~Livinwright Farm's kidding thread~ 2 preggers does... hopefully :)

[goatdreamerCT]

My heart is breaking to hear the lost of Cali. Sending you more strength and love...

 

[Livinwright Farm]

Cali is now in her forever resting place. We made sure that she is well protected from any potentially curious predators/scavengers.
We are thankful that God directed us to a spot on our property, that had very few rocks, so that we could dig deeply & quickly enough to give her a proper burial.

We plan on planting cold hardy strawberries over her, since strawberries were her ultimate favorite.

 

[elevan]

Unfortunately unless you know the history for the specific doe it's really hard to figure out how many they might have...even based on breed.

For example if you had her for several years and she kidded 3 or 4 times and each time was twins well then you're likely to get twins (maybe...).

Lady we got Lilly from said she had always kidded twins and when she kidded her first time for us it was a single.

I will say I would be careful about how you feed the last month of gestation so as to avoid have overly large kids.

I'll be watching for updates on Maude and Momma

How do you feed your girls in their last month or so?
I have been giving Maude: 2 cups of Purina Noble Goat twice per day, 2-3 cups of Lucerne Farm's Alfa Supreme, an apple (when we have them), regular hay, water, plus pasture(I cut and bring to them) and produce trimmings & corn husks.

Others have answered as well and their program is very similar to mine.

The last month they get about a cup of Noble Goat one time daily. I'll throw on a handful of alfalfa pellets a couple of times a week. They get free choice hay and minerals as well as access to pasture as much as they want.

And I wholeheartedly agree with this:

We don't push them to gain anything in the last month when the kids do most of their growing. I'd rather they strip just a little bit than overfeed at that time. The actual amount will be different for each doe.

As long as they aren't looking like a complete skeleton I won't increase their ration during this last month. And if that happens it's only about a half cup more of Noble Goat.

You of course must decide what works for you. If you do decide to cut them back I would either start by cutting their ration in half at 2x a day or give them only 1 feeding a day. Then cut that in half in about 10 days.

 

[Roll farms]

We feed enough to ensure they're slightly overconditioned 30 days out, then feed just enough to maintain body weight until kidding. We don't push them to gain anything in the last month when the kids do most of their growing. I'd rather they strip just a little bit than overfeed at that time. The actual amount will be different for each doe.

 

[PattySh]

Having had a vet assisted delivery of a 10# kid with Sasha (100# soaking wet!)last year, vet said I may have overfed just a wee bit! This season we fed considerably less the last month, still got twins weighing 8# each and again an awful vet assisted delivery. Even tho the buck we bred her to is not any taller than her he produces fairly big kids across the board with all the does. We are going to breed her this season to a proven Nigerian known to produce really tiny kids. Got to know my vet really well, she helped deliver 2 does last year (Sasha and my daughters Nigerian Dwarf Natalie, both horribly traumatic deliveries of twisted up big kids) and Sasha's twins this year. Expensive milk! Hope your other 2 girls have an uneventful textbook delivery of little doelings for you. If you don't have a vet on call, you might want to consider buying a kid puller asap, it saved both does from Csections, vet has one but I prefer to use my own. Jeffers sells them, not too expensive.

edited to add, I will say tho my 2 deliveries this year cost about $180 each including the vet trip charge to my barn. Did Cali have a C-section or did the vet pull the kid?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I have a different approach to feeding. Ideally the ewes/does/whatever will be in good condition (but NOT overconditioned) going into breeding season, so that they can maintain during the early months of gestation. I generally don't feed grain during the first 3-4 months of gestation, because they dont' have much different nutritional needs than they did when they were open. Once they start into the last month of gestation, I'll start feeding grain to meet the demands of the growing fetuses. I really don't want the doe to be overconditioned when she delivers, and I dont' want her losing condition that last month since it's so hard on them once they do lamb/kid.

There are probably theories that feeding grain or increasing nutrition that last month makes for big babies, but this has never been a problem for me ever, or on the sheep farm where I worked. It's pretty common practice to increase nutrition that last month.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I have a different approach to feeding. Ideally the ewes/does/whatever will be in good condition (but NOT overconditioned) going into breeding season, so that they can maintain during the early months of gestation. I generally don't feed grain during the first 3-4 months of gestation, because they dont' have much different nutritional needs than they did when they were open. Once they start into the last month of gestation, I'll start feeding grain to meet the demands of the growing fetuses. I really don't want the doe to be overconditioned when she delivers, and I dont' want her losing condition that last month since it's so hard on them once they do lamb/kid.

There are probably theories that feeding grain or increasing nutrition that last month makes for big babies, but this has never been a problem for me ever, or on the sheep farm where I worked. It's pretty common practice to increase nutrition that last month.

