure way to know. You can go with a company like Biotracking (look them up online) and send in your own samples, or a vet may be able to do it for you.

If you know your goats individually and really, really well, after a couple of breeding seasons you may be able to tell by changes in their temperament and bodies, but this won't really help you this time around. I have noticed that when my girls are all bred, the bucks do calm down and pretty much ignore them in favor of food, they also become less aggressive towards each other. Some of my does will have a personality change when pregnant, a normally sweet doe will be grumpy, a normally skittish and flighty doe becomes motherly and bossy towards the other does. The vulva area will often begin to change some after 8 weeks of pregnancy, becoming a little swollen and "poochy" looking, getting more dramatic as the pregnancy progresses. With a bit of experience, you may also be able to feel a difference in the way their belly feels, I have noticed that the area on the belly right in front of the udder will be more squishy on an open doe and firm (like there's a basketball in there) on a 4-10 week bred doe. After 3-4 months you will be able to feel the kids in there if you press firmly against the doe's right side.

 

[swest]

http://www.biotracking.com/goats

http://www.biotracking.com/labs

Here are the links to biotracking, I contacted my local lab here in IN and they had a 10 head test kit sent to me in 2 days. It's real accurate and inexpensive. The blood draw is a breeze as well:

http://www.boergoats.com/clean/articleads.php?art=64

I hope this helps, I know the information above is good to have in your back pocket as well.

Good luck!