OMG!!! I have a baby goat!

[sred98]

Before anyone says ANYTHING.....I AM CHARGING THE CAMERA AS I TYPE!!!!!

I have 2 female goats. One is a Pygmy, and the other one I posted on here about and a lot of people thought she was a Saanen mix. A friend of mine came over the other day and said she looked like an Alpine mix to him.

Anyway...

Remember this post? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=255778 Sugar is the one that kidded today! I was even questioning whether or not she was even pregnant! LOL! Now, her friend Star...I would have thought she'd go waaaay before Sugar!

I got home today and no Sugar!

I couldn't find her anywhere! But, the weird thing was that Star was hanging out by the front door, not panicking or crying. Just hanging out. I called and called for her, because our neighbor up the street lost a sheep the other day to a pack of dogs. I haven't been able to get the dogs yet, but they are on my list!

But, all the chickens/dogs/guineas, etc. were acting fine. On a hunch, I went to the back of the property to an old HUGE dog house that had been left with the property. The goats play in there sometimes, and I had thought about moving it up closer to the barn and cleaning it out for them. Well, I look in there and see Sugar! Then I see 2 babies! One of them is in a puddle.

It didn't make it. I worked on it for a while, but it never recovered. It was a beautiful little black buck with a wide white belt. The other one is a typical gray and black and white pygmy-looking female. She is a sweetie! If I hadn't seen that Sugar did indeed have her, I would have sworn she was Star's! She looks identical to her!

As soon as my camera is charged, I'll post some pics. The one that died was HUGE. The little girl is kind of runty looking, but she's feisty! I hope she makes it!

Star is acting strange. I am wondering if since Sugar had her baby if she's getting ready? Once I brought them back up to the barn (which was left open, so I don't know why she didn't have them in there!) Star hung around and isn't being as friendly. She keeps nuzzling the baby and making her little noises.

I am so excited!

Shelly

 

[ksalvagno]

Congratulations on your new little doe. Can't wait to see pictures.

 

[sred98]

I haven't seen the mom nurse the baby, yet. This is our first baby. I tried to milk some colostrum out, but only got about 1/4 tsp. I have some milk replacer and it's eaten about 2 ounces total since this afternoon. I am anxious about leaving it in the barn, Would it be better to bring it in, or chance it and put it back with mom for the night?

Thanks!

Shelly

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Congrats on the new baby!!! Can't wait to see pics.

 

[Julie_A]

Anyway you can keep the two in a small space together? It is so much easier for the mother to raise kids than all the drama that come with bottlefeeding. We did that last year and it was ROUGH. When the kid gets hungry enough, it should try to nurse.

With milk replacer, you have to deal with bloat, all kinds of drama.

Keep us posted.

 

[ruth]

Congratulations on the new baby goat. It is super important that you get colostrum in the baby. Have someone help hold the mama if necessary and put the baby up to the teat, with its mouth open around the teat, and gently squeeze out some colostrum into its mouth.

Or milk the mama and feed the colostrum to the baby via dropper if necessary. As the mother accepted the baby - is she licking it and allowing it to try and nurse?

With our first goat kidding last year she had triplets in the middle of the night during winter. One was dead when we found them the next morning and one was rejected by the mama. She was only caring for the little girl, not the surviving boy. I kept them together but had to bottle feed him while alternately holding the mama so that he could nurse and get her colostrum and milk.

Last Sunday she had quads and I was there and assisting to be sure each one got out of the sac and put before the mama so she could tend to it. She's raising all four right now and they are thriving but I'm also bottle feeding because four is a lot.

Unless you want to totally bottle raise it - it's important for it to be with the mama at all times right now. Last winter I brought the mama and the two babies inside and had them in my bathroom for a week till they all adjusted then I moved them to a heated tack room off the stables.

Right now she is in the same tack room with her four new babies.

It's important to keep them together so that they will bond and the baby can nurse when it wants and the mama will accept it. Just be sure to watch and be sure she lets the baby nurse.

 

[citrusdreams]

Congratulations

I also can't wait to see pictures

Has the doeling nursed yet? You may have to milk out mama and bottle feed the baby a bottle of colostrum, just to get her going. Most of the time, they figure it out on their own. You mentioned you got a bit out trying to milk. Did you make sure both teats aren't plugged?

You may want to post a pic of mama too. It's possible she might have too much edema for the kid to latch on. But again, more than likely, she'll be fine

How exciting for you!!

 

[ruth]

How's the little baby goat doing? Is the mama taking care of it?

 

[chickensioux]

Pics! Pics! Is the camera done charging?

 

[gaited horse]

Quote:
It has to be done charging by now.