I think my doe is trying to kill me.
I am absolutely positive of how far along she is (152 days today) because she was only with the buck one day. She has had an udder forming for the last 3 weeks, until today her ligaments were extremely tight. This evening they were much softer but definitely still there and her udder was larger. This will be her 3rd kidding, but my first and she is making me wait. I put her in the birthing stall just in case (which she was not thrilled with, but I distracted her with alfalfa pellets) and I've got my kidding supplies ready to go.
Unfortunately I don't have a monitor that can reach that far from the house so I will be checking on her hourly tonight, just in case. I'm so much more nervous about her birth than I was about my own!! This is so nerve wrecking. She's been much lazier the last 3 days and today she was huffing and puffing all day, laying all sprawled out. Her vulva is soft and open (even more now than in the pictures from this afternoon) but there is no discharge to speak of. I guess this is part of the doe code huh? She's breaking me in lol. Any last minute advice for me?
My nails are short and clean.
My labor kit is ready to go.
I unfortunately can't have caffeine due to being pregnant myself :(
She better not have these babies without me!
Replies
It worked! I started milking her out completely 3 times a day and this evening I got them both on at the same time :) Thanks so much for your help and encouragement! Hopefully they will just continue nursing on both sides now.
Definitely, keep working on this! Feel free to milk it out completely. The kids are probably avoiding it because it's hard. Just keep sticking them under there, and in the meantime, milk it out if necessary to keep it producing. You could wind up with that side drying up completely if they aren't nursing and you don't milk it out. It's all about supply and demand. And if the other side is "empty," they'll try this side.
Sorry ladies, one more Newbie question!
Both kids are nursing on the same side (right side) and completely ignoring her left side. I just milked over a cup from her because she was so lop-sided. I tried getting both of the kids to nurse on the left but the totally refused and acted like I was trying to kill them. It wasn't plugged at all but she looked so uncomfortable. Even after milking out more than a cup from the left side it was still readily giving milk, I just didn't want to milk it empty in case one of the babies actually gave it a shot. They are both fighting over the right side and I can't understand why!
Will they eventually get it sorted out or should I keep an eye on it and keep milking her on the other side so it doesn't dry up?
Congratulations! Birth is my favorite part of having goats! It's usually quite the adrenaline rush!
Congratulations! They're so sweet. :)
Oh, Emily-Congratulations!! I have been following your discussion and so hoping for you and mama that everything would be alright. She sure kept you waiting, but such beautiful babies- it was worth it! So happy to hear all went well. Enjoy those pretty little ones!
Yay! Congratulations! The babies are beautiful! :)
The babies finally Arrived!!! I knew something was going to happen when I fed everyone breakfast at 6:30 and she didn't want to eat. On day 153, at 11:06am Joy gave birth to a little black and white buckling with brown eyes and wattles. At 11:08 she pushed our a bigger chamoisee buckling with blue eyes! It couldn't have gone smoother, I'm just really glad I was outside with her all morning because she went from making me doubt myself about her breeding date to ligaments gone and lots of discharge in about 2 minutes. She gave birth less than 30 minutes after I moved her back into the birthing stall. Both bucklings nursed with gusto and had both nursed 3 different times before I left them to come inside for lunch. I can't believe what a liberating and wonderful experience that was!! I'm totally on cloud nine right now. :) Joy drank a half gallon of unsulfered molasses water and ate her breakfast before I came back inside as well. She is so happy and in love with the babies!
20150519_115134.jpg
Just checked the forecast and it looks like we're going to have a rainy night for the next 3 nights. She would wait til now to have them lol It hasn't rained here in days.
I just checked on her and she's laying in her hay but hasn't progressed much.
I think she's part pygmy because of her shape, I don't know if that would have anything to do with her going longer than usual. Nothing is sticking out of her vulva thankfully (I have read several posts about prolapses on here) it's just a bad picture. Her vulva opened more when she was laying down and that was just the inside wall of it. Sorry for the bad picture! I've never looked at an animals genitals so much in my life! I would consider camping out there with her except that it's 89 degrees with like 90% humidity tonight and it makes my morning sickness (all day sickness really) super bad. I may ask my husband to spend some time out there tonight if it looks like she's progressing though. I'll definitely be out there though if she starts to show real progress. I'm so nervous!!! Thanks for the encouragement!
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next