New to goats

[abigalerose]

Question though, the older doe also looks like she's getting milk in, but only on one side.
My cousin said they only bag up on one side occasionally and sometimes it even means they're only going to have one kid.
But I'm also worried it could be mastitis.
What do you think?
I'll get pictures tomorrow

 

[res]

I totally disagree with the analogy that a one-sided bag means one kid. Mother Nature doesn't work that way.

My guess, since this is an older doe, that has kidded before???? is that she DID have mastitis at some point in time, and has "blown" one half of her udder. It happens a lot. You may have to bottle feed a kid if she has twins, and will DEFINITELY have to bottle feed if she has triplets.

Some does can support twins on half an udder, it just depends on the doe, but you have to watch very closely, because if a kid is not getting enough milk, it will spiral down toward death really quick. Sometimes you can leave the twins on her and just supplement with bottles... When I have to supplement, I only use goat milk in the bottles - I do not want to "confuse" the kid's stomach switching from goat milk to formula or cow's milk...

 

[bantamrooster]

I totally disagree with the analogy that a one-sided bag means one kid. Mother Nature doesn't work that way.

My guess, since this is an older doe, that has kidded before???? is that she DID have mastitis at some point in time, and has "blown" one half of her udder. It happens a lot. You may have to bottle feed a kid if she has twins, and will DEFINITELY have to bottle feed if she has triplets.

Some does can support twins on half an udder, it just depends on the doe, but you have to watch very closely, because if a kid is not getting enough milk, it will spiral down toward death really quick. Sometimes you can leave the twins on her and just supplement with bottles... When I have to supplement, I only use goat milk in the bottles - I do not want to "confuse" the kid's stomach switching from goat milk to formula or cow's milk...

I agree.
I never seen or heard of one just bag up on one side because of having one kid or any other reason besides what was just stated.
I do have one that has one side that never goes completly down when she dries up. Its mostly just the one teat that stays two or three times rhe size of the other. She was like that when we got her.
I suspected mastitis at some prior point.
When she does kid that side works fine and she has raised triplets twice and a single once without issues since she has been here.

I think you need to rethink your set up some what now though. If they are pregnant what are you going to do when they give birth? Gonna be too cold to be kidding in a dog house real soon.
I would also have concerns with them giving birth together. Idk your goats but since you mention the head butting i'll tell you we have one that does it to the others a lot and she is a bully. We can not have any of the others kid around her because she will butt the babies and shes bad enough with it that she would end up killing them.

 

[abigalerose]

Thanks for the answers, I'll get some pictures of her udder today, and I'll feel of it too, I've seen a dog with mastitis before and I know a little bit about it.
And I have a section of the barn I'm going to clean out for them and I'll set it up for kidding. I just didn't get it done before I got them because there's some big stuff in there I need a dolly for and I didn't know they were gonna be pregnant

 

[cassie]

The one sided udder, one kid, may be half right, but not for the reasons you may think. If a doe has just one kid and it only nurses on the one side, the doe will go lopsided. I never had any trouble switching kids from goat milk to cow milk, but that is me. If you are going to do so by rights you should slowly switch from one to the other. It is likely the doe had mastitis. I would take a culture from her when she freshens to make sure the infection is gone.

 

[abigalerose]

Here are the udder pictures. Nothing was firm or anything like that, so I'm thinking the right side just doesn't work for whatever reason

 

[cassie]

Have you ever seen this doe in milk? From the picture I would guess that both sides milk but the one side would have less milk than the other. Unless it feels like it is full of scar tissue or fibrous material, it will probably produce milk. You will know when she freshens.

 

[abigalerose]

I have not. What would it feel like if it had scar tissue? And I'm just being a worry wart then?

Today two big dogs jumped in their pen and attacked them, theyre okay, just scared. The black one has some big cuts on her tail and they both have some scrapes. What worries me most is that the smaller one looks very... open? In the back, could the stress from the dogs cause her to abort the babies?

 

[codieshell]

If this helps you out this is my pygmy doe due any day now

 

[codieshell]

this pic was taken oct 13 you can see her udder filled with more milk