I'm feeling a little more secure about this

[SkeeterBlue]

So I posted not long ago asking all kinds of kidding questions, and talked a little about our mystery pregnancy and I'm feeling like I have a much better handle on things. Babette is getting huge, but I finally was able to find her ligaments and they are there, still nice and firm. She is still not bagging up.

So, I am feeling more confident that I have some time and that her most likely actual true really real breeding date was either August 14 or September 29 -- both breedings that I witnessed, both times in standing heat.

So we have two due dates now, January 11 and Feb 26, plenty of time to do everything that is needed.

I have my OB kit ready and it is extensive. I think I'll be ready for just about anything.

So thank you, everyone for all the words of encouragement and goat wisdom and experience. I'll be calling each one of you blubbering if anything goes the least bit awry.

[nehimama]

I hear you. It seems that, once you've got the ligaments figured out, at least *some* of the mystery & insecurity fades away somewhat. Your kidding kit looks awesome! Don't forget a few old towels (thrift store) for clean up & drying off newborns. Did I see a baby bottle in your kit?

Good Luck!

[SkeeterBlue]

There are a few things I didn't fit into the photo of the kit. This is what I have.

absorbent pads
cloth diapers
paper towels
nose bulb
weak kid syringe and feeding tube
bottle with prichart nipple
umbilical shears
stethoscope
bright flashlight
kid snare
sterile OB lube
thermometer
weight scale
pet hair dryer
betadine surgical scrub
nail brush
betadine 7% solution
Nutri-drench
karo syrup
Calcium Gluconate 23% injectable
MFO oral solution
Bo-Se injectable
CD/T vaccine
Vit E capsules
Lutalyse
Banamine
Oxytetracycline HCL
18 gauge needles and 3, 6, and 30 ml syringes
baby wipes
... and my OB book with all your wisdom in it plus charts of normal delivery position and possible malpresentations so I can review everything while I'm waiting.

Hopefully most of it will stay in the kit un-needed. But if I need any of it, it will be there.

[mygoat]

Sounds like you're well prepared. My kidding kit now consists of towels, iodine, BoSe, and that's about it.

Vaccinate your doe and give her BoSe if her udder is starting to develop. I copper bolus at the same time, too, and trim hooves. Then, play the waiting game...

[Doug Hodges]

That's a nice kit. I need to get my stuff in one place.

[punchiepal]

I have 2 kits.
Towel bag - towels/rags to wipe off kids, bulb nose syringe, ob lube, and GermX (tri-odine 7 if I remember)
Tool box - scale, bottle, tri-odine 7, bands for the kids id, notebook, pen, stethoscope, scissors, vets or goat friend #'s taped in lid (and on cell phone)
Rest of goat stuff is centralized on shelves in the house.
Usually, we only take the towel bag to the barn since we bottle raise all our kids.

Other standards are feed bags to birth the kids onto and a bucket to put used towel into so they don't go on the barn floor. A bucket or wheel barrow to put the "used" bedding material in as well as the placenta. If your barn has dark corners, like mine, a plug in shop light is VERY nice. LOL OH and I use the stopwatch on my cell when she really gets down to business so I don't loose track of time or intervene too soon.

[SkeeterBlue]

Originally Posted by punchiepal

I have 2 kits.
Towel bag - towels/rags to wipe off kids, bulb nose syringe, ob lube, and GermX (tri-odine 7 if I remember)
Tool box - scale, bottle, tri-odine 7, bands for the kids id, notebook, pen, stethoscope, scissors, vets or goat friend #'s taped in lid (and on cell phone)
Rest of goat stuff is centralized on shelves in the house.
Usually, we only take the towel bag to the barn since we bottle raise all our kids.

Other standards are feed bags to birth the kids onto and a bucket to put used towel into so they don't go on the barn floor. A bucket or wheel barrow to put the "used" bedding material in as well as the placenta. If your barn has dark corners, like mine, a plug in shop light is VERY nice. LOL OH and I use the stopwatch on my cell when she really gets down to business so I don't loose track of time or intervene too soon.

Oh, thank you! All this is great information that has really jogged my brain.

I'm planning on using the absorbent pads to birth the kids on. I bought a bunch of puppy wee pads for that. I meant to add a notebook and pen to the kit. Thank you for reminding me! <3 the idea about the bands for ID... I'll have to cut some cloth ribbons in different colors for that. I'll keep back two feed sacks - one for the waste material and one for the stuff that will get laundered. And I forgot to add... a camera! Have to have a camera for our first kidding. I thought about getting OB gloves, but I couldn't find any that were sterile. And I thought if I have to scrub up with gloves on I might as well just scrub up without them if I need to get invasive and do it the old fashioned way. So, add a bucket for warm water in there too.

We are really cutting it close with the barn. One is being delivered some time this month. We will still have to run electric to it, put in the lights, put in the stalls, install a heat source, and get it fully functional before kidding time. We got behind because of the government shutdown scare and so didn't order the barn until late. It will have 3 stalls and a milking area, plus hay storage area above. Right now the goats have a shelter in the dry paddock and that is it. I was having sleepless nights thinking about kidding in that thing, I can tell you! It gave me a ton of new gray hairs. But hubby came through and the barn is being built right now. He is awesome!

