Help with newborn goats

jsteph3919

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I always give a little nursemat paste to eat of the kids right at birth and a bucket of warm water with electrolyte for the mother.
 

RathdrumGal

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My goat just had two little babies 3 hours ago. After she birth them, she isn’t cleaning them or fooling with them. The one is up all over the place and the other is laying on the ground. Should I clean them with towel or just give her more time to clean them?

Nursemate Lamb ASAP works well for newborn lambs and kids. It gives them a little boost for the first few critical hours. It is a gel and squirt 2 ccs in the side of their mouth. I have not lost a kid since I started using this 4 years ago. I always have some commercial colostrum to give to the newborns if the mom is rejecting.
 

Ridgetop

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Courtney, so glad you got the kids up and eating. First timers can be a pain. Some automatically know what to do the others look at the kids with disbelief and disgust until they realize that those babies belong to them. Her second kidding should be fine and she should know exactly what to do. Now you do too, with any other new moms, thanks to Goat Whisperer! Have fun.

jsteph3919 & RathdrumGal: Where do you get Nursemate? Does Jeffers carry it? Sounds like a good thing to keep in the medical fridge for emergences. I always like to have my emergency stuff before lambing/kidding season since I can't wait for the deliveries in an emergency! LOL Lambing season is over for me now. I will be breeding Dorpers in March/April now, so can order next lambing season. What is shelf life/expiration?
 

wayneleake

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yes, always great to have those newborn kids.
One of mine kidded today. I was not able to check to see if it is a boy or a girl.
All brown, like mama.
But this same goat kidded her first time last year, and rejected her kid, who is now bigger than she is.
My friend started her on a bottle, and we bottle fed her till time to wean. I did get some colostrum from mama, and we mixed it with the replacer.
Of course, we not have a super brat.
Some of mine were brats anyway.
My friend, who is also my neighbor, also loves goats.
I cannot do much myself now, due to COPD and other things. But I still manage to do some things. Many at my age can't do as much as I do manage.. Turned 80 last November.
So we have 2 kids now. would be 3, but we lost one.
Also have 2 lambs, one ewe and one ram.
Was going to sell the ram to a person who needs one to get his herd started, but my ram passed away all of a sudden. He was at least 10 years old, so may well have just been old age.
Anyway, welcome to the world of kids and lambs." they are always so much fun.
 

Ridgetop

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I congratulate you on doing so much at 80 years young! When I start complaining about feeling old I am going to think about you with admiration!
:clap :yesss:
 

wayneleake

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An update on my new baby.
HE is doing well now, and mama is letting him nurse. I held him for a little while, and he did not make a fuss or even squawk like many of them will.
His sister, the bottle brat, is now bigger than Mama.
I don't always get the chance lately, as I often don't feel up to much.
But I try to do what I can.
 

Dee Mini Pigs

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If she is a first mum to her kids ,she must learn it, those babies will cry, for her, are they crying? And instinct, for her, is, it may not happen straight away, but my experience in birthing and looking after some mumma animals in the first time, she will need to act on her own and if her first ones are crappy, then you should be worried if she has no deal to her babies after 72 hours, that’s a no. Major intervene, take them off her and then the human way, right, bottles and warmth. Love Dee..
 

Daxigait

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Congratulations! In addition to the warm molasses or electrolyte water. I drench 50-60 cc's of mfo solution to the dam for the first 3 days. It helps replace some of the things they have lost including calcium to help prevent milk fever.
 
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