Ligaments...

[DeltaDawn]

I'm kinda new to the whole birthing thing, and about 3 months ago, we had quite a few babies and everything went great... but now, Topper is getting close to her 'birth' day and I've been going outside and checking on her alot lately, but whenever the other goats had their babies, they always had them when we weren't home, so we never had to check and see if the ligaments were gone... my question is, how can I tell when Topper's ligaments are gone and she's fixing to have her kids?

Thanks,
Kalena

[LittleRedHen]

There is an area about an inch long on both sides of the tail. They are as hard as pencils. As she gets closer the area a little bit behind that starts to soften up. When she has while it is more solid and the ligaments are a little less pronounced. But when she gets closer, you run your hand along the sides of the tail starting at the hip bone area. Then move your hands out along the tail area. You will find the two ligaments . They are in a vertical direction stretching from the tail to the buttbone area.

When the ligaments are gone, you can run through there and not feel it anymore. I had a hard time finding them until they were gone. ONce they were gone I realized what I had been looking for the entire time. I found hers gone at 8 am but she did not give birth until 11pm. The streaming happened 30 minutes before contractions. That was the best sign for us.

[DeltaDawn]

Thanks!

Kalena