The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Topic started by: LockerbiteReiver on February 18, 2009, 10:53:32 am
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Hello Everyone
Some of you may have noticed my girlfriend "Ballingall" (Beth) who's been posting around here a fair bit recently. She and her mother have kept livestock (specifically goats and poultry) for many years and are experienced and knowledgeable small-holders. I am not. I am a scruffy, disorganized and lazy amatuer racing driver with a fine manly beard.
I'm relativly new to the small-holding life, though in the year and a half I've been going out with Beth I've learned alot fairly quickly (or at least I think I have anyway).
One of the things I haven't learned however is how to kid goats.
This presents me with a problem, since Beth and her mother have had to, very sadly, go down to London for a funeral leaving me in charge of the livestock. One of the livestock is an Anglo-Nubian so heavily pregnant that she looks like a beige barrage balloon with legs. She is massive. She's not due to kid until Saturday, but we're all not so sure she'll go full term. The kids are doing the heebie-jeebies inside her and she's exhibiting many of the signs of kidding in the next few hours.
I'm frankly terrified they're going to put in an appearance before my experienced minders come back from London (which should be in the late evening tonight).
So, anyone got any advice that can calm me down and stop me dancing about like a nutcase?
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Now I know why you need a big cork, maybe you should buy a big bottle of wine and relax, I know nothing about goats but nature should take it's course, if you watch any vet programmes you may have to check her out to see if they are being stangled byy the cord....I hope you get some advice but otherwise, get the local vet's number on standby and relax......Good luck, keep us posted....my sister in law in in Hospital 6 weeks early and due to give birth to twins so our plans are on hold as family will be visiting the new arrivals too....Hope your kids come out well so to speak...
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All i can say is nature has a way with these things, I'm not much help where it comes to kidding although have had a few, the nannies all brought them themself with very little help from me. I'm sure others on this site will have a lot more practicable advice than me.
So good luck, I'll keep my fingers crossed that she keeps her legs crossed for you, until help returns! :goat: :goat: ;D ;D
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If she's an experienced Mum she probably won't need any help from you. Others will have better advice than me but I'd just check her regularly, quietly and confidently (even if you don't feel it 0 take deep breaths and relax - if you're tense, she'll pick it up). If you're worried call the vet - better safe than sorry.
Alternatively, boil water, tear up rags, pace and drink whiskey - isn't that what fathers are supposed to do?
Keep us posted.
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She's kidded once before, the kids were huuuge (sadly one was born with a badly underdeveloped face and so had to be euthenized immediately), and if anything I think she's bigger this time around.
As for developments, little seems to have occured, no sign of any discharge yet, however she's shifting round her pen (every time I've been in to check on her she's been in a different place) and nickering at her flanks, and the kids are visibly very active inside her.
If she can make it to around 7pm in a similar stat, I think I'll have made it :D.
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Cork??? Brandy sounds good to me, Hopefully she will have it whilst your fast asleep and will give you a great suprise next morning!
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Hello LR
You said the kids were jumping about inside her? If you place your hand on her right flank and can feel them kicking, she's unlikely to be about to drop. A few hours before kidding the uterus contracts and effectively puts the kids in a straight jacket! If you can feel them jumping you're fairly safe.
Good luck and keep us posted
Dave
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Evening all!
Lord he's overdramatic at times!!!
The said goat, Kream, still hasn't had babies yet, so fingers crossed she'll waith til the morning now (or better yet Friday)
Beth
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Good Luck Beth (with both of them!) Let us know how you get on.. Ours aren't due for months yet :goat: :goat:
Dave
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So Kream had her babies today. I wasn't there, I was hard at work (actually I'd gone to Morrison's in my lunch hour and was buying trees when she had her babies) but anyway it was about 12:30.
She had a little boy- mostly brown with some white patches, and then she stopped.
And my mother and Alex waited......
And they waited....
And nothing happened.
So as they knew she was way too big for one kid, my mum had to investigate. There were two more kids trying to come out at once- one breech and the other straight forwards. So she had to sort them out and haul them out. This two were two girls, one very pale (nearly white- Kream was that colour when she was born, hence her name, but she turned strawberry blonde over the years), and one more biege-y cream.
There was also a fourth kid, but this had been partially re-absorbed at some point during the pregnancy, and was obviously dead.
I have some pictures, however the other half has the pictures on his pc, and I don't have them yet!
The little girls have been separated from mum and are indoors, the wee boy is still out with mum- although he will have to be separated soon as it is important we know how much milk mum has. I want to milk record her this year, and I hope she can get a really good lactation figure. She produced 6 1/2 kilos (6 and 1/2 litres) of milk a day last year, and should produce even more this year.
Beth
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Wonderful news 3 live births seems good going to me. Do you make cheese with the milk?
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Can I come over and see them, Beth?
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Wow! well done!! ;D ;D ;D Sound like it was a good job she waited for you and your mother to return, time for that bottle of wine, then your OH can have the cork for next time!! ;D ;D ;D ;D :goat:
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I don't think Gary will let them do a 'next time'
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It did sound more like he was having kittens not kids!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
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The OH does dote on the babies now ;D Even though he has kittens when he thinks he might have to cope with it on his own.
