The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: sokel on February 25, 2014, 06:24:51 pm
-
We checked everyone at 1.45 pm today then popped out to stock up on feed before kidding starts at the weekend but Tulip couldn't wait
Got back at 3.50 , unloaded the feed and suddenly heard a kid. went into the shed to find Tulip had given birth to twins, 1 of each sex. Both where up and on their feet . both have since fed mum is well and had something to eat and drink :thumbsup:
-
Just as it should be without help or fuss. :)
Congratulations hope it continues in the same manner.
-
Great news :thumbsup: just missing the piccies :eyelashes:
-
Just a quick Picture of them just after I found them.
Now I am alert checking them incase she sets the others off
-
Ahhhhh :love: :love: gorgeous, thanks for the kid fix :sunshine:
-
gorgeous!
-
Beautiful. :thumbsup:
-
:goat: superb :thumbsup:
-
Triplets today, 2 girls and a Boy from Lilly all feeding well :thumbsup:
-
Wow, those triplets look big. Well done mum.
Your herd is increasing rapidly and girl numbers looking good :thumbsup:
-
Lovely :thumbsup:
Got another 6 weeks to wait for mine to arrive, so nice to get a 'kid fix' early ;D
-
They're great sokel - I can't find my glasses so they look like puppies but I'll take your word for it - many more to go?
-
4 more to kid from our main herd, 3 due today and 1 tomorrow then we start again in May ::) its going to be a long night checking them
-
4 more to kid from our main herd, 3 due today and 1 tomorrow then we start again in May ::) its going to be a long night checking them
You need a camera, I have one goat due next week and we have just installed the "goat TV" for this year. It's great - no more unnecessary night time checks, a quick opening of the laptop and you can see what's going on. Much better for the girls too, they don't get disturbed.
-
Sounds good, where did you get it ?
-
Sounds good, where did you get it ?
I am afraid my OH is the gizmo person in our house. But we basically bought an indoor camera (with IR capability) with an IP over mains transmitter for the distance from the goathouse to our house, plus some extra cable from the extension connection for the goathouse (in the garage) to the router in the house because of interference.
Bit if you have clear line of sight between your house and the goathouse you can get easy transmission to either a computer screen or a TV (which we haven't got).
There are a few "ready made" systems available, usually sold under "lambing cameras", but our combination worked out cheaper.
Hope your girls get on with it! (I am sure they will - weather forecast is a bit wild... snow down your way?)
The whole caboodle came from Amazon.
-
sounds complicated ::)
just been out and nothing happening .
its a bit cold and windy but dry here, its been a lovely day all day today and yesterday actually reached 14 deg
-
Another set of Twins Born at 3am this morning , Both Boys
-
I'm so jealous. I've got to wait until May before mine are born. She's already huge.
-
We had another single born on Saturday taking the number up too 8 kids
Cherry was due on Saturday and we are still waiting , dread to think what she is going to produce as she is as wide as she is long :o
-
Still waiting for the 3 dairys that we are kidding , 2 where due Saturday and 1 sunday :-\ , the 4 Boers we had put in kid have produced either early or ontime
-
Still waiting on ours too- Arwen was due on Friday and still nothing! Hope all your babies are doing ok.
Beth
-
Our kidding began with an unexpected delivery of twin girls to my GG 1st kidder, 5 days early... She waited until all of us were away... (and I had checked her in the morning, as she had been restless all night (thank god for the camera), but showed no signs of imminent kidding)...
Next one is my ginormous BT girl, due next Monday. She is just lumbering about and looking seriously fed up!
Sokel - if your girls still haven't done anything, book yourself a nice dinner out and tell the goats all about it. I bet you will come back to a barn full of new kids!
-
I am supposed to be going out tomorrow so no doubt that's when they will arrive, Its funny our first lot where 5 days early as well
checked previous records and the 3 dairys that still have to kid where 3 days late last time
-
Quads just been born ! :o
-
Quads.... :o Hopefully all four well?!
My (AI-ed) BT looks mahooosive.... now you have frightened me a bit.... she's due next MOnday.
-
:o blimey :knit: :knit: :knit: :knit:
-
Quads.... :o Hopefully all four well?!
My (AI-ed) BT looks mahooosive.... now you have frightened me a bit.... she's due next MOnday.
I knew she was big and her udder was almost on the floor but I still didn't expect quads.
all 4 are a good size and made sure all have had 2 good drinks of Colostrum and are also latching on :thumbsup:
-
Brilliant! Well done all of you - trust she's not a first timer.
So what do you actually do with quads? Let mum feed 2 and bottle feed the others or let the first 2 have mum in the morning while the other ones are bottle fed and then the other 2 take the afternoon shift?
Hope mum keeps well!
