When do you put your does up?

Rashashea · #1 12/19/12, 09:36 PM

Got my new stalls built tonight...so excited. My girls are due the middle and last of January. When do you all put your girls up in preparation of the delivery? I have heard varying times everything from a week before due date to a month?
Thanks
Rasha

Frosted Mini's · #2 12/19/12, 10:01 PM

I usually wait until they are in labor! I have done where I put them in at night and let out during the day...so that they aren't kidding outside in the coldest temps and also I can check them on webcam I have in the barn. Have not missed a birth yet, knock on wood!

Frosted Mini's · #3 12/19/12, 10:03 PM

Oh, and they always lose tail ligaments before birth. I have not had 1 single doe that didn't give me some kind of sign she was going to kid soon. One or two of them didn't lose lig's completely at the milking prior to kidding, but I still knew by other behavior clues...checking ligaments just before birth, even on those does, they still lost them right before.

Alice In TX/MO · #4 12/19/12, 10:13 PM

I wait till they are in labor. It's too stressful to pen them away from the herd ahead of time.

Backfourty,MI. · #5 12/20/12, 06:13 AM

I agree with the others & don't put them in the barn until they are in labor. They'd rather be with their herd mates. I don't keep them separated long after kidding either for the same reason.

AuntKitty · #6 12/21/12, 09:11 AM

I wait until I see some of the individual doe's "cues" that they are going into labor. The "cues" are different on each of my does. When they are so heavily pregnant, they seem to enjoy the peace and quiet and having all the feed/peanut hay to themselves

I have a new FF doe this year that I am going to take pictures of everyday as she gets closer to her due date so I can look back and figure out what her "cues" for labor are. I'm sure she'll LOOOVE that - lol!

Kitty

dbarjacres · #7 12/21/12, 11:30 AM

The absolute best thing for them is exercise until the last minute possible. They need to move to keep conditioned and be able to push those babies out and get right back up.

I'm in Wisconsin and have 8 does due between 1/28 and 4/5. I will put the due girls in at about day 141 with a friend and when I do chores they will come out to walk around. I only do that because it'll be freaking cold here when they kid and I'll have dead frozen kids possibly if I miss one kidding outside.

**mygoat** · #8 12/21/12, 11:35 AM

I wait till labor and then let them out a few ours after they're done kidding.

anita_fc · #9 12/21/12, 11:54 AM

Ditto the majority. I wait for signs from the doe. I pen everyone at night. Often the first sign is reluctance to go out in the morning, keeping herself separate from the other does.

Anita from Idaho
Dan-Ani Pygmy Goats
www.gndt.net/dan-ani

Hollowdweller · #10 12/21/12, 12:12 PM

Same as most others. When they look like they are going to kid.

If it's close and I have 2 does due close to each other I'll put up 1 while I'm at work to avoid them getting the kids mixed up.

yarrow · #11 12/21/12, 12:32 PM

We induce most of our does... (so I know ahead of time.. who is going to be kidding when) So I will bring her and a friend into the kidding stalls (I never bring one doe alone)... give the drugs. I like kids to come late afternoon, early evening, so I start induction around 10am..(since it takes until the next day, they spend the night in the stall- so I can watch her over night via cameras).. If the weather is decent.. I let them out in the barn lot for the day (I do however lock the gates, so the induced doe doesn't wander off to far browsing. (I want her close so I can keep an eye on her).. at the first signs of labor, it's back to the stall with the two of them...once active labor (pushing) starts.. I kick the friend out, deliver the kids.. milk the new mom.. let her friend back in.. I keep the new mom until her placenta/s deliver.. then she and her companion go back into the doe herd.. (less time gone, less pushing/shoving when they join back in)

susie, mo ozarks

Goat Servant · #12 12/21/12, 12:53 PM

I wait till the last minute too. A couple of times they've kidded outside. Keeping them stalled for more than a few days (after kid) is too much work.
Once I had a doe penned up for about a week while everyone else kidded. She was finally let out for the day & ran around. She kidded the next day.
Everyone knows her stall & a pair of sisters always get put in a bldg together.

Crazy Farmgirl · #13 12/21/12, 03:06 PM

My girls that are due in winter get moved into a separate building that is bedded heavy and cozy, winter is brutal here. When one shows signs of being close she its moved into a private stall, she can still socialize through the panel but has all the room she needs without the others bothering her. Momma and kids go back too the group after a day or so, I like to pamper momma a bit and make sure all is well before turning them out. The girls who kids in nice weather stay out on pasture until they are close, then they are stalled until all is well.

