Annie had triplets. Two 3 lb bucks and and tiniest doeling I have ever seen. We may have weighed her wrong. I will double check, but it read .5 lb. She was shivering even though it was about 70 degrees when they were born. It was breezy. I took her out in the sun and she warmed right up. I bottled her a little colostrum to get her started, she did nurse on her own afterwards.
She looks like a kitten. What do I need to do for her? I am worried she won't be able to compete for milk with her big brothers? Annie should make enough for all of them but if not I have another doe in milk who can help too.
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Carmen is on the small side -- always measured 19 or 19.5 inches.
Yes, that's cow-hocked in goats too. Sometimes when kids are really small, they just aren't strong enough to hold their legs nice and straight. I don't put too much weight on how they look in the first few days ... or even the first few months sometimes. Carmen placed dead last the first few times we showed her.
Juliana Goodwin said:
Deborah thanks so much for sharing that story. I'm sure this little girl won't be as successful as Carmen but it sure it exciting to get the first results of a good breeding pair. Her sire is the first decent buck I've owned, and this is his first kid on the ground (he's not even a year old yet so he's been s busy boy!) But nice to know these runty ones can grow up to be somebody! :)
I strongly suspect that my doeling wouldn't have made it if we had not been present. She came out in one little blob (not in a diving position or anything, just curled up, and was so small she managed to be born that way), inside what felt like a pretty tough membrane! She did not move, it was just a blob there and I said "oh no, this one's dead. But we opened the membrane and sure enough she started to move. Frankly it took me a minute to rip the membrane and get her head out, I can't imagine she could have done it. Mom was overwhelmed with the two wild boys who had already been born. We had to suction her nose & mouth a little and she was so small and cold, just shivering like crazy.
So grateful we were there & able to get her started. Also grateful Annie carried these 3 to full term, I doubt Lilla could have made it if she had been born early. She had them on 145 as it was. But this big boys couldn't wait. I know nothing's a sure thing so I sure hope she makes it! I am doing everything I can to help her. Also I am happy to report the mom has perked up quite a lot and is eating much better than yesterday.
Did Carmen get to be a regular sized goat or has she stayed small?
Also, if they have cow hocks at this age, can they grow out of it? Neither parent has that, nor did Annie's sisters or any other kids I got out of Annie, her sister Penny ect. Grand dam & sire on doeling's sire's side do not appear to have this problem according to their pics but I have never seen them in person.
Congratulations on getting your dream doeling! I know how that feels. This reminds me of my Carmen story. It was only our second kidding season, and Dancy gave birth to these two hugs bucklings and a doe that was so small she could walk under her mother! I wish I could find the pictures I took back then. She was soooo tiny! And she almost died because we missed the birth, and when we found her, she was wet and lifeless, but her brothers were both nursing. My daughter insisted she felt a heartbeat, so we put her body in warm water, and she perked up. At the time I didn't see how a little runt could ever amount to anything, and I nearly fainted when she got her first championship title. Now ARMCH Antiquity Oaks Carmen *D 1*M is on her final lactation, 17 months and still going and about to turn 10 years old this spring. So, when you get those little runts, you just never know how they're going to turn out. Then there's Lil, but we won't talk about her. :)
If you overfeed her, she'll get diarrhea. It probably won't hurt her. I overfed a few kids in the early days, and they didn't seem to be any worse for it. For the first few days, I wouldn't give her more than 2 ounces at a time. If she is acting hungry, you can give her more in a couple hours. It doesn't really seem to be the amount of milk they get total for the day as it seems to be the amount they get at a single feeding, which causes diarrhea.
I have waited years for this doeling too...she is out of my favorite doe, by my best buck and the color combination I had secretly hoped for so I was so excited to see her.
She took a pretty good bottle this morning. I kept coaxing her to have a little more and finally she spat some out and was like "I'm done". Should I be worried about over feeding her, or if she says she's done then that's a good amount? I don't know how much she drank, in the grand scheme of things only a tiny bit, but her little belly felt like a nice full baloon
Mom seems okay...little girl seems okay, boys of course are round and happy. No more bleeding. I did give the girl some bottles today. She is just the cutes thing I have ever seen in my life
LMAO at "Dinner in bed" lol
I've seen blood with my doe's placenta before, and she was OK. I think sometimes, it's easier to see on light does, too.
Oh, your little girl looks almost exactly like a tiny doeling that one of my does gave birth to in May 2012, also with two bucklings (she was 2 lbs, one buckling was 3.5 lbs and the smallest buckling was 1.5 lbs!). The doeling was the first to nurse, but her dam was a first freshener and after a couple of days, I noticed she was pushing the little doeling away and only allowing the boys to nurse, so I started bottle feeding the doeling, a bottle morning and evening, although I think I should have given her more frequent feedings. She still seems rather small to me, but she's healthy. The tiny buckling caught up to his bigger brother very fast and was the first to be sold, and is now living a posh life as a pet. I agree it couldn't hurt to boost her with some extra milk.
The placenta picture looks about right. There is sometimes fluid in the membranes, which makes the whole thing look much scarier than it is. The blood on her side isn't super common but probably nothing to worry about. Sounds like it was an easy delivery, no intervention, and she's not really old, so the odds that it's bad are pretty slim. But as always, if she stops eating or starts ignoring the kids, it's time to worry. How is she this morning?
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