Need seem advice!
Eva had triplets last Tuesday and the boys are doing great! As of today they are eight days old and this morning our vet managed to get round to dis budded for us.
So all went great they did cry a little and Eva could hear but all was fine. I have been checking on the boys all day and they are starting to bounce back, but my concern is with Eva!
She has sat away from all of them for the day! Each time I have gone in to check she has got up and has allowed them to feed but she has acted very buckey towards one of the boys but has still lets him feed. Not sure if this is to do with the change of smell on him, she is fine with the other two.
Her temp is 102.9 she is peeing, pooing fine, she is grazing at her hay which is second cut and she is picking the sunflower seeds out of her oats and barley mix. What I don't like a present is her udders really don't seem very full! Is this normal when feeding three kids?? I have checked their tummies and they are lovely and full but my concern is to Eva and if I should be doing any thing else for her.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Replies
That was one of the things that I found hard to grasp too with my first kidding-- my doe would let the babies nurse for maybe 10 seconds (or even 5!) and then walk away, even after a only a couple of days. Apparently this is completely normal and my bucklings grew like weeds. She never seemed like she had much in there but she was feeding them frequently if only for a few seconds. Time to relax and enjoy your kids! Sounds like your mama is doing a great job!
Thank you for this! I would not have separated them without having advice from this forum first.
I totally understand and appreciate the difference between having two and three kids and that the demand is more on the doe. I do expect her to walk away at some point but surprised to see her doing this at nine days old and for us not having triplets before when you see an udder that empty is a little surprising and to be honest in all the books we have read and what people say I never expected to see such an empty udder.
Oh, dear! When I said, "Separate the kids overnight, and you'll get a big surprise," I did NOT mean that you should do that now. (I'm going to edit that now and remove it so that no one else reading this later thinks that is what I meant.) If a doe is nursing three kids, I don't normally separate them overnight until the kids are two months old. What you have described sounds completely normal, and what Rachel said is 100% right on. You don't need to fix anything. Kids nurse frequently in small amounts, and does walk away from kids all the time when they're nursing. The older the kids get, the more the does do it. Their patience the first few days always amazes me as they stand there for so long letting the kids get started. I'm sorry I've done such a terrible job explaining why the udder looks empty when three kids are nursing, but the bottom line is that if a goat had an udder that looked full when she was nursing three kids, I would be worried that she had some sort of edema, mastitis, CAE, etc.
NO.
Giving her a break (without milking her out) will tell her body there is no need to produce, or at the very least, confuse it. Milk supply is made by demand. If your boy's tummies feel full, THAT is the test you should go by. It means they are getting enough milk from her. Keep an eye on their growth too, and activity levels. It sounds to me like they are keeping her milked out, and she is meeting their demand just fine. The more they nurse, the better. Don't take them off her! It will have the opposite effect that you are hoping for.
Sally Knight said:
Eva's udders just look empty and now really tiny! She was fine this morning with them feeding but I have just done chores and have spent some time with them again just watching them and her also for me to have some play time with the kids to allow Eva to eat, while she was eating this time one of the kids went to feed she just stepped away from them.
The boys have full tummies and they are nine days old, do you think they would be alright for one night in a dog pen next to her? Just wondering if giving her a break over night might help?
If she had twins last year and triplets this year, makes sense that three will eat more than two, so her udder will look more empty. And really, if the udder ever looks "full" when they have kids nursing, you should be milking them.
Thank You!
Just came back from checking on Eva and the boys and they boys are all sitting under heat lamps. The boys all seem happy so I have left them lounging!
Eva is still a bit picky on her food so I am going to continue with small amounts of feed on a regular basis and hay is always available.
Last year her udder never seemed to look so empty! So this is a new learning curve for me. She seems bright, once I have done all our other animals chores I will sit in the pen with them all to check they are feeding and also find the entry you mentioned.
Ditto on everything Rachel said. Milk is produced based upon demand, so they are not going to walk around with a lot of milk in their udder if kids are there 24/7. They are just keeping up with the kids' demand.
There was someone on this group a couple of years ago who had a doe that would refuse to ever let her kids nurse again after disbudding. It was the most extreme case I'd ever heard of. Most does have no problem with disbudding, and of those who do, most will start to act normally towards their kids within a few hours.
Thanks Rachel! This is her second kidding but last year she had twins and we did not have to get them dis budded as their new owner wanted her goats with horns.
I was wondering if todays experience just really upset her. Not use to my little girl being like this at all as she is such a good mum it feels weird to see her like this.
Feel better about the udder I will stop worrying as much. Going to check on her again before I got to bed. Just hate seeing her like this!
She might be a little unsure about the boy's new smell. Maybe one of them smells more to her than the others... Is she a FF? As long as she's letting him nurse, I wouldn't worry too much.
Re the udder size:
My doe's udders never seem as full when they have kids on them 24/7 as they do once I start pulling the kids at night to milk in the AM.