FF Goat - Asking Questions

[Louannx]

Dotti, my FF goat is almost a year and half old. I am new to goats and I got her this summer beginning July, the lady said she was pregnant. I went back and forth, like is she? Is she not? Then I knew she was pregnant about 4-5 weeks ago, her body started looking preggo, she lost some of her plug and I felt the baby or babies around that time. Not long after she begin filling in her sac, slowly over the weeks. About two weeks ago, alittle more plug came out and I really noticed the baby or babies moving visually (kinda alien like LOL). The weird thing is when she is laying down, I can see and feel a baby on her left side, like on top her rumen, it is maybe a head and a foot that does this slide like thing and is a hard movement. For the last week her ligs come and go. They are not there in the morning times but are back in the evening and last few days really mushy in the evenings and now getting hard to find them. Takes me a good couple minutes. Her pin bone area is hollowed out and her sides are sunken in along her spine for the last week. No prelabor signs that I have seen. My question is to all you experienced Goat Moms, how much longer do you think she has and how many babies do you think she may be carrying?

 

[mysunwolf]

She looks like she has quite a ways to me, maybe another month. I know she looks good and caved in, but the udder isn't quite large enough for her to be very close IMO. I have been wrong quite a bit, though, so take that with a grain of salt. Looks to be carrying 2 to me as well. Good luck, hope I am wrong and she kids much sooner!

 

[Louannx]

Thank you so much for replying! I'm scared. LOL I have only had goats for 3-4 months, so I'm a newbie and I google everything. Can does go that much longer being sunken in like that. I mean, there is not much holding her tail up and the whole backend is just mushy. I can still feel ligs on one side after I dig a little, its like a very lose clothesline. Hope she has at least two also.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Is that brown goat a buck in there with her?
If it is, you might want to think about separate quarters.

 

[OneFineAcre]

On another note, some goats udder will literally fill up overnight.

 

[Louannx]

Yes that buck is Jeb and he loves Dotti. But that is not her mate. He has a Buck Apron on. He has never tried to mount her, he just loves on her. I put her in her birthing pen at night (started doing that two weeks ago) so she gets rest away from the other three goats. It is attached to the goat house so she can see them and then also has a private area. All four of my goats are on my avatar.

Also I do not know if this makes a difference but the reason I keep my goats together is because they are pretty young. Dotti is the Herd Queen at 1 1/2, Jeb is the Herd Buck (Unproven) 11 months, Joli the doeling at 7 months and Obi (aka little buck - Unproven) at 5 months.

At some point I may half to separate permanently, they are year round breeders. But I would like to find a way to keep them as close to the natural order of things if that makes sense.

 

[Hipshot]

So you have a doeling 7 months in with two bucks ? She may be bred already . Next question is why do you need two bucks? At this stage of your game one is two many. Not new to goats my family had them when I was young and I hated them . Of course I took care of them . Bought four last summer and now I have 18 and headed for more . You will read about the signs they may have. And then not see a single one of the signs other than a big belly. That the way it was with mine this spring . And then this fall well two weeks ago . I knew she was close and then there they were . What threw me was her udder was smaller this time so I thought I had more time . I like watching the kids play and they are more curious than a cat . Hopefully I will get this down to segregated breeding program and take more of the guessing out of kidding dates . One buckling and one doeling. No names yet but the buckling will be wethered and sold at auction ,after weaning. Good luck with yours

 

[Louannx]

Thank you, great advice. She comes in heat about every three weeks so she has not been bred. Read a lot of reviews about the buck aprons and they seem to work all these months. Do not really know why we have two bucks so that might be something the family needs to talk about. We’re not breeders just starting a farm and I realize there are a lot of things I need to learn. Just curious, you had four and now 18, was all that from breeding? That makes me nervous. Do you keep your buck separate? I read all the time that the buck broke the fence and bred the does. Just wanted to try and think of a different solution that other countries have been doing for hundreds of years. I could be wrong, you have made me rethink some things. congrats on your kids, they are adorable.

 

[Hipshot]

I just can't keep my hands down at the livestock sales .We got goats from a friend last summer that had to sale her goats . Two does one buck and a wether . The does kidded early this year . Two doelings and one buckling. We went to a livestock sale barn to sell the wether and came home with six Boer cross doelings . Since the two doelings from the spring kidding were from the buck that came with the does and the buckling was a wether . We took the buck and the wether as well as a fainting buck we got with a doe and two dolings ,a couple of months ago to the sale barn .We wanted the doe and doelings but not the buck but it was a package deal The fainting buck kept fainting and they wouldn't sell him at the sale barn .We had to load him back up and bring him home . I bought a doe that was listed as a skinny doe ,and she was kind of cheap at the sale. So left with three and came home with two .That was two weeks ago. The skinny doe already looks better . We also bought a Boer buckling and three does from some folks off Craig's list that live only a few miles from us .I would have 21 but coyotes have killed three of my does . And I have only killed one coyote but the war is on . I intend to have a lot more by this time next year and two bucks and two separate doe herds . that way I won't have to change bucks . It will just require a separate area for doeling that I want to grow out as replacements .I have a plan it will mean lots of fencing and maybe several herd dogs . Right now every thing is kept up at night and only go out when I can keep a close watch on them .Goats multiply fast my doe kidded twice this year and both times twins . Jan 15th and two weeks ago . I let her back with the buck after weaning the doelings at about four months . Breeding animals should be fit but not fat .Goats fair better if kids are weaned before rebreeding .

 

[Louannx]

Too funny! I have heard of the fainting goats, but never seen one. My goats have a big pen and at night they get locked in the goat house because when the coyotes would start howling, my little mischievous goats would run right up to the fence. I would wonder what the heck they were doing. So I fixed that after a few months. I have cameras setup and sound and I work in my home office, so when I'm not out there i watch them to see what they are doing. Plus when I'm in town, I can pull up the app and see who is doing what. We have several different coyote packs, I play country music or sometimes have it on AM radio talk show and is set on a dusk to dawn timer, outside their barn pointed towards the woods. Coyotes think there is too much going on I guess to come close at night or the country music made them sad and they went to go look for their truck, wife and dog. HaHa , plus we have a few dogs that keep them at bay. But a lot of folks in my town lose livestock to coyotes and I keep telling them to play music but they I guess think that is crazy. My Dotti is so miserable and we are just waiting to see when she will deliver. When we got her, I thought it would be cool if she was pregnant, I didn’t realize not knowing the DD, seeing her body change and all the running to the barn at all hours would give me so much gray hair. LOL