Feed timing related kidding times?

[Jaclynne]

Disclaimer: I'm a rank beginner with goats. Most of my lifestock experience is beef cattle and horses, and all that over 10 yrs past. So please, gently tell me if I ask a stupid question and underline it if I suggest something that might harm my goat herd.

I did a few searches and came up with nothing, but here is my question. I remember a discussion in years past about how the time of day you fed your cattle affected the time of day they calved. Is there a correlation in the timing of feed to the timing of kidding for dairy goats? If I feed in morning, are they more likely to kid at night, etc?

I feed good quality bermuda hay, alfalfa pellets, a sprinkle of BOSS, and a little dry grain(equine grain mix - oats, corn, concentrate pellet?). The dry grain is being phased into good whole oats. My does pick the grain out first and then come back for the alfalfa pellet thru out the day. Loose mineral available. They don't eat much hay unless the weather keeps them inside. We have plenty browse.

Halo

[HazyDay]

Yes some one talked about the study they did on goats. It does work! Tho I never followed it and had 2 does kid early in the new day (1 am and 4 am.) Really how would you like to have a full ruman and give birth???

[HazyDay]

But I must say, 2 of my does diddn`t care if they had a full ruman! One kidded at 4 pm. I put her in with the dry yearlings outside and fed then, moved on to the sheep and came over and watched her eat then push out a kid! Then she went back to eatting and after she was done went over and had another!

Another time was with our Boer doe. I milked and fed everyone, went in and started making cheese and said I should check her. She had a kid half out and was eatting hay like nothing was happening! She had twins and right after wanted to eat and not feed her kids! She is the doe now due in 73 days and already looks like she has 6 in their!

[Jaclynne]

Hazy, do you have a link to that study? I'd really like to read it.
Thanks!

Halo

[goatkid]

I've heard folks say that if you feed them in the eveniing, they will wait til the next morning to kid. I feed my goats in the morning and the evening. Most of my does kid mid mornint to afternoon, but there exceptions and I've had does come to food and then kid a half hour later.

[DocM]

I feed AM and PM and a majority of my does kid between 7 am and 3 pm - but this could be affected by the time of year. I breed for Feb - May kiddings. Out of about 50 kiddings, I've had 2 middle of the nights and no evenings.

[goatsareus]

my experience is that first fresheners can kid any time of the day, but older does will kid late morning to early afternoon. I feed am and pm. I keep a baby monitor in the barn and listen for contractions to limit my trips to the barn

[BlueHeronFarm]

I read that about cows, as well, and hoped it was true for goats , too.
Last year we had three kid at our place - all three went between 8 and 10 am. SO nice, since we were out in the barn anyway, doing chores. I just hope this year they keep on the same schedule...but can't say for sure that our feeding schedule had anything to do with it.

[Trey]

I have also read that feeding in the pm will keep them from kidding overnight. In the winter I feed am and pm, just a little and they have free choice hay 24/7. I can't think of any that were born at night, I had some up and dry at 7 am, but still very new looking. Now, I have also read that they will have them during the day, because in nature prey animals do it to avoid the predators until the baby is at least up and mobile. And to reallly freak you out,there is a person out there that will tell you it will kill you goats to feed them grain at night! Since so many feed at night with no problem, I don't worry about it though.

[christij]

I had a mid morning and I guess a mid afternooon since I went out to do chores that evening and there were two little does last year. I had last checked around lunch. I feed hay free choice and was giving pellets/grain in evening. I am sure Emily will have some input after kidding out 100+ last year.

[dosthouhavemilk]

Grain is fed in the PM here (usually around 9PM, but right now it is 7PM). After they have their grain ration, there is usually a feeding of "cow" hay in the manger. They tank up on that and generally most of my kiddings occur from 2PM-10PM. Just when I want them.
In the past I have also not offered hay free choice outside. Their hay ration is put out after their grain feeding and is gone by about 2 hours before their grain feeding the next evening. That is the time they usually kidded.
I can't do that this year because the bales are too heavy to go in the upstairs of the bar. So they have a free choice bale outside.
I've had the midnight kiddings and I have one doe who always waits until that point when I am exhausted and head for the house to kid. She held out on me this year until 6AM, when I needed to get my neice off to school. It didn't work though. I was there and pulled the doeling for prevention. lol
Out of close to 30 kiddings this past year I think I missed three complete kiddings and arrived after kid #1 was born on two others. My father was present for a couple that I wasn't.
I sleep from midnight until usually 8-10AM during kidding season.
There is either my father or myself in the barn for about 20 hours out of every day during kidding season. The cows are kept stanchioned and need to be fed, scraped and milked..and scraped..and scraped..and fed..and scraped..etc.
The third week in January I will be feeding the does in the late morning so they kid around 8AM (yuck!). That is so the Freshman Class at Olney can witness a birth... I have to work around their class schedule and get the does kidding at the proper time.
After that we are back to late afternoon/evening kiddings again! 50+ does to kid out this year...we'll see if the trend holds true with the free choice hay available outside!

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

It doesn't take very long for does to get through grain, it's roughage feeding that will slow down the kidding time. So once 100 days pregnant I put hay out and their alfalfa pellets out for the whole day only at night. They start on their grain AM and PM like normal, moving from a tiny amount to their milkstand ration of the previous year. It's the large amount of roughage being in the rumen in the evening that will put off kiddings. Most of my does kid from noon to 4pm because I do this. Vicki

[tioga12]

I have a friend who's had goats for a number of years now and she's observed hers often will kid shortly after their morning or afternoon grain feeding. Last spring was our first kidding season, and I noticed that was true with several of our does also. Most kidded between 6 and 8 AM, and a couple in the early evening right after feeding. None of ours kidded in the middle of the night, and they usually are "full" of hay at bedtime.

[Goat Servant]

With two seasons of kidding my impressive experience has been that most everyone kidded between 7 & 9 am. The 2nd yr one waited somwhere after midnight & 6 am: she probably knew I wouldn't be there. She was already named Mystify but she has always lived up to it!!
My feedings are around 8am-8pm, free choice aflalfa.

[Jaclynne]

Thank you all for taking time to answer. Its been an interesting mix of observations.

Halo