urgent!!! birthing problem!!

lonelyfarmgirl · #1 03/03/08, 05:26 PM

Our Java (alpine) had a baby doe yesterday afternoon around 4:30pm. Java is so huge. we assumed 2-4 babies. the doe she had weighs only about 6 pounds. small, an indication of more to come. how long does labor last?
It has been 26 hours, and still no milk! The baby nursed a few times overnight, and we took her away this morning to bottle feed. so Ive tried several times today to milk java to get this baby some sustinence, but she's only given a maximum of 2 squirts per teat, after 4 hours, and it doesn't look like colostrum at all.
she is acting like she never had a baby. no signs of continuing labor, eating and drinking and being herself. she did pass the afterbirth, no problem, she ate it.

what is going on? no milk! what do I do? I have frozen milk in the freezer I figured to feed the baby, but what about Java? she looks like she never gave birth. still just as fat. she wasnt overweight. she is a second freshner.
anxiously waiting...thanks

Alice In TX/MO · #2 03/03/08, 05:34 PM

What have you been feeding the doe?

bstuart29 · #3 03/03/08, 05:38 PM

Congrats on the new kid Lonelyfarmgirl

lonelyfarmgirl · #4 03/03/08, 05:40 PM

grass hay and alfalfa cubes, plus a bit of corn for the last month. maybe 1/2 a cup a day.

jBlaze · #5 03/03/08, 05:51 PM

Is the kid with her? Does she take care of the kid? It may be that the kid is taking all the doe has, and you don't see it. (this has happened to us, and we worry but as long as kids are up and about, ok.) Having the kid keep sucking on her will probably encourage more milk. I had two does freshen with twins 2/14 and both does hardly had any udder, left kids with them, supplemented some frozen colustrum just to be sure, and now does have cute little udders and kids are bouncing around. I hope your story turns out the same as mine! Here is the thread when I was so worried:
new twins, to doe with TINY udder

lonelyfarmgirl · #6 03/03/08, 05:54 PM

I will check out the thread, but as I said we took the baby away first thing this morning to bottle feed. she cant stay with mom. so shes been away from mom for about 10 hours, and Ive only got a total of 6 small squirts from java.

jBlaze · #7 03/03/08, 05:56 PM

Some does are slow starters, and some don't have very yellow colustrum, but what they do have is still important. Not sure what to tell you except good luck.

Why not with mom?

lonelyfarmgirl · #8 03/03/08, 06:05 PM

we are bottlefeeding, becasue we need the milk, and becasue we learned the hard way last year that if you let the kids dam feed, they nurse forever, and I dont have the facilities to seperate them for 9 months after weaning.

jBlaze · #9 03/03/08, 06:12 PM

Maybe you could just leave them with mama for a week. That is what we did when my folks ran a large goat dairy. We had 300+ head. That way you know they get a good start, and you can't sell colustrum any ways, and you don't have to feed babies several times a day. (after a week we feed kids three times a day for a month then twice a day.) Just my opinion though.

lonelyfarmgirl · #10 03/03/08, 06:14 PM

did that last year. was never able to get the kid to take a bottle. had to let her dam raise. besides, its 30 degrees and pouring rain. not a friendly environment for a newborn rickety baby.

jBlaze · #11 03/03/08, 06:22 PM

Oh. We penned new mamas and babies in part of the herd area for a week then we seperated them. Maybe you could use pallets to divide areas in your barn? We had the kids in a seperate little barn. They would take a bottle just fine, even after two weeks with mama. And after being seperated from mama for a few months did not nurse afterward. It is hard when you cannot seperate efficiently. ~
I would just say to keep trying to milk that doe, maybe frequently may help. Hope it works out.

lonelyfarmgirl · #12 03/03/08, 06:25 PM

thanks for the advice. I do not have a barn. I do not have pallets, nor a way to transport them. I am not going through another week of hell trying to get a nursing baby to transition to a bottle.
I am worried about the mother here. Ive tried to milk her every 2 hours all day, then waited 4 hours to see if I was trying too often, she still has no milk.

dosthouhavemilk · #13 03/03/08, 06:35 PM

How much of the alfalfa is she actually consuming? Any chance you could find pellets rather than the cubes?
1/2 a cup of corn is not very much. She needs quality hay and grain to help her production.
Keep milking her as often as possible to bring her milk in. Some does are just slow to start. We've had a couple this year that did not have much milk when they freshened but it picked up with the kids nursing.
The same can be accomplished by milking her as often as possible.

As far as being done kidding. She would be straining or more likely down at this stage if there were still a kid in there.
She sounds like she is done kidding.

Since it has been 26 hours, colostrum at this stage isn't going to have much of an impact as far as the vital antibodies are concerned. The window for that has closed, as has the stomach lining..lol Was the kid bouncy and active this morning? Or lethargic as though it didn't drink much?
The kid can be given the frozen milk at this stage and it will not harm it.

Common Tator · #14 03/03/08, 06:43 PM

Does it seem like she has more babies she hasn't given birth to yet? Maby a big one that is stuck?

jBlaze · #15 03/03/08, 06:57 PM

Thought she passed the after-birth, which means she is done.
Yes, she needs grain to make milk, but don't increase too fast and give her the runs.
Maybe the rain is making her hold her milk?
Doe sounds fine, just not milking right?
I have never had animals without a barn, so not sure how that works, sorry. (hugs, sorry you are frustrated.)

Alice In TX/MO · #16 03/03/08, 09:43 PM

Where do they go to get out of the weather?

susanne · #17 03/03/08, 10:28 PM

a doe can always have more then one after birth (placenta) so, passing it does not necessary mean she is done.
how does her udder look like? how does it feel? hard? soft? warm?
can you take the temperature from the doe? is it normal (101 to 103) ?
there are so many things tha can influence the milk amount.

midkiffsjoy · #18 03/03/08, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jBlaze

I have never had animals without a barn, so not sure how that works, sorry. (hugs, sorry you are frustrated.)

It doesn't! It BITES! And makes life difficult for animals AND family!

steff bugielski · #19 03/04/08, 05:13 AM

I found the cubes take so long for them to break up they give up. She might not be getting any protein. If the cubes are her only source of protein she would need to eat a whole lot of them.

fishhead · #20 03/04/08, 09:01 AM

Did you bounce her to see if there are more kids?

My goats didn't want cubes unless I broke the cubes up for them. If I didn't most ended up on the ground. I switched to pellets and they would waste them too until I ran them over a 1/8" screen to remove the dust.