How do I know if my goat is about to kid?

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Yes, I've checked her, and one day we did think she'd lost them but we rechecked a few hours later and there they were! I just figured I'd done it wrong so it's good to know that I'm not alone.

 

[glenolam]

I thought I knew what I was doing as far as checking the ligaments until this year when it hit me like a ton of bricks. Talk about a forehead slapper!

 

[weimarmama]

You know I've always had a hard time w/ ligaments too, & I thought it was just me. I used to get so excited thinking "this is it"

& then nothing would happen. . . no cute bouncing baby goat. So, I always take the ligaments loosening up with a grain of salt now & I look for other signs to go along with it & then I keep an extra close eye on them.

 

[glenolam]

I realized I wasn't even feeling the right area! Well, I was, sort of. I was feeling for the tail head and spine, then digging way down right next to that thinking I should be feeling something in those pockets.

Then I was feeling my pygmy doe and spread my fingers a little farther out to the side and felt these two boney pencil type things and said DUH. What I had been doing before was feeling in between the ligaments and the tail head and searching there.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I'll try again later. Woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground. The goats are quite less than thrilled, as are the chickens. Well, me too because I don't drive on the snow and had planned to make the trip into town.

 

[glenolam]

Any update??

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

NO!!!!

Can you believe that she still hasn't kidded? MUST have been the 2nd time she was with the buck, and that was for 2 weeks so it could be any time up through 2-3rd week this month.

She's huge! If she has only 1 or 2 kids, I'm gonna have to wonder! She's also been scratching her butt a lot lately ... on anything that will stay still ... milking stanchion, hay rack, water pail (but that knocked over), dry wood. Has decided that the hay rack is her new lay-about-chill-place.

Working on her new kidding area this week and hope to be done by next Monday. Hope she waits!

I'll update more often. Sorry.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I know it's been a while since I posted on here about my goatie girls, but I've just been working and waiting. I just recalculated the dates CC was with bucks, and it had to have been with the second buck, either in December or January. So ... here's a picture I took today:

I was concerned about the little bit of blood on her hooha so took that pic. 150 days from the first time she was with Buck #2 will be May 25-28 (next week) OR from the second time will kid June 6-8. Should she have blood there already?

The following is a pic from above her to show how WIDE she is! I wish I could have taken a picture showing the kicking the babies are doing inside.

This one shows her udder. It's been this size since March.

CC is very loving at the moment, and previously, she HATED human attention (except to bite my fingers to grab food). Just a few days ago she started coming up to me to nudge for a scratch. Never did that before at all. Big personality change.

And just to not leave her out ... here's her sister ... she's a first freshener. Was with the same buck at the same time in Dec and Jan. She still doesn't push in to get grain and sweet feed, and is growing irritable. Probably because she concerned about the changes in her body.

I have chicks in with the goats now. I wonder how that will work when it's kidding time?!

So ... should I be concerned about the redness on her vulva? It's not dripping blood, and there's no blood in her urine.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Just saw this thread: YAY baby watch! Sorry I cant give any advice, but I cant wait to see the kids

 

[heathersboers]

Looks like she still has a few weeks judging by her udder and the fact that her ligaments are not sunk at all. When her bag I'd completely full. ..her nipples will turn outward...keep an eye on that. Keep posting updates!!! Good luck!