Ariel301
Loving the herd life
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2010
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I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Losing the babies is especially hard.
Don't let it scare you away from goats though. Sometimes these things happen, and since the goats were new to you, it could have been from all sorts of things that were out of your control. I was lucky to have my first kidding experience be a "perfect" one, but I have certainly had a lot of bad kiddings since. Once that little one is up and running around, you'll be addicted to baby goats and want more. I had two premie kids last year, we rescued a LaMancha/Alpine mix doe that should have been 120+ pounds regularly, but she was 80 pounds and four months pregnant, the owner didn't even know she was bred...she ended up getting very sick from malnutrition and delivered two boys 2-3 weeks early, they were 2 and 2.5 pounds--I had to weigh them on a postage scale because the bathroom scale wouldn't even register something so tiny. The smaller one never was able to nurse or stand up, he died in my arms in bed with me in the middle of the night, we had him on oxygen and an IV trying to keep him alive, but he just wasn't strong enough. His brother took 2 days to really be able to walk and nurse correctly, but once he got going he started growing fast and eating like a pig. Give little Daniel lots of love and attention, it seems to really keep their will to live strong if they know they are loved.
Dairy babies do tend to be smaller and weaker than crossbred or meat type kids, and more susceptible to any problems, unfortunately. There certainly is something to be said for mutt goats when it comes to health.
Don't let it scare you away from goats though. Sometimes these things happen, and since the goats were new to you, it could have been from all sorts of things that were out of your control. I was lucky to have my first kidding experience be a "perfect" one, but I have certainly had a lot of bad kiddings since. Once that little one is up and running around, you'll be addicted to baby goats and want more. I had two premie kids last year, we rescued a LaMancha/Alpine mix doe that should have been 120+ pounds regularly, but she was 80 pounds and four months pregnant, the owner didn't even know she was bred...she ended up getting very sick from malnutrition and delivered two boys 2-3 weeks early, they were 2 and 2.5 pounds--I had to weigh them on a postage scale because the bathroom scale wouldn't even register something so tiny. The smaller one never was able to nurse or stand up, he died in my arms in bed with me in the middle of the night, we had him on oxygen and an IV trying to keep him alive, but he just wasn't strong enough. His brother took 2 days to really be able to walk and nurse correctly, but once he got going he started growing fast and eating like a pig. Give little Daniel lots of love and attention, it seems to really keep their will to live strong if they know they are loved.
Dairy babies do tend to be smaller and weaker than crossbred or meat type kids, and more susceptible to any problems, unfortunately. There certainly is something to be said for mutt goats when it comes to health.