Butterscotch had her twins 2 weeks ago this Thursday, and today she has blood on her tail and is stomping involuntarily. Then after her twitching, she is going to various corners and laying down, which she has never done in our presence before. I did run out of alfalfa pellets because our local feed store didn't have any in stock, and had tried to feed them cubes unsuccessfully. Today they got their pellets again. They also are getting oats, barley, minimal chow, loose minerals, and baking soda. Her teats are a little pink, but both are the same size and her twins are on her constantly. She has also lost a lot of weight, but her twins are on her constantly. Could this be a reaction to eating the oats/barley, which they hadn't before giving birth? Cocoa seems to be doing fine, but her triplets came a week behind Butterscotch so I don't know if she's going to have trouble to or not.. any suggestions?
I'm going to keep an eye on her this afternoon and tomorrow morning, but I am worried. Thanks.
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Well, don't let her scare you off from playing with the kids. If she's not very friendly, then you definitely need to be spending time with them, so they'll be friendly.
Good luck, and enjoy your babies!
Thanks so much.. the blood really scared me, and the odd behavior. But perhaps she's getting sick of me picking up the youngins every day!! I want them to get used to me, so I don't have the problems I've had with the mamas. Also, it's the first day in a while that my husband has been around them, it's mostly me all the time. I fed them alfalfa again tonight, and will give them timothy tomorrow afternoon.. just wanted to make sure they had as much calcium/protein as I can give them. Thanks for the info about the calf manna, I will probably go get some to make it a bit better on my girls! FYI, let the girls out in their pen today (first good temp day) and Butterscotch ran right over to Ta Tanka's pen to give a kiss & say hello.. gonna have to move that fence soon!
Clumpy poop is often just a sign of parasites, which happens to a lot of goats after they kid. It's nothing that a dose of dewormer won't take care of. It could also explain the weight loss, or maybe she just needs more grain or alfalfa. Most goats are pretty thin by the time the kids are six weeks old and they're at peak milk production. They need a lot of calories. When I was writing my book, I consulted a goat nutrition professor and researcher who also raises goats, and she was saying that she can't seem to do anything to keep weight on her goats around six weeks postpartum. For a few years, I was adding Calf Manna to the goat's ration. It's very high protein, and that seemed to help some. This is the first year I haven't done it in a few years, and I'm seeing thinner goats. You didn't mention hay, which the goats should have available pretty much 24/7.
Everything else you mention sounds pretty normal. Goats will have bloody discharge for a couple of weeks after they kid. (Humans tend to have it even longer.) I wouldn't say that her stomping was involuntary, although I can see that you might think it looks like that. Lots of goats do that -- especially mama goats if there is a cat or dog around. It's their way of showing you that they mean business. Goats get much more "aggressive" after they have babies because they want to protect them. Goats lay down in the corners because they're prey animals, so they need to be able to see everything so they don't get eaten by a hungry wolf.
She's also got clumpy poo, and she hasn't had that before either.