Just a kidding Question

[hoovershounds]

My doe is due in March and this will be MY first kidding. I know she has had babies twice before with no problems other than not producing enuff milk for her last triplets. I thought I would get on here and find out what to do when she has her babies. All advice appreciated
Amy

[goatkid]

Try to be there for the kidding. Have some clean towels, OB lube and 7% iodine on hand. When the kids are born, dry them off and dip their navels in the iodine. If you are going to let the doe raise them, allow her to help you clean them. If your doe is actively pushing for more than 20-30 minutes, she will probably need your help to deliver them. I'd suggest buying yourself a good goat book that has instructions on helping the doe to deliver along with diagrams of kid presentation. It's good to have either a calf sulfa bolus or a Nolvasan bolus on hand in the event you have to stick your whole hand into the doe to help deliver a kid. If I have to go in, I insert the bolus into the uterus after the birth of the last kid. I also give an injection of Biomycin. For an uneventful birth, I offer the doe water and a handful of grain after kidding. Make sure each kid gets it's share of colostrum. Even if she does not make enough milk to feed triplets, my experience has been that my does have made enough colostrum to get the babies started. If you plan to bottle feed and milk your doe, pull the babies at birth and get them started on the bottle. If you want the dam to raise them, you have two options once the kids ahve had their colostrum. You can either supplement all of them with either pasteurized goat milk or whole cow's milk, or, as I do, pull one of the babies and bottle feed that one. I usually pick a doeling to bottle feed unless I have a weak buckling that needs extra attention. If you are bottle feeding all of them, milk the dam and mix her milk with either the pasteurized milk of another goat or whole cow's milk to get what you need for your feedings. I feed newborns 4 times a day and decrease to three. By three weeks of age, I'm feeding the kids 20-25 oz per feeding twice a day. I start my bottle babies on hay at a few days old and grain at 3-4 weeks old.

[hoovershounds]

Thanks goatkid. I read on some site about giving the doe shots/vaccinations several weeks before she kids. Is this correct? Also, I was planning on selling the kids as bottle babies & thought If everything was going well, I would leave the kids on her for about a week ( to get all the colostrom) & then switch them to bottles. Would it be easier on me in the long run just to bottle feed them from the start & never let them nurse.
Amy

[neehifarm]

hoover, I have had no ill effects, by allowing baby to nurse off of mom for a week, then begin bottle feeding...just a tip though...take mom away from baby permanently afterwards. Babies catch on real quick.
Also, I have read also that many people give shots, right before kidding, then after....I have never done this...nor have I had to. I take my kids to the vet at two weeks old to get dehorned, neutered and vaccinated...he sends me home with the booster, which I give after a few weeks.
My mom goats get their yearly vaccination is the spring.