Should mom do it

[terrilhb]

As everyone knows Sara gave birth yesterday. She is being an awesome mom. Except for keeping the baby's butt clean. I am cleaning it with nonscented baby wipes. This she will not do. Is she supposed to? Or is this normal for us human mom's and dad's to do?

 

[Livinwright Farm]

I would stop using the "unscented" baby wipes, and switch to using a moist warm rag cloth. Just because we can't smell the wipes, doesn't mean goats can't. Animals have a much higher sense of smell than humans. Plus, the warmth of the rag cloth will feel like a goat mommy's tongue to the baby.

 

[terrilhb]

Thanks. Will do. I thought my days of cleaning butts was done when my children got potty trained. Then I got baby chicks and did it again. Now again with a baby goat. Oh I love it.

 

[MissDanni]

I had the same issue with my day old buck. I just set his bottom end in warm water for a few minutes until it softened up enough to come unstuck from his fur, then I rubbed Vaseline over his bum and inner tail to keep it from sticking to him again. Who knows if this was the right thing to do or not as this is my first set of babies, but that's what I did and it worked for me.

He seemed to enjoy the warm bottom bath and he kept trying to lay down in it. :lol

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Most, but not all does, will keep their bottoms clean. I did have one doe that tried to keep one of her kid's bottoms cleaned up, but every time she would try, he would tuck his tail under.

 

[terrilhb]

I am going to try the warm water and vaseline. Thanks. It can't hurt to try it.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

What is funny, is that one of our does(Minnie) will lick each kid's back end when I have them in my arm for bottle feeding. She has such a HIGH mothering instinct... so high in fact, that her last kidding was triplets and she didn't reject any of them. We are confident that she would keep up with quads, if she ever has that many, with no issues, loving each and every one of them just the same.

 

[willowbreezefarm]

Try cleaning it off with warm wash cloth or towls then put Vasaline around the butt and down around the legs or where ever the poo is getting messy. It worked for all three of my kids and both moms dont mind it.

 

[terrilhb]

Thank you all. I have done that. Everything is going well. Except that mommy yells for me constantly. If she can not see her baby at all times than she screams even more. It is like she wants me to just sit there or stand there with her all the time. Not to do anything just to be there. I tried to let our 6 month old doe in with Sara and the baby. Sara was ok for the 1st couple of mins. The baby kept trying to go to Patches. Than Sara got upset. She head butted Patches a couple of times and than rammed her into the fence. So out she came. Figure I will just do a little each day with me supervising. The baby is already hopping and jumping around. It is so cute. She is also smelling hay, mommy's food and anything mommy is eating. She even nibbled some green leaves and hay. It is so cute.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

Keep in mind, you don't want to keep her & the kid seperated from the herd for too long, as she may end up losing herd position by being absent. She will keep the others from hurting her baby, so no worries about that. I have even heard form others here, that they just let their goats live almost wild in nature(birth out in pasture even, let them live as if they weren't run by people). Although, those are mostly meat goat herds.