I Am new to this forum and I am glad I found it. In May we bought two nice looking Alpine goats from the auction. The other day my husband told me he thought the "Mama" goat was PG. So we built a pen inside the stall and bought shaving and some alfalfa to be ready. I found this forum last night and started reading as much as I could. I spent time with "Mama" last night in her pen. I pushed on her right side of her belly and thought I may have felt something but didn't know. So tonight I went back down ther after work and did the same thing. She looked smaller tonight. I listened with my stethescope and heard good bowel tones. It is a bit windy tonight so I thought well I don't think she is PG so I will put th eother goat in with her just to get out of the weather. They started to fight. They have played before but never have they had a war. Is this normal if the doe is PG. They have been insepertable for the last 5 months. My daughter and I checked the little one because I had a thought. See we bought these goats as pets with no intention of ever breeding. Well the little one is a buck. How stupid we are. How often do they come in heat? Is it once a month? Also "Mamma" follows my husband around no matter where he is. And she has been hiding from him for the last couple of days. He built the pen because we do have some wild animals and he wants her safe. Because he left for the weekend to go hunting. So I am left with this situation. She has milk, but her milk sacks are not real big. I have been reading on the false pregnancies. So when I went down ther tonight I thought maybe that could be it. But now that I know the little one we will now call Mac instead of pricilla is a buck. Maybe she is PG but not as far along as we thought. And suggestions or information would be of great help to this beginner. Paula The Pacific Northwest....
Welcome to the forum, Paula! Goats come into heat every 18-28 days, usually every 21 days. But most of them are seasonal breeders- they usually only come into heat & ovulate from August to January. If your doe has been with a buck for the last few months, she's probably pregnant. Their pregnancy last 150 days, can be a couple days shorter for single buck kids or longer for twins or triplets (very common!) It can be really hard to tell if they are pregnant. I know a gal who has a commerical goat dairy who has been surprised by babies from goats SHE didn't know were expecting! Their bellies will get bigger and smaller within hours if they've had good grazing. My goats will paw and dig for a couple of days before they deliver. There is also a way to tell if they are going to have babies that day. There are ligaments on either side of the tail where it attaches to the body. They will feel like tight strings running along the tail. These will disappear when the doe is within a day of delivering- it will feel like her tail is just held on with skin and going to fall off! I would keep your goats separate in the barn, where they can see and hear each other but not hit each other. They should be okay out on pasture. Goats will fight all the time but you don't want your doe getting hit in the belly now! A buck will also say,"Hey baby" to any doe he's been away from for 30 seconds. He'll sound like a kid imitating a machine gun. If she's not interested, not in heat, she will smack him hard! If you don't want to keep breeding, you should get Mac castrated by your vet- he's probably too old to be done any homemade way. Otherwise he will breed your does no matter what you do, or be constantly unhappy and frustrated. You should get a dairy goat book- I have Belanger's "Raising Dairy Goats". Any bookstore should be able to order one for you. Good luck! Goats are great!
The fiasco farms website has a lot of good information for beginners. http://fiascofarm.com/ Kathleen
Thank you both so much for your replt to my post. I am not so sure we won't raise goats now. Mamma is such a nice goat. Wait until my husband gets home Sunday night. Won't he be shocked!!!! haha. I don't know why I never checked before. I guess that would put her due around Thanksgiving or the early part of December. Can I feed Mamma branches from the fir trees or maple trees? Again thank you for your replies.. Paula The Pacific Northwest
It's highly unlikely she is anything but maybe 1 or maybe tops 2 months along. This would put you with due dates of late January through March. She likely has some milk left from being dried before her sale at the auction. This is also likely her son, if he is tame he was bottlefed and she doesn't even know it is her son, if he is wild, than perhaps it is he son with her dry now, she wants nothing to do with him. Has he tried to nurse her? Take a good strong flashlight and see if you can see tattoo's in her ear A herd of Alpines was just dispersed in your area, perhaps some went through the sale! I would just let them be. A doe will put a younger buck into his place, and what to us is fighting to them is simple dominance, and putting each other in their place. Nobody wants to be alone during the winter without someone to cuddle up to! Pay particular attention to your minerals, have them out clean and fresh in the barn. You live where copper is a huge issue, also Bo-se. You will want your PPM of copper up in the 1000's or higher, you may need to bolus, and to give Bo-se shots about 3 weeks before your doe is due (a perscription). ADGA.org has clubs listed by state, may want to join one, they are a invaluable souce of information, finding a vet, newletters, and folks who love goats and love to talk goats! Nothing is better than learning about goats from folks in your area. Sannendoah.com is a wealth of information, read her copper information. Get back to me if you find tattoo's in the ear, I am dying to know! The right ear will be the info of who the breeder is, the left we could probably figure out exactly how old your goats are. Vicki
