Keeping you guessing???

Katgowen · #1 02/19/09, 04:56 PM

How many of your doe's that you DO or DO NOT know are pregnant that are keeping you guessing?

My doe depending on how you look at here looks pregnant; I have read that a healthy goat can look pregnant. Her udder is firm; not like that semi inflated feel that she had when I first got her. When I got her you could see some of her udder, but it wasn't noticeable, now I notice it and she even looks odd when she lays down. She has some discharge; but not like the goopy glob last week. I know that you can have a precocious(SP?)goat; most of the time they dry up, if they don't dry up has any one had to milk them some to get them to dry up?

UGH!!!!! I so dislike being a GOAT NEWBIE.

dragonchick · #2 02/19/09, 05:06 PM

Not only newbies go through this. ALL goat parents are pulling their hair out at kidding time. Mine has been driving me nuts for a month. Everytime I think she going to have those babies, she looks at me and says na na na na nope not yet.

Beulah Gardens · #3 02/19/09, 05:11 PM

"Everytime I think she going to have those babies, she looks at me and says na na na na nope not yet."

I've been raising goats for eight years, all I can say is.........I'M GLAD IT'S JUST NOT MEEEE!!!!!!

Katgowen · #4 02/19/09, 07:02 PM

I bought her knowing that she was around a buck, but the owner wasn't sure if she took or not. I even called to owner again recently and she is POSITIVE that if she had taken, she should have delivered at Thanksgiving time. LOL!!! So much for them know what was going on with the goats I guess.

dragonchick · #5 02/19/09, 07:11 PM

Maybe your does have been talking to the other poster who was supposed to deliver at Thanksgiving, theirs didn't deliver until January. Maybe they meant they were bred at Thanksgiving and you stilll have another month or so to go.

Katgowen · #6 02/19/09, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragonchick

Maybe your does have been talking to the other poster who was supposed to deliver at Thanksgiving, theirs didn't deliver until January. Maybe they meant they were bred at Thanksgiving and you stilll have another month or so to go.

Couldn't have bred at Thanksgiving as I bought her in October, counting 150 days from when I got her would be the end of March. I have never been very patient and I am very tempted to spend the $20.00 and have her blood drawn and sent off.

dragonchick · #7 02/19/09, 07:24 PM

IF I didn't positively know she was pregnant I would do the blood draw. Mine I know is there as I see babies kicking and a growing udder. Shes a first timer so that difference in the udder is huge.

Katgowen · #8 02/19/09, 09:12 PM

I think my goat is a first timer, if she is pregnant. I have pictures of her in my post titled Is she pregnant; I can send them to you in a PM if you want to see what her udder looks like, not sure if it will help or not. I have tried feeling her right side but I do not feel any movement; some have mentioned checking her ligaments, but I have no clue where they are on a goat. Someone else mentioned checking how hollow she is near her bottom; but she looks no more hollow than when I got her. When I got her she wouldn't come near me, and the fact that she eats out of our hands and if she is tied, will let us pet at least part of her is a HUGE improvement. So I may not be able to feel anything with her being so jumpy, she hates having her underbelly touched and she attempts to step on your toes when you try and feel her udder. We have not goat vets near by; there is a cow vet that a friend told me about that said she might be willing to come look at her, the vet is an hours drive from us. None of the SUPPOSED large animal vets will come out. They all say they are strictly cows or horses.

dragonchick · #9 02/19/09, 09:16 PM

You can pm the pictures to me if you want. We are on baby watch tonight finally. I checked earlier and shes stringing goop so maybe it will be soon.

billooo2 · #10 02/19/09, 09:37 PM

I have one doe that never looks pregnant at all. But she always gies me twins!!

hoggie · #11 02/20/09, 02:59 AM

Yep - I have two that I am not sure about - one does seem in kid at ALL, thought she should be. But I know that when I bought her the previous owner had had a hard time getting ehr in kid.

The other one, looked in kid, has milk, but should have kidded (by my dates) on about 10Feb. Last year she had a phantom, and I have an awful feeling that she is doing the same to me again this year - she has done a similar thing and gone a weird shape about the time she was due to kid. At the moment i am keeping my fingers crossed that she was just re-bred and I didn't see her come back in season.

Good luck with yours - hope you get some joy soon

hoggie

farmmom · #12 02/20/09, 04:44 AM

My Nubian/Boer doe lost ligs a week ago, but they came back, no discharge, swollen udder, looking sunken in, no babies yet. I can feel them moving. I'm nervous about her because she kidded for the first time last year with a stillborn buckling.

dragonchick · #13 02/20/09, 05:19 AM

She doesn't look pregnant to me. That bulge you see is on her left side. The left side is her rumen. The discharge could be because shes come into season. They can get a bit goopy at this time. I have a yearling that we swore was pregnant as she ran with a buck her entire life and showed all the signs. Well 5 months came and went and no babies arrived.

DairyGoatSlave · #14 02/20/09, 05:53 PM

im had the same problem, one doe aborted, and the other...well i dont know if she aborted or just didnt get bred, but im trying to get her to milk so i can show her(yes shes got a bit in her udder, i milk every night) my other two girls are deffinantly preg! but im not sure when they are due, according to the calander not till next month but they are both open and have discharge. oy they will drive you crazy!
ps-my goats aborted because they got into something at my last house(it was a nasty dirty junkyardish place) so glad my girls have good pasture now!
good luck!

HomesteadBaker · #15 02/20/09, 05:58 PM

I miss my goats!!!!!!! :-(

Kitty

DairyGoatSlave · #16 02/20/09, 06:02 PM

i couldnt imagen getting rid of my girls(or losing them) im sorrry, *hugs*

goatkid · #17 02/21/09, 12:54 AM

I usually have a goat or two that keep me guessing. I've been doing goats for several years, but am still uncomfortable trying to draw blood on my own so haven't preg tested. This year, there's Melia. Her due date is tomorrow and she's a bit rotund, but not as big as Evette, who isn't due til mid March. She's not bagging up like Miracle who is also due tomorrow. Last goat check, Melia was laying there grunting like she's uncomfortable due to being pregnant, so I guess she'll just go to about 153 days like she did last year. Then there's DD who doesn't look very big and is supposed to kid in 4 weeks. I ran a cleanup buck with the herd for a month, so I know there will be kids and if a goat doesn't kid this year who has been with the buck, that just helps me decide who to cull.

Katgowen · #18 02/21/09, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragonchick

She doesn't look pregnant to me. That bulge you see is on her left side. The left side is her rumen. The discharge could be because shes come into season. They can get a bit goopy at this time. I have a yearling that we swore was pregnant as she ran with a buck her entire life and showed all the signs. Well 5 months came and went and no babies arrived.

Why would her udder be fuller if she was only in heat; I am positive it is firmer than it used to be.

dragonchick · #19 02/21/09, 03:21 PM

When my little non bred doe came to me she had a small baseball sized udder that felt firm to my hands. Heres a picture of her udder.

Keeping you guessing??? - Goats

Well 8 months later she still has had no kids and her udder is still the same size.

Hormones can make a does udder swell a bit just as a womans breasts swell just before that time of the month.

chamoisee · #20 02/21/09, 03:35 PM

You can't tell solely from belly size or udder development. Well, that isn't quite true. A better way to put it is thus: you cannot rule out pregnancy by lack of a large belly or lack of impressive udder development...or of goo from vulva.

Once they are about 3 months along you can determine pregnancy by feeling the *underside* of the belly just in front of the udder. Just sit quietly for 5-10 minutes with your hands spread and see if you feel anything moving or kicking. Repeat for a few days.