how to tell if nigerian goat is pregnant

[housechickengal]

My friend got an 8 year old nigerian goat who had been in with female and male goats for about two weeks before she got her. Belle lost her winter coat and lost some weight but her belly is nice and round. Belle wont let us touch her belly, When I was young I was raised on a farm that had goats and when they looked this round in the tummy it ment they were pregnant. If Belle is, that would mean she is about 8 weeks along. How do we know? How can we find out? Could she be at her advanced age, or could she just have a round belly?

 

[Stacykins]

What I did, to see if my doe was pregnant, was send a blood sample into Biotracking. A goat pregnancy test costs 4.50$, and is a great price for piece of mind. Drawing blood from a goat isn't that difficult (you can have a vet do it if you don't think you can do it yourself), and the sample doesn't even need to be kept cold.

Some goats have round tummies because of their rumen activity, some more tha others. It is sometimes called 'hay belly', it isn't harmful, like bloat, just, big. If a goat tends to have a bigger belly naturally, it can be hard to tell pregnancy status from just that.