False Pregnancy in Goats

[Genny]

I had this posted on my blog, but Deborah suggested I move it over to the forum...

 

I was checking out this site because I have two "forever pregnant" girls and I had them tested to make sure they were pregnant and there weren't any problems.   I found this interesting article on False Pregnancy in Goats.  It's copyright protected so I can't actually post the article itself on this forum.  However, since Biotracking is a large company, I'm sure they secured the copyright before putting it on their website...if you go there you can read it...here's the link..just click on the article to bring it up

http://www.biotracking.com/?q=goats/biopryn/works

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

Thanks for following up with us. This is really interesting!

[Genny]

Don't think I ever followed up on this post.  My "forever pregnant" girls looked pregnant (udders and all) and tested positive for pregnancy back in January but never kidded.  Evidently, they both had  false pregnancies.  They are sisters (twins) and both precocious milkers so the vet suspects this is why they develop all the signs of full-blown pregnancy.   This was  good because I had never intended to breed these two -- they had moved onto my farm to retire ... both beautiful and very sweet girls.

 

[Genny]

Our vet's ultrasound machine isn't the best and they couldn't see much with the ultrasound except the uterine wall and the fluid that's associated with pregnancy, so they took samples and sent them in for testing.  Both girls tested positive for pregnancy, but it's only 95% accurate so I'll believe it when I actually see the kids. 

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

So, did your girls actually test pregnant? Or did you do an ultrasound? The thing I find so interesting about this is that they can actually test positive, yet not be pregnant.