Newbie and worried about late kidding

[Rachel stacy]

Hello everyone, my sweet husband and daughters decided to surprise me on Mother's Day with three new kids to love. Zander who is 4months old we got from a breeder who seemed on top of her herd. She taught us how to trim hooves the had him dewormed and vaccinated he was welled loved and taken care of. The other two beauties marigold who is 3 years old and her daughter Rosie who is a yearling came from a different lady who had too many goats to take care of. My husband was told Rosie was due to kid around the 26 of June. Well here we are the 4th of July and there is no kid. Marigold and Rosie are very skiddish and won't let us get too close. I don't think they had much loving contact before and were more like just a face in the herd. So checking her ligaments is next to impossible without causing some stress to her. We have tried to keep Rose separate from the other two but Marigold keeps finding a way to be with her. I'm not sure how important it is to keep them separate. And if I should be worried that she hasn't kidded yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres]

Does she have an udder forming?

Does her previous owner have an exact breeding date, or just a guess?

Can you ask that person if they witnessed the breeding and if Rose stood still for it?

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

Ditto on all of Rachel's questions. The goat might not even be pregnant.

[Rachel stacy]

Just had the vet out the the farm to check Rosie. He is recommending watching her for another two weeks and see if she won't deliver by herself. He said her due date must be off. So we are going to giver her two weeks then we will take her to the clinic to get an radiography so we can get a closer idea of her real due date. SO frustrated. But I am glad she is in good health otherwise.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

Glad to know she's in good health! I would never tell somebody to not call the vet if they thought their goat was in distress, but it sounds like your goat is perfectly fine. If you can afford the testing and vet call just to get a due date, that sounds like it might be fun -- but not necessary. Many of us have pen bred at one time or another, so we don't have an exact due date, and it's not a big deal. Goats give birth when it's time to give birth about 99.9% of the time. This is actually the first time I've heard of a vet suggesting doing anything to get an idea of a due date. Did the vet confirm that she is indeed pregnant?

And in response to your original post ... I don't see why you're trying to keep the goats separate. They're herd animals, so it's normal and healthy for them to be together.

[Rachel stacy]

We were told by the breeder to keep her separate when it come time for her to kid. I just figured it was for the baby's safety. So we tried. It's been over a month now of trying to keep them separate. We just gave up on keeping them separate this past week. Zander and Marigold miss Rosie so we put them back together. Everyone seems more happy. Murphy's law says she will kid while we are gone next week and the neighbor is taking care of my fur babies for me.