This isn't really different from how we do it, depending on the doe. Most of our does don't require much grain to get to what we consider the proper condition, just plenty of alfalfa. Because we want them in good condition at breeding the does may actually get very little grain the first 3-4 months because it's just a matter of maintaining, not packing it on. Then we feed just enough to maintain that body weight through the last month, which usually does require an increase in grain because as you said their caloric needs have changed.

I agree with Aggie, the dry, easy keepers that are at a healthy weight at breeding may not require much in the way of grain until the last month.

 

[20kidsonhill]

I have a different approach to feeding. Ideally the ewes/does/whatever will be in good condition (but NOT overconditioned) going into breeding season, so that they can maintain during the early months of gestation. I generally don't feed grain during the first 3-4 months of gestation, because they dont' have much different nutritional needs than they did when they were open. Once they start into the last month of gestation, I'll start feeding grain to meet the demands of the growing fetuses. I really don't want the doe to be overconditioned when she delivers, and I dont' want her losing condition that last month since it's so hard on them once they do lamb/kid.

There are probably theories that feeding grain or increasing nutrition that last month makes for big babies, but this has never been a problem for me ever, or on the sheep farm where I worked. It's pretty common practice to increase nutrition that last month.

This is also how we do it, all our yearling does are kept on about 3 cups of grain a day until after they are bred, then they are taken off of all grain and on just hay or just pasture, along with loose minerals. 30 days befor kidding we start them back on grain working up to about 1lb (3cups) a day close to the kidding time. They are then put on lactating/nursing rations, weaned at 8 weeks and taken off of all grains until 2 weeks before breeding again. Then they are fed some corn for two weeks, bred and off of all grain again until 30 days before kidding.

If a doe has problems and looses condition due to worms or something, they are given 1 lb of grain a day until I feel their condition looks better.

I want the does to look filled in before breeding, but none of them to be over conditioned. I actually expect them to look on the thin side after kidding and nursing. But I am not showing any of my older does, Your theory would be different if you need them in good condition all year long. I am okay with mine looking on the thin side on occasion. Plus boer goats, can put weight back on fairly easily.


Right now I have 3 yearlings bred to our new herd sire. I am concerned about singles, and this is a new herd sire with a history in the blood-lines of throwing big headed kids. Yearlings were bred right at 12 months and are due beginning of June. He was 9 months old and his first time breeding. They are on pasture only, I gave them Bo-se shots last week and vaccinated them, did there feet. I am afraid to give them any grain. We will see how that goes, May regret that decision. But I always figure a smaller kid has a chance to survive were as a big stuck kid wont only not survive, but as we all know neither will the doe.

You have to know your goats/breeds and blood-lines. Right now it is looking like two are carrying singles and one is carrying a set of twins.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

Having had a vet assisted delivery of a 10# kid with Sasha (100# soaking wet!)last year, vet said I may have overfed just a wee bit! This season we fed considerably less the last month, still got twins weighing 8# each and again an awful vet assisted delivery. Even tho the buck we bred her to is not any taller than her he produces fairly big kids across the board with all the does. We are going to breed her this season to a proven Nigerian known to produce really tiny kids. Got to know my vet really well, she helped deliver 2 does last year (Sasha and my daughters Nigerian Dwarf Natalie, both horribly traumatic deliveries of twisted up big kids) and Sasha's twins this year. Expensive milk! Hope your other 2 girls have an uneventful textbook delivery of little doelings for you. If you don't have a vet on call, you might want to consider buying a kid puller asap, it saved both does from Csections, vet has one but I prefer to use my own. Jeffers sells them, not too expensive.

edited to add, I will say tho my 2 deliveries this year cost about $180 each including the vet trip charge to my barn. Did Cali have a C-section or did the vet pull the kid?

The Plymouth Animal Hospital emergency staff(between midnight & 2:30am) chose to pull the kid instead of doing the c-section, because the kid was already dead. They said doing the c-section with a deceased kid would increase her odds of developing an infection. We were/are impressed with how they handled Cali, espescially since they hadn't dealt with goats before.

all the feeding=kid size replies

I would like to restate here, that Cali's buckling was average size for a Nigerian Dwarf/Pygmy cross, 4-5 lbs. It was Cali's small frame/pelvic size that was the issue. Also, the buckling was quite thin.
I think we will keep the girls on our current feeding plan and see how it all turns out. The girls are in no way looking overconditioned. In fact, somedays they look underconditioned... in Maude's case, I think it is the late pregnancy sinking sides.

 

[chandasue]

So sorry to read all this.
I've been out for a while and just getting caught up.