The kids have been named, the pale girl is Karli, and the slightly darker one is Koffi (Swahili name meaning born on Friday). The wee boy is now no longer with us. His mouth wasn't developed quite right, and he couldn't suckle properly, therefore we have had to have him put out of his misery. It is a shame because a lady up the road from us would have taken him as a castrated male (she took 2 from us last year). Its not every year we can find homes for the spare males.
Mum (Kream) now has no babies with her, and she is heartily relieved. Although she is maternal, she just doesn't want to live with her babies the whole time, and would far rather be back to normal with a large bowl of food all to herself. Took the girls out to her this afternoon when the boy was taken away, and she really didn't want to know them.
Annie- course you can come and see them. I'm in tomorrow afternoon definitely because the kitchen man is coming at 1:30! But I'm also having Wednesday and Thursday next week off work to spend a bit of time with my babies (and to await the next ones, because Lonicera is due on Tuesday, and Surf on Thursday), plus there's also evenings- whenever you want. Drop me a pm or a mail.
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Next week would be good for me. I'll send you an email to arrange a time
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Well what an afternoon we had! doganjo came over to see the kids, and when we were out in the shed looking at them, we noticed that Lonicera the British Toggenburg had started discharging so she had started to kid. We left her for 1/2 an hour whilst we had a cup of tea/coffee, but when we went back she still hadn't done anything. So, we prepared to go in, Annie stayed on to watch the birth (or so she thought).
My mum is a qualified vet and has kidded many, many goats over the years. So she cleaned herself up and got started. Lonicera hadn't dilated fully, and also her pelvis hadn't really slackened as much as it should have done. Also, the kid that was trying to come out was very big. So after about 1/2 an hour, mum still hadn't managed to get very far, and we had to concede defeat and call the vet. Who unfortunately was over at South Queensferry. We did have another try- both mum and myself, but neither of us had any more success. At this point Annie needed to head off, to get back to sort out dogs, ducks and chickens. We in the meantime had to wait on the vet, who was nearly an hour before he arrived.
He went to work, and took him about 20 minutes before he managed to get the kid into a decent position and then, finally out.
However, the kid wasn't breathing, so a bit of work had to be done to resuscitate it- including swinging it round (Alex wondered what the hell was happening) however it all worked and it was a girl!
It is one of the biggest kids I have seen for a long time. The baby has had a drink of milk, and is recovering from her traumatic birth. Mum is also recovering, I am just off out to get some more milk from her for the kid.
Beth
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Congratulations! Glad mum and kid are doing fine.
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I'm sorry I missed the end result, but it was nearing rush hour and my brood start to raise Cain if they aren't fed on time. The cockerel, Jamie, is the worst, then the ducks, and the dogs get going too. I want to stay friendly with my neighbours so thought it best to come home.
It was very interesting watching Beth and her Mum getting 'stuck in' as you might say ;) Ally and I kept out of the way apart from handing over towels, moving buckets of disinfectant out of the reach of the next door nanny, and putting the two baby kids back in their beds when they came to see what was going on. I've had to resus a puppy before now but they are marginally easier to 'swing round' than a baby goat! ;D
Glad to hear the kid was a girl - I take it she was a singleton after all, we had thought there might be two in there.
Hope Lonicera recovers well - she went though a lto today! A well deserved rest tonight for her :)
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Congratulations to all, and hope the kid is thriving.
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Congratulations!!!!!fom one Big kid to another ;D
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Congratulations!! Glad to here they both made it through! Do you have anymore due, if so i hope they go a little easier for you!! are there any pic's? ;D ;D ;D :pig:
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Yes - I took a few with my phone while I was there. First the two 3 days old kids from Kream, one of Big Daddy Goat, one of Ally and one of the other nannys, and lastly one of the white kid with Jess? or is it Tess? can't remember!
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AAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!! They are sooooo sweet! I really miss my goats, they are such wonderful animals. Thanx for the pics. ;D ;D ;D ;D :pig: :pig:
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everytime i read that heading i think it says something else :farmer: :farmer: ;D
Linz
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Mum, Lonicera (the British Toggenburg) isn't doing so well, she is still suffering a bit from the hard time she had. Her baby, in comparsion is doing very well. We have another Anglo-Nubian due imminently (tomorrow) and a white one (who is nearly British Toggenburg- she needs to have brown and white babies!) who is due in 3 weeks. We also have one more who might be due in the beginning of May, she had various fertility problems, but we think she might have held now.
I have a couple of pics here as well.
(http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/5416/99829368ck1.jpg)
These are the first two female AN kids on the day they were born last Friday.
(http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5876/75247154fq0.jpg)
Their mum Kream with her little boy. I lifted up one of wee girls to show her to Kream tonight, and Kream's reaction was to bite the wee one's ear! Kream definitely has no love left for her babies.
(http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/7191/bt1.jpg)
This is Lantana the BT kid a few minutes after being resuciated.
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7879/bt2.jpg)
Her mum Lonicera.
(http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7131/bt3a.jpg)
And Lantana's first feed. Lonicera understandably wanted nothing to do with her baby after the trauma she had, so she was taken straight away.
My sister works as a playleader at the local playgroup, and this morning we took all three along to let the children see the baby goats. They were most impressed that Lantana wasn't even a day old yet. They were also most impressed by Karli doing lots of poo!
Beth