Five kids?!

ameliasmom · #1 03/21/05, 08:47 AM

This may sound like its coming from a huge "goat novice" and that is mostly because it is. A year ago we acquired "Petunia" a nubian saanen cross and her two babies. We had her bred in the fall and she just kidded on Friday. Unfortunately she had five fetusses, none of which survived. Only one appeared as though it had reached full-term, but he was obviously incredibly small. My husband built a wonderful milk stand and I have been successfully milking her for several days. I am wondering just how rare it is for a goat to have five ovulations!!!!! I would hate for her to have to go through this again, but since last year she had two such wonderfully healthy kids, its a bit of a conundrum for next year. Is there any way to predict or prevent this in the future? Any insights would be appreciated.

Also, when is it conisdered appropriate to start drinking the milk? So far its been quite thick and I thought I'd try soap with the first few days bounty. This board seems to be populated by a large number of knowledgable individuals, I appreciate any and all thoughts.

Thanks in advance
Tracy

allenslabs · #2 03/21/05, 08:53 AM

The first week or so I think is the colostrum and most people freeze that as it's very handy to have around in case you have a baby animal that doesn't get any you have it there. Once it's not so think I think it's ok.

Cara · #3 03/21/05, 09:40 AM

Afte 3-5 days you can see if the milk is colostrum by heating it past 150 degrees. If it's still colostrom, it will turn thick/chunky, and if it's milk, it will just foam. It won't taste all that great (in my experience) for at least a week though. Hope that helps.

rhjacobi · #4 03/21/05, 03:45 PM

Hi Tracey,

I have had goats that tend to give us triplets and quads more than once, especially the triplets. I haven't investigated the question from your standpoint of wanting to make sure that you don't have that many again. Multiple births tend to be reapeated, but I don't know if that applies to five or not. Since it is so rare, my guess is that it won't happen very often, but that is really not based on any factual information that I have. I'm afraid that you will have to do your research.

I'm replying to ask about vaccinations. In our part of the country, if we don't vaccinate, we are probably guaranteed early still borns.

Bob
Lynchburg, TN.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ameliasmom

This may sound like its coming from a huge "goat novice" and that is mostly because it is. A year ago we acquired "Petunia" a nubian saanen cross and her two babies. We had her bred in the fall and she just kidded on Friday. Unfortunately she had five fetusses, none of which survived. Only one appeared as though it had reached full-term, but he was obviously incredibly small. My husband built a wonderful milk stand and I have been successfully milking her for several days. I am wondering just how rare it is for a goat to have five ovulations!!!!! I would hate for her to have to go through this again, but since last year she had two such wonderfully healthy kids, its a bit of a conundrum for next year. Is there any way to predict or prevent this in the future? Any insights would be appreciated.

Also, when is it conisdered appropriate to start drinking the milk? So far its been quite thick and I thought I'd try soap with the first few days bounty. This board seems to be populated by a large number of knowledgable individuals, I appreciate any and all thoughts.

Thanks in advance
Tracy

Dee · #5 03/21/05, 03:58 PM

I think that if the doe is allowed to run with the buck for a while, you will get multipule births. However, if you hand breed, there will be less. That was my experience anyway.

Freeholder · #6 03/21/05, 04:38 PM

Dee, I hope you are wrong on that!

I put my buck in with my Kinder doe last fall because I wasn't catching her in heat -- Kinders are prone to large litters anyway! And she's looking pretty big already, for not being due for another five or six weeks. She's only had twins before, and that's really all I want (a buck and a doe. The buck kid is already sold, and I want one doe to keep).

Kathleen

ameliasmom · #7 03/21/05, 07:16 PM

Hi Bob
We're up in Canada and my vet has only really recommended tetanus vaccinations, and that was mostly because I asked about it when I elastrated her buck last year. That and Ivomec is all they've had since I've owned them. I will certainly call my vet and ask, but my inital impression was they didn't survive because there were just too darn many of them! When your does have quads do any or all of them survive? I found out that her full sister had two last year and two this year as well, so I'm optimistic about next year.

Thanks for your help
Tracy

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhjacobi

Hi Tracey,

I have had goats that tend to give us triplets and quads more than once, especially the triplets. I haven't investigated the question from your standpoint of wanting to make sure that you don't have that many again. Multiple births tend to be reapeated, but I don't know if that applies to five or not. Since it is so rare, my guess is that it won't happen very often, but that is really not based on any factual information that I have. I'm afraid that you will have to do your research.

I'm replying to ask about vaccinations. In our part of the country, if we don't vaccinate, we are probably guaranteed early still borns.

Bob
Lynchburg, TN.

windyhollowfarm · #8 03/21/05, 09:24 PM

It hasnt been my expierence that running a buck with a doe for a period of time equals more kids.

I had a doe last year who was hand bred. She went in with the buck, they did their thing, and out she went. She kidded with quads.

caroline00 · #9 03/21/05, 10:53 PM

we had a nubian doe years ago that had triplets when she was a yearling, quads her second kidding. Then her 3-7 kidding she had 5. Then her 8th until after we sold her she had quads again. She never had a stillbirth and her offspring were healthy and showworthy.

I am wondering if your doe was in with another goat and got butted real hard in the wrong spot, which made her miscarry go into labor early.

oh, our goats have always been purposely bred not running with the buck.

Eunice · #10 03/22/05, 05:04 PM

I tried to find some statistics on multiple births in goats. A 20 herd/608 goat study at the Fort Valley, GA Research Station came up with the stats that 34.6% of those does had single kids, 48.1 % had twins, 15.9% had triplets and 1.3% had quads. That can be extrapolated to mean that quints are more rare than 1.3%. My own experience had been three sets of twins, one single, one set of triplets and one set of quads (all alive and healthy) in six kiddings. My best doe is almost four years old and has had twins, quads and then triplets. My only single was the doe that lived in the same pen with the buck.

ameliasmom · #11 03/23/05, 03:03 PM

Just wanted to say a big Thanks to everyone for their ideas and advice and sharing their stories. This is all a learning experience on my end, and I sure appreciate learning from people who are actually living it. She is in a pen with her wether from last year, but he's never been a butter (at least not that I've witnessed). I'm glad to know others have had multiples which have survived, I'm very optimistic about next year. She's doing well and still producing lots of milk, I'm very excited to start drinking it.
Thanks Everyone!
Tracy