When should a doe go into the kidding stall?

[jmsim93]

Okay...so watching alot of these barn cams and such, you see does in the kidding stalls for days and days...is this what you normally do? When do they go in? How long do they stay? I hope these aren't silly questions. I just am new and don't know. Tingle is due in a week.

 

[Stacykins]

Tagging along with your thread because I really want to know the answers too!

 

[autumnprairie]

X3

 

[TGreenhut]

I hate to say it but... X4! My doe Razz is due in 2 weeks and I would like to know as well.

 

[jmsim93]

hmmm....wonder where everybody is???

 

[SarahFair]

Ive started putting my doe in a week or so before her due date during the night (with last years kid) so she gets use to it.. Then I let her out in the morning so she can stretch her legs.
If mine was BIG and pregnant (like worthy of a wide load sign) I might be a little more apprehensive about letting her out with the herd.

Since Im home all day I can check her as often as I need to make sure shes not going into labor.

 

[zzGypsy]

this is a husbandry style question I think...

we have this for sheep, and another set for goats:
Jugs - small pens made of pallets or wire grid to isolate mama and babies
Maternity herd pen with barn/shelter - turnout area for the bred mamas
Flock pasture - where they live the rest of the year

in my case, we've got more does and ewes than jugs, so here's what we do:

we keep the whole herd together, and we field breed so we don't know due dates, only the earliest possible date.

when mamas start to look near (bagging up, huge, waddling, panting, going off by herself or puffing up the girly bits) - basically in the 1-month to 1-week range - they go in the maternity herd pen. we suplement the feed there with grain, so they get extra calories if they need it.

if someone is looking like Due Right NOW and we have an open jug, they go in the jug. if we've got a LOT of mamas and open jugs, we might move them in early, but mostly we want them out where they're getting some exercise untill they're done. more than half of them will kid/lamb in the maternity flock pen. once they kid/lamb, mama and babies go in the jug until the babies are up and fully active - somewhere between 2 days and a week or more.

reasons they might go in the jug early:
mama isn't faring as well as we like
first time mama who might need help
old mama who might need help
low status animal who might have trouble from the other mamas
history of birthing / mothering issues (although after a second year of issues, they usually have to join the cull line)
registered animals where we need to be certain of parentage

we keep between 10-50 sheep, and 7-20 goats (including bucks, rams, wethers) so we have a different managment style than folks who keep just 2 or 3, but really, the problem is the same for all the mamas - just not the people!

one risk in keeping the mamas in the maternity pen instead of the jugs is having kids where we don't know who the mama's are - in 12 years, this is the first year we've had that happen, and probably because my hubby is tending the herd alone in CA while I'm in MO... he's much less experience at evaluating these things so we lost a pair of premie kids this year and are reasonably sure, but not certain, which mama they belonged to. other things which can happen is one mama stealing a kid/lamb from another, or a mama rejecting one or more of a multiple birth and not knowing who it belongs to.

the flip side is the vast majority of mamas do their job just fine (we select for that) and the additional movement they get in the bigger pen helps them stay healthy and fit for lambing/kidding.

we do not get to see most of them born, the mamas will often wait until we leave the area before they deliver them. I do spend a fair number of nights in the barn during the kidding/lambing season as it's just easier to make myself get up and check everyone if I'm already *in* the barn than if I'm in a cozy warm bed in the house.

 

[Mamaboid]

In the case of Elsie, who is on my barn cam now, and has been for 2 weeks; I did not own her when she was bred, have no idea of her due date, and she is a "newbie" to the herd. She was in isolation with the new buck we bought at the same time.When that time was up I put her into the general population for a couple days, but was leery of keeping her with the other goats in her condition because she was trying to establish her place in the herd and was initiating head butting sessions with the other goats. I was concerned because we have snow and ice and I saw her slip a couple times and other goats horns come close to her sides. I just thought it was better to put her in the kidding pen early than to take a chance on her getting hurt. Under circumstances where I have an idea when the due date is, or with an established doe, I would leave her in the general population until she gets within a few days of kidding. I think it is on a goat to goat basis and there is no right or wrong, as in most things goat.

 

[jodief100]

I do not like having a doe in the pen for more than a day or two at a time. Exercise is good for them close to kidding and helps to have easier births.

That being said, I don't like kidsicles either.

So I watch for behavior and the weather and have to make a judgement call. It usually works. Often it means bringing a doe in and out of the pen several times before she kids.

I want to have a large "maternity ward" pen where I can shut in several does in one large area. Perhaps next year but for now, I just keep a close eye on everyone.

This question is going to vary considerably depending on who you talk to, how many goats they have and what their goals are. I have 37 does and run a market meat herd. Someone with 2 or 3 does for milk and pets is going to have a very different approach.

 

[lilhill]

I have a maternity barn and attached to it is the kidding barn. At day 140 gestation, does come out of the doe pasture and go into the maternity barn with free access to the outdoors and pasture. They are penned up at night. On day 145 gestation, they go into the kidding stall and are on barn cam 24/7. Once the babies arrive, they stay in their stall for 3 to 4 days to get a good mom/kids bond and are then moved back into the maternity area so they can have outdoor access again. We are kidding out 21 does this year.