You know I will probably make hubby turn back on the WiFi so I can have one of the kids' laptop out there in the barn too so I can keep online here and get some real time advice and support.

I really don't anticipate any problems with this doe. She has 3 kiddings under her belt. I'm the only newbie that will be in that stall.

[punchiepal]

Id bands - I found a farm store that had velcro bands for cows. I cut those in 1/2 and use them for quick Iding. Use them in the same order all the time.
OR I did find some at the home store that were for electrical cords that work well also.
Hoeggers and Jeffers sells bands that you can write on.

[mygoat]

Don't use ID bands if you have horned goats. Collars on goat kids are a great place for the other goats to hook their horns through. I've heard of kids killed this way. I wouldn't use them unless necessary. Big herds of disbudded goats or something, with lots of kids running around. I had 9 does kid out last year within 5 days and could tell them all apart.

With our boers, we now tag shortly after birth. Easiest permanent ID here. I have lots of does kid at the same time, and for someone like my dad, one boer kid looks much like the next... We then tattoo for reg. purposes when we disbud. We have fewer dairies and they can be told apart for the most part but if I needed to I'd probably smudge with a marking crayon, add a collar, or smudge with tattoo ink. Mind you, I pull all dairy kids so no risk of my horned boer goats tossing/hooking a collar on the dairy kids. I'd probably use the ID bands Jeffers offers for dairy kids if I had a bigger herd. I don't like tagging the dairies.

[SkeeterBlue]

This breeding's parents are both white and cream. So, I'll need ribbons or something to tell them apart most likely. But no horns! Both Babette (left) and Espresso (right) are disbudded.

[Frosted Mini's]

I only care to make sure which babies are from which parents. Mine get individually identified within the litter when I tattoo them. I guess I do use paper tags though, and usually write the dam's name and tattoo number on the collar, so I guess I do kind of have them individually id'd as they are born. Mostly I care that I have the right kid matched to the right parent though. I have just white paper collars, so I use a different colored sharpie marker for each litter. HOLY MOLY that girl is HUGE! I'd be surprised if there aren't at least triplets in there!

[punchiepal]

She is carrying a load for sure!

[Pinehollow]

Originally Posted by SkeeterBlue

There are a few things I didn't fit into the photo of the kit. This is what I have.

absorbent pads
cloth diapers
paper towels
nose bulb
weak kid syringe and feeding tube
bottle with prichart nipple
umbilical shears
stethoscope
bright flashlight
kid snare
sterile OB lube
thermometer
weight scale
pet hair dryer
betadine surgical scrub
nail brush
betadine 7% solution
Nutri-drench
karo syrup
Calcium Gluconate 23% injectable
MFO oral solution
Bo-Se injectable
CD/T vaccine
Vit E capsules
Lutalyse
Banamine
Oxytetracycline HCL
18 gauge needles and 3, 6, and 30 ml syringes
baby wipes
... and my OB book with all your wisdom in it plus charts of normal delivery position and possible malpresentations so I can review everything while I'm waiting.

Hopefully most of it will stay in the kit un-needed. But if I need any of it, it will be there.

I'm getting my list together too.. I notice you don't have dental floss or equivalent, to tie the umbilical cord off if you need it.

[SkeeterBlue]

Yah, dental floss... picking that up tomorrow. The other thing not on the list that is in the kit is a stainless steel condiment cup for dipping the navels.

[punchiepal]

navel dip - old film canisters work great for that.

[SkeeterBlue]

LOL - where would I ever find an old film canister? I don't think they make those anymore. I think trying to use my camera chip would be just not right.

[Frosted Mini's]

LOL!

You could just use a teat dipper.

[farmmaid]

I use a shot glass for naval dipping. Also I use spray marking paint (for animals) to keep track of moms and babies. Ex: mom marked with a half dollar size circle of paint on right side of her neck then all her babies marked in the same place on the right side. Next mom marked on her left side on the neck, babies too. Maybe third mom a circle on her right front shoulder, her babies too etc.......If a busy birthing day this is nice and quick and you do not need to write anything down (may have goopy hands)! I remark when the paint starts to fade and do so until weaned/sold...easy, easy and can spot from a distance when buyers come!!!!! I also take paint and mark at the tail head all the girls so when buyers come and ask which are girls/boys they can tell from a distance. Buyers appreciate this as they do not have to keep asking me the sexes and can see who the baby's mom is (it can get real confusing if they are all in a herd)..............Joan

[anita_fc]

I use old prescription vials.

[K Epp]

You might want to add head lamp. They aren't cute but free up your hands. Home Depot has a pacjage of 2 for under $5 and those have a red light setting that doesn't hurt the animals eyes. I chose the $10 pack that will shine 100m. Great for looking for boogets in the dark, but I'm going yo pick up a set of the others because I didn't think about it blinding everyone when I do my nightly head count.
Oh and they are up in front of store with the christmas gift sets.