Bad mother or something else?

Last year one doe (a first timer) had twins..i found them late; one was dead; the other barely alive but my hubby scooped him up and brought him in the house and saved him. It appeared the doe had no interest at all so we bottle fed. Last nite I checked her and her udder was not real full and her ligs were not that relaxed so I wasn't concerned....I got home tonite and found 4 dead babies. Umbilicals still attached, appeared to be formed correctly....also found a fluid filled sack intact. The bodies were soaking wet and ice cold; she hadn't cleaned them. Did she just leave them to die after birth or could it be they were a little too early? This doe was born here, dam raised...Her mother is an absolute perfect mother. Just trying to make some sense of this and if she is a bad mother I would probably sell her as a pet only. Any ideas?

Sometimes a first-time mom will have no idea what to do when she gives birth, which is why I like to be there. Sometimes the sac will break when the kid is born but not always. Usually after the first kidding, they figure out what everything means, and they know they need to get up and lick off the baby when it's born. It's not necessarily that they're a bad mother. They're just clueless.

One I remember in particular ... I was doing chores when she was in labor, so I kept walking through the barn. I heard her scream, so I went in there and saw that she was actually pushing out the second kid. The first one was laying in the sac under her tail, obviously dead already. Somehow I missed the first birth. But when I went in there and put the second kid in front of her face, she became seriously OCD, licking it like crazy. Same thing with kid #3. In fact she was licking them so much, it was making it difficult for them to nurse because she kept turning towards them as they were trying to go for the teats.

An empty sac fluid is just a bit of tissue that got twisted with fluid in it. You see that quite a lot. There will sometimes be a small sac of fluid after the last kid and before the placenta comes out or between kids. Premature kids are obviously tiny -- as in less than a pound in weight. It sounds like she just didn't clean them up, which is not that uncommon.

A $15 baby monitor from the discount store can save you a lot of heartache. If you have a metal barn, just place it next to a window or door of the barn so that there isn't any metal between it and your house. If anyone asks me what they need to have for kidding, the two most important things are a baby monitor and towels. You need those two things for every birth. The rest of the stuff that they sell in the catalogs is almost never needed.

Replies

Deborah Niemann-Boehle February 25, 2016 at 7:41pm

Sometimes a first-time mom will have no idea what to do when she gives birth, which is why I like to be there. Sometimes the sac will break when the kid is born but not always. Usually after the first kidding, they figure out what everything means, and they know they need to get up and lick off the baby when it's born. It's not necessarily that they're a bad mother. They're just clueless.

One I remember in particular ... I was doing chores when she was in labor, so I kept walking through the barn. I heard her scream, so I went in there and saw that she was actually pushing out the second kid. The first one was laying in the sac under her tail, obviously dead already. Somehow I missed the first birth. But when I went in there and put the second kid in front of her face, she became seriously OCD, licking it like crazy. Same thing with kid #3. In fact she was licking them so much, it was making it difficult for them to nurse because she kept turning towards them as they were trying to go for the teats.

An empty sac fluid is just a bit of tissue that got twisted with fluid in it. You see that quite a lot. There will sometimes be a small sac of fluid after the last kid and before the placenta comes out or between kids. Premature kids are obviously tiny -- as in less than a pound in weight. It sounds like she just didn't clean them up, which is not that uncommon.

A $15 baby monitor from the discount store can save you a lot of heartache. If you have a metal barn, just place it next to a window or door of the barn so that there isn't any metal between it and your house. If anyone asks me what they need to have for kidding, the two most important things are a baby monitor and towels. You need those two things for every birth. The rest of the stuff that they sell in the catalogs is almost never needed.
Rose Stuart February 24, 2016 at 9:42pm

Thank you.....im wondering if that fluid filled sack was perhaps another unformed baby that maybe caused things to happen too soon??? Ive been doing this for 4 years and haven't had the luck to see a birth; Ive gone to the barn and surprise theres some new babies all cleaned up and running around. It just breaks my heart.
Kristi Stone February 24, 2016 at 9:35pm

Wow Rose, I'm so sorry that happened. I don't have any advice, my heart just broke for you when I read your post. :( I hope you are able to figure out what happened.

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