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Danil54grl

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I have only had goats for about a year now, but Annabel will kid soon with her first ones. I have a secured sheltered spot that she is in now (since she should in the next few days, secreting on the back side, if you know what I am saying). Afterwards, I am going to give her molassas water to help her build back up her system and also some sweet feed. I will keep her and babies seperate from the others (I am concerned about the 2 bucks mainly) for about 4 days or so. What other recommendations are there for the ones who have had experience?
 
Do you plan to leave the kids on her or are you going to bottle feed? Was the doe raised by her mom or was she bottle raised? The reason I ask is because I've had nannies that had been bottle raised and wouldn't have a thing to do with their own young. Like they were afraid of them. I don't know what breed you have, but I've seen more Nubians get freaky about their young than other breeds. We pretty much run LaManchas and Boer.

Is the doe de-horned? If not, I'd either put tennis balls over the ends of her horns and tape them in place or wrap the ends real well with vet wrap in case she reacts violently to the kids, or you when you go to check on them.

If she has been bottle raised herself, try to pull some colostrum from her before she kids to be on the safe side, just a few ounces.

Are the ligaments real loose under her tail? The looser and softer they are, the closer she is to kidding.

If you plan to use the milk for yourself, keep the bucks a good distance from her or the milk can be tainted. It will taste 'bucky' for want of a better word. I'd separate the bucks from the kids for at least a week, longer if you have to bottle raise them.

Do you have everything you will need in case you do have to bottle raise the kids?
 
Oh, one more thing. If she doesn't want to let the kid nurse, you can hobble her hind legs and then push her shoulder and head against a wall while someone else puts the baby on the teat. Sometimes you can get a cranky nanny to accept a kid if at first they won't let it nurse. First timers can be tricky, but I have faith that everything will go well. I have 3 on the bottle now and it's fun to sit down with the little brats at feeding time.
 
Annabel is a boer goat that was raised by her mom. I plan to keep the kids on her for about 6 weeks and then I will separate to strat milking. I have done some reading and there was one that said you can separate mom at night to get the first milking and then let the babies in with her during the day, but not sure about that. I don't want them to suck while she is dry, unless I waited to put them back together.
She is dehorned and she is very comfortable with someone touching her tets, so I don't think she will be a problem with milking. I do plan to milk her. I want to eventually make butter and cheese with the goats, but with only one, will wait until I get the other girls, which are following the month after and the month after that.
I bottle fed 2 calves a few months ago. I already have the bottle and a nipple for their size along with the starter milk. Honestly, I hope I don't have to do that again, at least this soon. Thanks for the advise!
 
You are very welcome and I hope it helps. With her being a Boer, you're probably looking at multiples, they seem to be known for that. I like the Boer breed for meat, but not so much on milking, just haven't gotten the quantity that made it worth the effort to mess with them. If you do milk her, don't worry about the kids not getting enough unless she's got more than 2 and you might end up having to supplement with bottles if she does since she's a first timer. With ours, the more that they are milked or the kids eating more, the nanny stepped up her milk production to match.

I'm glad she's good for you to handle, makes the world of difference. There's a guy next town over that has Boers and crosses, every time they kid, it's like the goats have forgotten everything they know about being handled. Drives me nuts when this guy calls and asks me to come help him with a freshly delivered kid and nanny, it's like trying to catch a greased pig!

If you have bad weather coming, she's liable to wait until the weather is at it's peak in intensity before she drops. Ours will do that and so will our mares. I have a theory that they wait like that to give the newborn a better chance at survival since most predators hole up in bad weather.

Let us know how many and what they are.
 
We do have bad weather for the first couple days this week. . . lol , But I didn't have a choice when my son was born, but honestly, I hope she does wait!
 
I would love to exchange emails old_anorack or fasebook? Just don't know how to privately
 
I have only had goats for about a year now, but Annabel will kid soon with her first ones. I have a secured sheltered spot that she is in now (since she should in the next few days, secreting on the back side, if you know what I am saying). Afterwards, I am going to give her molassas water to help her build back up her system and also some sweet feed.

Make sure all the goats have both a salt and a non-salt mineral block. Sweet feed is excellent fed along with a good alfalfa hay.

I will keep her and babies seperate from the others (I am concerned about the 2 bucks mainly) for about 4 days or so. What other recommendations are there for the ones who have had experience?

Bucks will usually ignore baby goats. But you don't want her breeding back too fast so keep them separate.
 
Make sure all the goats have both a salt and a non-salt mineral block. Sweet feed is excellent fed along with a good alfalfa hay.



Bucks will usually ignore baby goats. But you don't want her breeding back too fast so keep them separate.
I always keep a salt and mineral block in all the pastures. It being goats, donkeys, or cattle. They are a great supplement.
 

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