Any way to palpate for pregnancy?

We exposed our doe for the first time on January 21 and saw a few good couplings.  Now that we are about a month away from possible kidding, my husband and I are doing the "Does she look pregnant?" "I think she looks pregnant" dance.

 

Is there any way to palpate externally to confirm yes or no?

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  • The udder is usually a good indicator of whether or not a doe is pregnant. If she is a first freshener, it's a little more tricky, but if she's been in milk before, then her udder should be starting to fill up with milk. The udder is also a pretty good indicator of how close she is to kidding. On some goats, it looks enormous about 12-24 hours before freshening.

    The rumen takes up most of the left side of the goat's belly, so babies can usually be seen on her right side. I'm not saying it's easy to see them though! The last couple weeks of pregnancy, we usually put does on the milk stand every day so they get accustomed to the drill, and we sit there with them. The way that our milking parlor is set up, the doe's right side is facing us, and we sometimes see kids kicking and turning, just like you do on a human's pregnant belly.
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