-
TBH I have never had quads before , At the moment I am leaving them with mum but making sure everyone gets regular feeds . We will probably take them off her after a week anyway and bottle them. This is her 3rd and last lot of kids, 2 at first kidding both female, 3 at second kidding 2 female and 1 male, then 4 at this kidding 3 female and 1 male. Not risking her again.
She actually only had the 1 mating as well
-
:goat: :goat: :goat: :goat:
Wow! Well done!
-
All 4 are full of bounce this morning :thumbsup:
can anyone advise on best way forward with Quads ? They are all with mum ,They are all about the same size
At the moment I am topping them all up with a bottle that they are all happy to take and they have all been seen feeding from mum aswell. We do remove and bottle our kids after a week old anyway
Mum has loads of milk , I remember the year she had twins we where taking a over a gallon off her a day on top of what we where bottling into the kids
-
Amazing :thumbsup:
-
This was them minutes after the last one was born
-
These are Boer crosses? Mum a dairy goat?
I think your best option would be to milk the nanny and bottle feed all the kids, that way you know that they all get what they need.
I would worry that with four to suckle from mum, one could easily always be the last one in the queue...
-
Yes mum is a BT and dad a pure Boer we are bottling them, at the moment they are each taking around 350-400 mls each feed but we have left them in with mum for now. Do you think it would be better to separate now rather than at a week old like we normally do ?
-
Yes mum is a BT and dad a pure Boer we are bottling them, at the moment they are each taking around 350-400 mls each feed but we have left them in with mum for now. Do you think it would be better to separate now rather than at a week old like we normally do ?
Separating at one week is probably fine (as you are topping them up anyway they should be fine just switching onto the bottle fulltime), I am behind with my first set of twins too, disbudding was on Wednesday and I normally separate straight after that, but as OH was too busy to put in the pen division, they are still with mum until a week old at the weekend :-\...
-
All still doing well and taking a full bottle each at each feed aswell as feeding from mum.
Snowdrop, cherry's 3yr old Daughter produced a single female this afternoon :thumbsup:
-
You're doing really well Sokel :thumbsup: that's brilliant.
I'm going to ask a question here, and it's not meant to rub anyone up the wrong way because there's a lot I don't know about goat rearing I'm sure.
Why would you separate kids from their mums so early. Surely it is the most natural thing in the world to leave them with their mums for at least a couple of weeks before milking for yourself? I can see quads is a different thing but if there is just one or two involved, why give yourself the hassle of having to feed them all the time and why wouldn't you want the doe and kid to have the experience of that bond? Smallholding isn't commercial farming, there's no pressure surely.
Not meaning to offend anyone out there. :eyelashes:
-
The later you leave it the more difficult it is to put the kid/lamb etc onto the bottle, and causes more stress for everyone (kid, nanny and human) involved.
-
Ours still have a very close bond without the feeding, Cherry is Mum to Bluebell and Snowdrop, we took over bottling them at a week old they still went out together but they saw us as the source of milk. They would run to us too be fed then follow Cherry around the field.
They still as adults always bed down together and rest their heads on each other
-
Personally, I prefer to leave mine for mum to feed and let the kids wean naturally. I still milk mum after the first week, even if I don't get very much as milking increases the yield.
I'm just wondering how Cloud is going to take to being milked. I have tried feeling her udder (such as it is) a couple of times and she does not like it.
-
Thanks for replies to that! There's a reason for everything.
Our kid from last year had to be bottle fed, first time mum just wasn't interested at all, makes for a very biddable kid and the human kids loved it. I'll assess the situation this year when she has her offspring in May.
How's it going anyway Sokel?
-
All finished and all doing well :thumbsup:
-
Excellent, must be like the Waltons at your place (or am I showing my age).
Goodnight John Boy, goodnight Hairy Melon :D
-
:roflanim: Its years since I saw the Waltons, Have to admit the last check at night takes a while ::)
-
Hiya all. My Sanaen kidded quads second kidding nd rejected all 4! I felt like Apu from the Simpson's!! I had No Life at all until I found a lamb rack!!
Then the next year her daughter kidded 2 girls, nd she beat her up, nicked one of the girls nd reared it like her own......
Well done Sokel nd your girls! :wave:
-
I'm just wondering how Cloud is going to take to being milked. I have tried feeling her udder (such as it is) a couple of times and she does not like it.
Mine didn't like being touched before kidding, but once kidded they were OK, probably glad ofthe (more gentle) relief of milk. One did hold milk back for her babies, but I got some out of her.
-
Thanks, Pennine. I hope Cloud is the same. My first goat was already being milked when I bought her so no trouble there, once she accepted that I am the boss. Her daughter was fine about being touched and for the last couple of weeks I had her on the milking bench every day and stroked her udder with no problem. I had to take some milk off her in the last few days. Maybe I'm rushing Cloud. She doesn't actually have an udder yet as she's not due until May. She's going to have to get used to it though.