Baby Goats!

[Nikon]

Thought I'd share some photos of our new goats!

We got them about six months ago. Two female Toggenburgs. An adult mother and daughter, both pregnant form an Alpine sire.
After building a goat shed and electrifying the fence we were good to go.

Daija and Mandy gave birth a few weeks ago. Daija is the matron and Mandy is her daughter Daija gave birth to female twins that we call Latte and Oreo. Mandy gave birth about week later, but had complications. She had twin boys, the first came perfectly, but the second twin became wedged in the birth canal and didn't make it. It was a HUGE learning experience! If anyone wants to know more about that story and what happened and what we had to do I'll share.

Here are some photos

Daija (left) and Mandy (right)


Mandy with baby, Bungee


Latte


Bungee





I can't believe how fast they are growing! I need to take new photos already as they are out of the nursery and frolicking in the yard with their mommas.

 

[The Farm]

I would like to hear more about the birth. I still have about 25 does left to kid.

 

[Ashdoes]

I'm subscribing as well. Always looking to learn more. Super cute kids.

 

[Nikon]

I would like to hear more about the birth. I still have about 25 does left to kid.

Oh geez! I can't imagine that that many!

Okay. Well to start, we are total noobs. Technically, these goats belongs to my husbands grandma, who we live with and help keep up the yard and her goats. We have our own chickens which has been an amazing experience!

Mandy, the goat who had the problem birth is a very timid and fearful animal. You can't get close enough to her to catch her or pet her which is problematic and sad. When we have time, we work with trust building. She will now take carrots from us by hand, which is an improvement. Her mother, Daija, gave birth while we (the hubs and I) were at work. Grandma kept an eye on things and moved mother and kids to the goat pen where they needed to be. She had given birth up in the far corner of our acreage in the worst spot. By the time we left work early we just had to keep an eye on the babies and make sure the placenta delivered and clean everything up.

A week later I noticed Mandy's hips were contracting and her vulva was swollen. We chased her into the goat shed which was a challenge in in itself and she immediately dove under the hay "loft", the small, elevated area in the photo (the shed was under construction in this pic)....


.....and went into labor. Bungee came out first, very quickly. Mandy was under the loft with her rear end on the left side. I had to almost crawl under there and grab him (mom couldn't turn around in there to help) and pull him around the stairs. I cleared his airway and dried off his face. Not even having her taken away from her side was enough to move Mandy. It took a me and another person pulling her out from under the loft and blocking it off with plywood.

We knew something was wrong when she wasn't delivering a second baby or a placenta. Then, an amniotic sac starting to come out, but poor Mandy couldn't seem to make any progress. Upon close inspection we could see the tip of a tiny hoof protruding within the sac and decided we had trouble. The owner of the goat wanted us to just pull out the baby, but we held our ground... bad idea. No woman wants her insides turned outside, and if all those big contractions weren't pushing the baby out obviously he was wedged in there.

We called a local goat vet, but she couldn't help because she was aiding her own goats in their delivery at the same time. So she talked me through how to maneuver the baby and internally assist Mandy. I was voluntold for the job. On speaker phone with the vet and donning shoulder length gloves the vet helped me push the baby back inside Mandy and re-posistion him. He was trying to be born like Superman. He had one hoof and leg protruding from mom, extended, the other behind his body and his head was down, so that his forehead and not his nose was wedging him in mom. I was able to correct this and with the help of Mandy's contractions deliver him. Felt so bad for Mandy (her back hooves were off the ground she was contracting so hard). The baby was lifeless, but perfect looking. This was Mandy's first freshening, so I imagine it's possible that the baby had something going on internally, but he looked as if he had only just died, perhaps suffocated from being trapped in the birth canal. It was bitter sweet, but we saved Mandy and the surviving kid.

 

[farm n louisana]

Glad you was able to help and didn't loss both mom and baby sorry about the baby

 

[The Farm]

I love the story. Kinda you save Mandy !!! An wish me luck on my kidding season.