HELP! My goat gave birth! REALLY BAD NEWS Post#77 Need Answers

[helmstead]

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Around 20% in kids up to 3 months for miniatures.

 

[bheila]

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I doubt Daisy kicked them while they were nursing. She was always gentle and made sure they were out of the way when she was laying down. The only thing that was in the shed was hay and a bucket full of water. I made sure the bucket was tall enough so the kids couldn't get in it and drown. I did everything to keep them safe and warm. I guess it's Mother Nature at it's worst!

 

[helmstead]

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You should! BoSe, vitamine E capsules, tet antitoxin, C/D antitoxin, C/D & T toxoid, CMPK, Nutridrench, ProBios...just to name a few things to have on hand...

 

[sandyj]

So sorry about your babies!! That is so sad!! I'd be crying for days too. Once you have animals you love they become part of you and your family. Instead of drying out the doe, why not drink the milk or use for something else?
sandyj

 

[65browneyes]

I have a total of exactly ZERO goat experience, but have been thinking about getting one or two so I've been watching the goat threads here eagerly.

One thing I have noticed about the pics you've posted is that the kids seem 'hunched' up to some degree. Not knowing if this is a normal appearance to goat kids or if this is due to what they were doing/angle of camera at the time the shot was taken, etc, I've not posted about it.

However, a post here regarding White Muscle Disease does mention hunching and drives me to post now. I'm not trying to be critical of anything in any way, just wondering if I'm seeing things.

Lastly, I can't tell you how sorry I am for your loss. I can only imagine the shock and horror you must have felt this morning.

 

[bheila]

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When I first found the babies half frozen I told my kids not to get too attached because they might not live. Now I'm the one who hasn't stopped crying since this morning. I've resorted to putting my pajamas back on and laying in bed with my 2 year old. I just don't know what else to do.

 

[Chirpy]

I can't express how upsetting this is to hear. I am sooo sorry for you. I, too, would be in tears all day (or longer) if something this awful happened.

 

[firefighter9208]

bheila,

I'm sorry for your loss.

I understand the feeling of nursing a baby goat back to "health" and then finding it dead the next morning. Often , as helmstead said, it is difficult to get goat kids to survive after being severely chilled. My thought is that they probably got pneumonia and died in their sleep.

I worked with a kid that I found out in the pasture last week (I lost track of when mom was due) all day. When I found her, her temp. would only read as low on a thermometer rectally. She was "posturing" like the one kid you described.

I gave her Nutra drench and fed her colostrum with a syringe. I used two heat lamp bulbs and a heating pad and finally got her temp up to 102. I had her in a heated room in my barn with the temp at 85*. She was standing on her own and I was about to put her back in with her mom. I could put a nipple in her mouth to bottle feed her and she would swallow. I went in and ate supper and when I came back out to check on her she was dead. What a downer.

As far as your question on mortality rate. Of the 20 kids I have had born so far this year (Dec 17 until today) I have lost 4. That's 20%. We usually loose between 10-20% of our kids. I keep kidding records on each doe and one year a doe will raise both kids with a high weaning weight and then the next year one or both may die. Of course I have some does that never loose a kid. You never know????

Again, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure the next time you have a doe kid it will be a much more pleasant experience.


Chris
www.hillboergoats.com

 

[redhen]

I am so sorry..i dont even have the words to express it now....

....you did everything you could for the babies...sometimes mother nature can be so cruel!....again..its not your fault!..

.

 

[Jenlyn9483]

I'm so sorry to hear this! I would be as upset as you are if my new babies past. Sorry you have had to deal with this. It seems like it would be harder to deal with kids you have nursed back to health dying than ones that were born healthy. You are in a very Northern state, I dont know what the temp was there last night but the most logical thing to me is that they just got too chilled after the initial getting chilled and couldnt handle it. Probably caught pneumonia like someone else mentioned. You did all you could, we were all rooting for you.

PS I would milk her and use her milk.