@Yarrow....just curious to know why you induce your girls?

yarrow · #14 12/21/12, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Farmgirl

@Yarrow....just curious to know why you induce your girls?

honestly... convenience, more then anything else.. I was resistant to the idea for years (feared we'd have more problems with wrongly positioned kids, harder labors for the does.. damaged cervix, harder to breed back.. ect.. ect).. BUT.. after talking to LOTS of breeders who had been inducing for years.. we tried it on a couple of does... easy peasy labors, strong healthy kids.. SO.. the next year, I induced about half the herd..again, not a single problem..I induced more does each year.. NOW??? it's the normal way we do it..

First off I have to say.. my does ONLY have one due date... we NEVER have buck breakouts ect.. so I am always 100% SURE as to how far along they are... we pull and bottle ALL the kids, so I don't want my does kidding alone, bonding to their babies.. and going thru the stress of me *stealing* her babies.. SO, I want to be there for each birth (to whisk away babies, before she even knows what happened)..

After years of hourly night checks, freezing cold barn trips.. I really enjoy having all the kids arrive somewhere between 3pm & 8pm.. most arrive 5pm or so.. ((along with inducing all the does, I also pushed back our kidding season from Jan/Feb to March/Apr. .. the bigger the herd gets/more does we are kidding out, the older I get.. I'm all about keeping it enjoyable for everyone.. me/does/the kids... all of us, seem to do better with warm, sunny afternoon births (as opposed to finding half frozen newborns on the barn floor, during a night check.. that hasn't happened in years)..

If we were still doing things the way we started.. no kidding barn, just the big communal barn.. no firm due dates... the bulk of the kids due in Jan..no cameras..ect.. I can honestly say I doubt I'd still have goats...(it's taken time & money... to build a escape proof buck pen, a kidding barn, installing cameras ect... but it's all been so worth it).. I don't sell milk/cheese ect.. my entire *farm business* is selling replacement stock/kids.. so healthy brood does & babies are always our main concern & focus... it works for us... Unless someone is dead sure of due dates and such.. I would never suggest they attempt to induce.

susie, mo ozarks

Frosted Mini's · #15 12/21/12, 05:02 PM

What day do you induce them to kid on? What is your induction protocol? How many does are you kidding out each year?

yarrow · #16 12/21/12, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosted Mini's

What day do you induce them to kid on? What is your induction protocol? How many does are you kidding out each year?

I give the induction drugs on day 149 so they all kid on 150 (I have nubians, so day 150 is when they would be naturally kidding, if left alone...just not at the TIME I would want to be doing it LOL).... I follow the 2 cc's lute, 5 cc's dex IM protocol (I do it at 10 am, the earliest I've had a doe kid is noon the next day.. the latest we've ever had a doe kid was 9 pm.. most are late afternoon to dinner time)..We are only kidding out 22 does this year (I had a brain bleed, followed by brain surgery back in late sept... so still on the mend from that.. I have 10 more does, that we did not breed this year, but plan on 30 or so next year) We are building new doe barns this spring, as well as a new milking barn... the goal is to get up to 40 does.. (I am blessed to have both of my adult kids living here on the farm, working with the herd full time, so I don't have to go it alone)

susie, mo ozarks

Frosted Mini's · #17 12/21/12, 06:05 PM

I think the ND's would probably have to be induced before that.

They are usually kidding by 148-149 in my herd, sometimes slightly sooner. Do you ever have does kid early before you get the induction meds to them?

Frosted Mini's · #18 12/21/12, 06:05 PM

My alpines have kidded for me on 150 days up to 154 days.

Crazy Farmgirl · #19 12/21/12, 06:37 PM

Thank you for the info Yarrow.

yarrow · #20 12/21/12, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosted Mini's

I think the ND's would probably have to be induced before that.

They are usually kidding by 148-149 in my herd, sometimes slightly sooner. Do you ever have does kid early before you get the induction meds to them?

I actually have to nubian lamancha mixed does in the herd (Vivian 1/2 & 1/2 & her daughter Rizzo 3/4 lamanch 1/4 nubian)... Vivian kids on her own on day 148 or 149.. Rizzo kidded on her own last year on day 146.. (she was a ff.. I had been checking her liagments, so we didn't miss the kids being born.. fed her breakfast.. no goo, acting perfectly normal.. came inside, turned on the camera.. Rizzo turns around and half a baby has already slid out... RAN back out -thankfully the kidding barn is less then 8ft from my side door!.. caught that kid.. right behind her was her brother...this year I'll have Rizzo under baby-watch by day 144... I have never in almost 10 years had a nubian go before day 149 or go past day 152.. could be the bloodlines I have but, most all of them will go on day 150... (so I'm mostly controlling what TIME they kid, more then the day)...that said I'm thinking about inducing a couple a day early this year, just so I don't have so many going all at the exact same time! There was a day back in Oct, that must have been national come-into-heat day LOL.. I'd have to double check, but I think we ending up breeding 7 of them that day... a few more then I want to kid out within a couple hours!!

susie, mo ozarks