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12/01/06, 08:29 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: KY
Posts: 1,455
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Baby still hasn't kidded!
This young lady is overdue, according to my notes, by 5 days now (using 154 days as the scale)!
Everyone that sees her, first feels miserable for the young lady, and then laughs at just how big she is! For a goat that is an average sized Boer, she is absolutely huge, and even has that "cow in the ninth" walk going on!
Tell me something: Do goats "wax over" before kidding, like most equine do? If so, this girl (2 years old/w 1st kid) isn't even close, although if she'd lay on her back you could probably bounce a dime off her udder and catch it! It's got that translucient, stretched to the max appearance to it, and she looks flat out miserable!
Also: Do goats, percentage wise, have more embrionic fluid than horses and cows? I've noticed over the past 6 years how much larger they seem by scale. Molly, our first goat to kid, was large but not as big as this monster-girl by any sense of the word, and she only had two kids.
And: As Baby started bagging up, there suddenly sprouted a third and then a fourth teat (both smaller and one's right next to, if not coming out of, an existing teat). I have no idea if it's functional, but thought it was right curious as this is my first time seeing/experiencing such a thing on a goat! I'd imagine this isn't a good thing, although it doesn't really matter if she has bucklings as they'll be wethered and probably butchered anyway... but I thought it was strange regardless. I can also see problems if the girl has triplets or anything more, if these "extras" are not functional!
And finally: Let's say Baby has three kids, and there's a feeding issue for one. I'll milk her for some colostrum and shoot that down the kid's gullet, but after that I'm semi-lost. How often do I feed this kid, for how long, how much, and can I use fresh from the cow milk to feed her with? I'd imagine it needs to be warm... right?
I'm just trying to get my ducks lined up before all this happens, so if you can help me out a bit, it would be apreciated.
Wing
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Wingdo
Last edited by Wingdo; 12/01/06 at 08:33 AM.
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12/01/06, 09:37 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: NW OR
Posts: 2,314
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Lots of boers have extra teats. Sometimes they're functional, sometimes they're not. It doesn't matter, lots of dairy goats (with two teats) have trips and quads and their kids get enough to eatAre you absolutely sure on the breeding date? Have you checked her ligaments? I have heard of goats going at much as 15 days over and being fine. I would be freaked out if it were one of mine. My lamanchas typically kid at 147-150 days. My larger breeds go 155. I've had lots of triplets that fed just fine on two teats. I've had quads that were dam raised. You can always supplement with a bottle if one looks like its not getting enough, but I've never had a problem. They fight for position and everyone gets some. Most goats make enough milk for about 6 kids. If you decide to bottle feed, there will be 20 answers from 20 different people. I usually feed newborns 4X a day, and start with about 4 oz at a feeding, using either goats or cows milk. After a week, the kids are getting 3 bottles (AM, Afternoon, PM) of 6-8 OZ at a time. By two weeks I'm using a bucket feeder and they eat as much as they want, 3X a day to 1month, then 2X a day for the second month, 1X a day for the third month, but by 6 weeks they have hay to nibble, by 8-10 weeks they have their own hay manger and they're out in thier own pasture in the warm weather, and by 12-14 weeks they're eating a little grain and pretty much not bottle feeding. I don't wean my dam raised kids, I let mom do it. I notice the dams don't completely wean until about 16 weeks, so I try to supplement that long on my bottle kids.
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12/01/06, 11:17 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: KY
Posts: 1,455
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OOPS! She's kidding now! Back in a few!
Wing
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Wingdo
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12/01/06, 11:46 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: NW OR
Posts: 2,314
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Okay, that was pretty funny. I was thinking to myself "any animal named Baby is probably spoiled and is just waiting for publicity before she does anything as monumental as kidding". I know this because I have a "Baby" too. Good luck!
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12/01/06, 02:30 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Eureka, California area
Posts: 2,642
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Please post pics..good luck.
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Joan Crandell
Wild Iris Farm
"Fair"- the other 4 letter F word." This epiphany came after almost 10 days straight at our county fair.
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12/01/06, 05:46 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: KY
Posts: 1,455
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http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wingdo...cd.jpg&.src=ph
This is what the wait was all about! Both baby bucks, but we're all glad they are up and running, especially their mama!
Wing
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Wingdo
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12/01/06, 06:40 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Michigan
Posts: 243
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A couple good looking little fellas, I like the one with dark head.
Congrats, the suspense and waiting is over.
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12/01/06, 06:45 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,900
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Congrats on the new little Boers! There is just about nothing cuter than new babiy goats...unless maybe lambs! Thanks for sharing!
Jan in Co
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12/02/06, 07:43 AM
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Retired Coastie
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Monterey, Tennessee
Posts: 4,653
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Nice bucklings Congrats, can't wait to see a few of them around here in February...Tennessee John
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