Deborah, the teat conversation made me think that we should mention things like this that should be checked. Can some of you tell us what things you know of that we should look for on both the doelings and bucklings at birth or at other specific ages that are abnormal or disqualifying etc. What about waddles? I keep wondering, about showing them. Are they disqualifying? Are there anythings in the mouth to check for, like clefts? Hermaphrodites? Navels hernias? Especially anything that might not be obvious. Thanks from all of us who will benefit from your answers.
You need to be a member of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats to add comments!
Replies
I'm lost! I have never heard of this! I still can not figure this out! I guess I need to look this up and study it some.
That is what I am interested in. Anything I don't know!
Thanks for reminding me to add the bites to my list Shannon! Ya'll are doing great at this!
Thank you, Deborah and Shannon, for the reassurance. Right now, I'm thinking that it being summertime and heats being less obvious along with my being gone during the day most days and the possibility of an hours-long heat, that all is okay. I have not yet gotten the buck rag and will not worry (different from concern) unless there is no reaction to that later.
Shannon, the two you had - were they from the same dam? I'm wondering if there might be rare uterine conditions that cause some does to have kids more prone to it.
For the long term, though Summer matters, it's important that I keep focused on Ginger as she will be the "start of it all," i.e., my permanent milking does - that is my hope. Capri is a wonderful doe but her teats are rather small and likely more difficult to milk because of it. Trying to believe my emotions (attachments) will not get in the way, my plan is to re-home Capri and Summer together when Ginger is milking and there is at least one more adult doe who is born here. Of course, that is a bit away with Ginger being only five months old tomorrow. Looking at bloodlines, it seems logical to keep Ginger and one of her does sired by Crazy as primary does. Of course, as we all know, bloodlines are only part of it with performance being a bigger part of it with our hearts being the biggest factor. However, if Capri consistently has great milking does, that is a good reason to keep her, my first milking doe. :-)
Maybe, I'll be extraordinarily lucky and win the lottery, buy more space and keep all of them never having to decide who the "over three" are. I still cannot believe my good fortunate at Capri having a single doeling and postponing at least a year any decisions as to who must leave.
Don't get too freaked out about freemartins in goats. They are really rare. We still haven't had one. We had a goat six or seven years ago that was not getting bred. I don't remember all the details anymore, but I did contact her breeder about a possible replacement because she was getting close to two and had not been bred yet. Finally, I decided to just stick her in a pen with a buck, and five months later, she had a kid.
Glenna Rose said:
Freemartins? I knew from childhood that the heifer from mixed twins would never breed but gave no thought to it extending to other animals, especially those who routinely have multiple births. I will be watching Summer even more closely than I have been; I actually printed the characteristics of heat and have also asked my neighbor who has a great view of them to watch as well. Over the past two months, I have observed Capri to quite possibly be in heat but not Summer at all. As fall approaches, her heat periods should be more obvious, shouldn't they? Summer was from a litter of triplets the other two of whom were bucklings.
So much to learn.
Maybe it was yellow and just seemed white compared to the other. I had no idea it wasn't "normal," just figured it was the colostrum causing the color but it was definitely little berries. I wish I had known to be more observant as to how long it was but I think it was finished by her third day (born Mon. night and counting Wed. as third day). I just remembered thinking it was cute compared to the other and thought it was part of the process.
Even harmless ignorance can be costly - I had Sungold tomatoes seed back true and didn't save seeds. It should not have happened since they are hybrids so I may have missed a golden opportunity there (sungolden opportunity?) it they seeded back true subsequent years.
If there should ever be white (or even yellow) berries again, I'll take a photo. I think Capri kept all that from the first hours cleaned up so I never saw it. She was constantly checking her and cleaning her little behind.
Yes, they could do surgery to correct it, but the cost would be far more than a goat is worth, especially as a kid when you have no idea what they will grow up to be.
I have never seen white baby poop. The first poop is black and sticky, just like in human babies, but within a few hours, they are pooping mustard yellow (just like human babies). It is usually about the consistency of scrambled eggs, but if they are getting a lot of milk from mama, it could be more liquid. Then as they start eating more solid food, the poop turns to tiny goat berries.
Deborah, have you heard of a goat born without an anus having surgery to correct it? I ask because my half-brother was born without one and they did surgery to fix it and all was fine after his initial recovery (he is a grandfather now).
That brings up a question I didn't ask early on about baby's poop. Ginger's was white the first couple of days which I figured was normal for a newborn. Was it? (Only someone here would understand if I say I miss seeing the tiny little berries of her first couple of weeks.)
Wattles are not a DQ, but some people don't like them. Some do though, so it's kind of like blue eyes and polled!
Check bucks for testicles. If they don't have two at birth, they probably won't. They don't usually drop down later.
Some hermaphrodites are not obvious from looking at them externally, but some are quite obvious, and I doubt anyone would miss a goat with extremely unusual genitals.
I've heard of cleft palates but never seen one.
It is possible for a kid to be born without an anus. We had someone on this group in that situation a year or two ago. The kid will have to be put down because it can't poop. We had a lamb like that about eight years ago. It was very sad! He never stood after birth, and he started having seizures after a couple hours. I brought him inside and started calling people, and this one woman said, "Does he have an anus?" and I didn't think I'd heard her correctly because that was such a weird question! But she repeated it, and when I looked under his tail, there was nothing there! I really could not believe my eyes and asked every other member of my family to look at it. So, I like to see my kids pee and poop after birth to know that all of the plumbing is properly connected and working!