new mothers

okiemom · #1 01/16/09, 06:32 PM

what is it about new mothers?! Last night a new mother gave birth and left the baby. I tried to warm it up but it didn't work.

Today same thing left them in the middle of the field and walked off the graze. I got to the babies fast enough took them inside and dried them off and warmed them up. Snaged the mom finally and drug her to the house and gave the babies back now she is lovy dovy. She is in the garage. Any ideas on how long I have to keep her in ther? I hope they can figure it out as I have never been able to bottle feed.

Why do mothers walk away and how can I fix this? I have an idea that the does just don't like the leantoo type of arrangement. I am going to try to get some calf hutches so she can have her own house. The goal is to have them be just fine w/o intervention no individual pens/stalls (high imput) is not an option. These boers are so sensitive I have no idea how the survived in Africa. I hope breeders can start to get them as hardy as they once were.

dragonchick · #2 01/16/09, 06:41 PM

new moms are just that, NEW. They really don't know what to do. All they know is they passed a really big poop and now there's this really strange squiggly wet thing laying there. Some goats do not have that maternal instinct others do. You will have to help them along until they learn that the baby is theirs and they need to take care of it.

Goat Servant · #3 01/16/09, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okiemom

what is it about new mothers?! Last night a new mother gave birth and left the baby. I tried to warm it up but it didn't work.

Today same thing left them in the middle of the field and walked off the graze. I got to the babies fast enough took them inside and dried them off and warmed them up. Snaged the mom finally and drug her to the house and gave the babies back now she is lovy dovy. She is in the garage. Any ideas on how long I have to keep her in ther? I hope they can figure it out as I have never been able to bottle feed.

Why do mothers walk away and how can I fix this? I have an idea that the does just don't like the leantoo type of arrangement. I am going to try to get some calf hutches so she can have her own house. The goal is to have them be just fine w/o intervention no individual pens/stalls (high imput) is not an option. These boers are so sensitive I have no idea how the survived in Africa. I hope breeders can start to get them as hardy as they once were.

Dragonchick is right about sometimes new mamas dont know. I would keep her there for at least a couple of days with her kids.
It has nothing to do with if she is in a lean to or a 5 star hotel.
We dont know who survived and who didnt in SA. Certainly the hardier ones.
Last winter all my girls stayed under a car canopy with the hay feeder during the snow. There was a nice barn to go to but they didnt use it.
When they kidded most of them did outside in Feb. Not terribly cold but I did bring them in for a few days.

Bearfootfarm · #4 01/16/09, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Why do mothers walk away and how can I fix this?

They walk away because they CAN.
You can fix it by putting them in a 4 X 4 pen for 24-36 hrs and letting the Mom learn to be a Mom. Its counterproductive to take the babies away and dry them off. The Mom's licking them dry is an important part of the bonding process.

goatkid · #5 01/17/09, 01:33 AM

Some first time momma goats just don't know what to do. We have to show them. I don't just hope the kids will nurse. I make sure they do. If I don't see a kid latch onto the teat by itself, I help it find the teat and nurse. By the end of the first day, the kid pretty much knows how to do it by itself. It's also important to know how to bottle feed. I know most Boer breeders prefer to dam raise the kids, but there are times the kids need to be raised on a bottle, such as if the kid is weak, the dam doesn't have enough milk for triplets or quads or if the dam dies. Ideally, it's good if you have a space for each doe and her kids for the first few days, but I don't have that setup here. If I leave kids on the dam, I go out and be sure they are eating several times a day when they are first born. Some Boers can be slow learners. I had one Boer doe who ignored her kid for a week. I had to catch her a few times a day and make her feed her kid. Then, her buddy kidded. The second doe took right to her kids. Upon seeing that, the first doe suddenly wanted her baby and cried if he wandered off. She took great care of him from then on and was a great mom in subsequent kiddings.

JB114 · #6 01/17/09, 04:31 AM

With us it depends on the mother and the size of babies. we may keep the mom and babies in there own 8 X 8 shed if the babies are small and there front tendens are tight in the ankles for about a week to get there strength up. We deff. pen the new moms.

billygoatridge · #7 01/17/09, 06:10 PM

Maternal instincts are genetic just like physical traits. I believe they got left behind in alot of boers. Because they were so high priced, people kept everything with a red head including bad mothers and their offspring. Being a New mother is no excuse for bad maternal instincts otherwise all first timers would be bad mothers.

Jcran · #8 01/17/09, 07:22 PM

I rebred a bad mother two years and had her reject part of her "litter" each year, having a favorite and chasing off/biting the others. I culled her. Yep, she was a boer. That being said, my other boer mommies are stellar.

#9 01/22/09, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goatkid

Some first time momma goats just don't know what to do. We have to show them. <snip>

That reminds me...

Last year, my 1st goat ever and her daughter (they had been bred a few days apart) were staying close together when the old girl went into labor. She's a pro and a super mom, so we let her be (had a clear view, just in case). What caught our eye was that her daughter, this was going to be her first time, was standing completely still. Watching her mom intently. She may as well have been watching a "What to expect when you're expecting" video. It was really interesting to see. Her mom's twin doelings were delivered and trying to stand when... you guessed it. She needed a little help delivering her chunky single doeling, but she had just watched her mom and knew exactly what to do from there. She was a super mom, but then again, she had the best teacher.

betsy h. · #10 01/22/09, 07:29 AM

She has 'Trailer-itis"- this is Dr. Mary Smith's name for 'ship her, bad mothering is genetic'.

In all my years of raising dairy goats, we've only ever had one doe who walked away. she was gone less than a week later.

Goat Servant · #11 01/23/09, 04:05 PM

One of my Boer does rejected her smallest of trips on her first kidding. I bottle fed her and last year as an FF was a terrific mom.
Meanwhile her dam on her second kidding tried to reject the smallest. I just kept at her, holding her so that doeling could could nurse. After a few days it got to be sort of a private joke between us. I would go in there and she would look up at me while feeding her kid like"See? Im taking care of her."
Last year some one reserved a doeling out of this dam and wanted her disbudded. That first week she did fine taking care of her trips.
But I knew what was coming. Soon as that naked headed little doeling was returned mom wanted nothing to do with her. But we worked through that together. She's a stubborn thing but my herd is small enough that I dont mind that, plus she is one great looking dam, the longest one I've got & throws length. She also has personality quirks I could never dump on someone else.