Advice/critique wanted please. This is my FF that gave birth to a single doe 20 hours before this photo. She had a 3.1 lb doe that has been nursing but not a lot. I am hoping they don't nurse a lot the first few hours. She has gained weight now 3.3 after 20 hours. I have seen her nurse often but only a few sucks at a time, but she has urinated at least three times. Does this sound right. I did milk a little colostrum for the freeze only about one ounce in two different milking for the freezer. Her sister is giving birth any day now and as this is my first goat we had no reserve colostrum in case of emergency. Is this ok? She seems two have very little milk, or maybe I am just very bad still. Her teats are very little and her length of body is to short. How does her udder look? I do want to start showing ( not this doe) and need to know what is good and what is bad. How much milk should I be getting when I separate her kid over night in a week? Thanks a lot angie
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Congratulations! I had a first freshener who was giving me drops the first few days -- and that's just because her babies were sucking it all down. So, two ounces is great! You'll both get better as time goes on! :)
Looks like one of my girls FF udder. Yes, I agree FF teats are crazy to milk! But luckily they get bigger pretty fast once you start milking. Congrats!
Looks like a typical FF udder to me. Everything sounds about right. Goat kids do nurse very frequently and for very short little sips. For now, you can just keep putting her on the milk stand once or twice a day and milk out whatever you can. If you've never milked a goat before, pat yourself on the back for getting an ounce -- especially out of tiny FF teats! :) You'll get better!
Her udder looks very nice, Angie!! Having a single, she probably won't reach her full potential but it looks well formed to my untrained eye. :) If little girl has peed three times, that means she has eaten. Generally, they urinate about 15 min after the eat. You can verify that by checking her tummy. It should feel like a waterballoon, with a little bit of give, but not squishy.
As for colostrum, take what you can, and if you need to, you can also express colostrum from your doe once she kids. Remember, they only need a fraction of what they weigh, and you have about 6 hours after birth to allow them to get colostrum. I know that helped ease my mind.
For some reason, Angie's post is all on one line, so I've copied what she wrote from the email I got.
"Advice/critique wanted please. This is my FF that gave birth to a single doe 20 hours before this photo. She had a 3.1 lb doe that has been nursing but not a lot. I am hoping they don't nurse a lot the first few hours. She has gained weight now 3.3 after 20 hours. I have seen her nurse often but only a few sucks at a time, but she has urinated at least three times. Does this sound right. I did milk a little colostrum for the freeze only about one ounce in two different milking for the freezer. Her sister is giving birth any day now and as this is my first goat we had no reserve colostrum in case of emergency. Is this ok? She seems two have very little milk, or maybe I am just very bad still. Her teats are very little and her length of body is to short. How does her udder look? I do want to start showing ( not this doe) and need to know what is good and what is bad. How much milk should I be getting when I separate her kid over night in a week? Thanks a lot angie "
Here are her photos: