Finally!! She started labor at 9 pm last night. I was out with her until 1:15 and when I saw her snozing I felt cheated! I went to bed and went back out at 5:15 hooray! a doeling, 4 lb. and a buck little under. the doe is chamoise (spelling??) with frosted ears, the buck lot of white/gold body - now when I get pics posted - I can be corrected LOL. all is well, the buck is the more agressive nurser. The doe is still not real sure where everything is. The buck crawled on his belly to get there. lol. I did dip their navels 2x - Mom kept taking off more of the navel. So I suppose I should do it again later?? the navel was bout 2 inches last time I dipped. oh yeah, brown eyes so guess between Dad and Grandma..... - maybe I will get lucky and they'll be polled.
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Deborah, you mean keeping Mom and kids separate from the other does right?
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
When the hog panels are attached to the 2" side of the 2X4s, my husband used bolt cutters to cut off the entire bottom horizontal piece so that there were all of these vertical pieces. He drilled holes in the 2X4s and put those vertical pieces into the holes. That's how it is made at the bottom. Having the 2X4 on its side also adds another 4 inches to the height of the hog panels, which are kind of short. Across the top he laid a 2X4, so he used a router to cut a groove in the bottom of the 2X4 and sat it on top of the hog panel. He also used little metal strips to hold the panel pieces against the 2X4s. Hope all that makes sense!
As far as putting moms and babies together -- that's always a tough one. I like to keep the apart as much as possible now -- a week or two if I have the time and space. When we first got started though, I had only three goats, and they always lived in a 10 X 15 stall, including when kidding.
Melissa Johnson said:
Deborah, how did you attach the hog/cow panels to those 2x4's?
AND today, the babies slept a really long time. Mom came out and hung around outside - then called out to them to come out. Her sister and her said their hellos and she promptly head butted her sister so hard she let out a big grunt sound as she did it. I separated them, then they reintroduced again a little bit later and the new Mom went off to her old digs in the barn with sister following a respectful 8 feet behind. They went in and ate together I think - and then she went back out to where the kids are, in their old goat shed.
Sister really wanted to go inside the shed, even though the kids scared her, but it is only 8x8 and I wouldnt let her and Rebekah was quite concerned.
When can I let everyone get together again? The goat shed is so much warmer - well it is pretty well enclosed compared to the barn (there is open space between roof and 2x4's of inside structure) plus it is so small.
When the hog panels are attached to the 2" side of the 2X4s, my husband used bolt cutters to cut off the entire bottom horizontal piece so that there were all of these vertical pieces. He drilled holes in the 2X4s and put those vertical pieces into the holes. That's how it is made at the bottom. Having the 2X4 on its side also adds another 4 inches to the height of the hog panels, which are kind of short. Across the top he laid a 2X4, so he used a router to cut a groove in the bottom of the 2X4 and sat it on top of the hog panel. He also used little metal strips to hold the panel pieces against the 2X4s. Hope all that makes sense!
As far as putting moms and babies together -- that's always a tough one. I like to keep the apart as much as possible now -- a week or two if I have the time and space. When we first got started though, I had only three goats, and they always lived in a 10 X 15 stall, including when kidding.
Melissa Johnson said:
Deborah, how did you attach the hog/cow panels to those 2x4's?
AND today, the babies slept a really long time. Mom came out and hung around outside - then called out to them to come out. Her sister and her said their hellos and she promptly head butted her sister so hard she let out a big grunt sound as she did it. I separated them, then they reintroduced again a little bit later and the new Mom went off to her old digs in the barn with sister following a respectful 8 feet behind. They went in and ate together I think - and then she went back out to where the kids are, in their old goat shed.
Sister really wanted to go inside the shed, even though the kids scared her, but it is only 8x8 and I wouldnt let her and Rebekah was quite concerned.
When can I let everyone get together again? The goat shed is so much warmer - well it is pretty well enclosed compared to the barn (there is open space between roof and 2x4's of inside structure) plus it is so small.
Deborah, how did you attach the hog/cow panels to those 2x4's?
AND today, the babies slept a really long time. Mom came out and hung around outside - then called out to them to come out. Her sister and her said their hellos and she promptly head butted her sister so hard she let out a big grunt sound as she did it. I separated them, then they reintroduced again a little bit later and the new Mom went off to her old digs in the barn with sister following a respectful 8 feet behind. They went in and ate together I think - and then she went back out to where the kids are, in their old goat shed.
Sister really wanted to go inside the shed, even though the kids scared her, but it is only 8x8 and I wouldnt let her and Rebekah was quite concerned.
When can I let everyone get together again? The goat shed is so much warmer - well it is pretty well enclosed compared to the barn (there is open space between roof and 2x4's of inside structure) plus it is so small.
Those are very nice. Something to shoot for at some point =) I really like the repurposing and the look from the old barn.
I have two kidding pens, side by side, which is sufficient for us right now. The "nursery pen" would be outside. I was thinking to make it so that the kids could fit through the fence to get in there and away from the bigger goats, but the big goats couldn't fit, however, I could also make it more of what you did. I'll have to give it some consideration =)
The original idea was that each mom had her own semi-private pen for kidding -- I call them semi-private because goats are social creatures, so the pens are separated by hog panels, so the goats can see each other. Then at a week or two or age (or whenever I need the pens again), the goats are moved by groups of two or three moms to the "nursery pens," which are 8 X 10 and 10 X 10. I was thinking ideally have two moms with babies in the 8 X 10 and three moms with babies in the 10 X 10.
Of course, as soon as I have this whole thing perfected, I decide to go an have my whole herd kid within a six-week period, so some of the groups include four moms with babies, and I moved them straight to a 10 X 15 stall in the big barn.
Here are pictures of my kidding barn and the pens:
A nursery pen - is that for the new mom and her kids or kids only? how big are they? I am going to make an area just for kids, but it will be about 20x20. I suppose I could divide it into smaller sections if it would be better...
A nursery pen - is that for the new mom and her kids or kids only? how big are they? I am going to make an area just for kids, but it will be about 20x20. I suppose I could divide it into smaller sections if it would be better...
The kidding pens are only 4 X 10 or 5 X 10, so they're not that big, and when I realize they're in labor, I add 3-4 flakes of straw on top, so it's clean. Recently, I've also started using my nursery pens as holding pens for does that are due to kid within a week, and I don't put them into the kidding pen until they're within a few hours of giving birth. I had to do that because I had more than four does due last month (and I only have four kidding pens), and it worked so well that I've continued doing it now, even though I only had three does left, and I have three clean pens.
Kare at Chaverah Farm said:
I have never immunized my goats or given kids injections, so not much help in that area. And after reading some posts last night, I may stop dipping navals as well... although I don't know if my conditions are sanitary enough for that. Deborah, how do you keep the kidding pen so clean if the doe is in there up to a week ahead of time?
I have never immunized my goats or given kids injections, so not much help in that area. And after reading some posts last night, I may stop dipping navals as well... although I don't know if my conditions are sanitary enough for that. Deborah, how do you keep the kidding pen so clean if the doe is in there up to a week ahead of time?
Melissa Johnson said:
LOL - one less doe to worry about - now that's the proper way to look at that! thanks! I am distraught over something though - (wow, that sounds really southern :), I like it) I know not everyone gives injections to newborns, but I "tried" with them. I got A&D, Bo-Se and Tetanus(which is in the frig) the doses were small, but something that though me was I swear those were 20g needles - seemed a bit much for a little kid. Anyway, maybe I feel better grumbling about that than the real issue. I had someone hold the kid and grabbed some skin in the shoulder area and stuck - the skin was so tough - I was surprised... anyway, the kid was hollering so I figured I was in ok and when I was done - I saw all the $$ running down its leg. -( each and every time I did it. so did they actually get any A&D or Bo-Se? doubtful. and disheartening. - tell me what I did wrong.
I will add, the smell of iodine - really gets to you after awhile LOL.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Congratulations! What a flashy kid! Of course, mom looks pretty flashy herself! Don't worry about the navel. I quit dipping navels about six or seven years ago after witnessing a huge argument on an internet group, and one group of people pointed out that the moms always licked off and then bit off the cords, so what was the point of dipping. Then I saw a study that showed that pasture-born lambs without dipped cords had lower infection rates than stall-born lambs with dipped cords, so I decided to stop that little extra bit of work. My goat give birth in clean birthing stalls, so I realized it didn't seem to be a very important thing. If I ever found a kid born in a mud puddle, I'd probably re-cut the cord and then dip it, but that hasn't happened yet, so ...
Yes, the hormones are flaring here too. My youngest two does have decided they don't like Clarabelle now that she has kids and are challenging her every time I test the waters and put them together. I only do it when we are holding the doelings, I'm afraid they will get trampled.
Melissa Johnson said:
thanks Kare! All went well, and I actually slept through the whole thing. Got lucky, no problems. Rebekah is a really good Mom, I brought her sister to the fence today, just so she could see Sissy was there somewhere. Rebekah gave her a swift, hard head butt - oops! So, her sister went quickly back to her own area. No reunion or hellos yet thank you. ^^
Replies
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
When the hog panels are attached to the 2" side of the 2X4s, my husband used bolt cutters to cut off the entire bottom horizontal piece so that there were all of these vertical pieces. He drilled holes in the 2X4s and put those vertical pieces into the holes. That's how it is made at the bottom. Having the 2X4 on its side also adds another 4 inches to the height of the hog panels, which are kind of short. Across the top he laid a 2X4, so he used a router to cut a groove in the bottom of the 2X4 and sat it on top of the hog panel. He also used little metal strips to hold the panel pieces against the 2X4s. Hope all that makes sense!
As far as putting moms and babies together -- that's always a tough one. I like to keep the apart as much as possible now -- a week or two if I have the time and space. When we first got started though, I had only three goats, and they always lived in a 10 X 15 stall, including when kidding.
Melissa Johnson said:
Deborah, how did you attach the hog/cow panels to those 2x4's?
AND today, the babies slept a really long time. Mom came out and hung around outside - then called out to them to come out. Her sister and her said their hellos and she promptly head butted her sister so hard she let out a big grunt sound as she did it. I separated them, then they reintroduced again a little bit later and the new Mom went off to her old digs in the barn with sister following a respectful 8 feet behind. They went in and ate together I think - and then she went back out to where the kids are, in their old goat shed.
Sister really wanted to go inside the shed, even though the kids scared her, but it is only 8x8 and I wouldnt let her and Rebekah was quite concerned.
When can I let everyone get together again? The goat shed is so much warmer - well it is pretty well enclosed compared to the barn (there is open space between roof and 2x4's of inside structure) plus it is so small.
Those are very nice. Something to shoot for at some point =) I really like the repurposing and the look from the old barn.
I have two kidding pens, side by side, which is sufficient for us right now. The "nursery pen" would be outside. I was thinking to make it so that the kids could fit through the fence to get in there and away from the bigger goats, but the big goats couldn't fit, however, I could also make it more of what you did. I'll have to give it some consideration =)
The original idea was that each mom had her own semi-private pen for kidding -- I call them semi-private because goats are social creatures, so the pens are separated by hog panels, so the goats can see each other. Then at a week or two or age (or whenever I need the pens again), the goats are moved by groups of two or three moms to the "nursery pens," which are 8 X 10 and 10 X 10. I was thinking ideally have two moms with babies in the 8 X 10 and three moms with babies in the 10 X 10.
Of course, as soon as I have this whole thing perfected, I decide to go an have my whole herd kid within a six-week period, so some of the groups include four moms with babies, and I moved them straight to a 10 X 15 stall in the big barn.
Here are pictures of my kidding barn and the pens:
http://antiquityoaks.blogspot.com/2010/04/update-on-new-kidding-pen...
Kare at Chaverah Farm said:
Kare at Chaverah Farm said:
I have never immunized my goats or given kids injections, so not much help in that area. And after reading some posts last night, I may stop dipping navals as well... although I don't know if my conditions are sanitary enough for that. Deborah, how do you keep the kidding pen so clean if the doe is in there up to a week ahead of time?
Melissa Johnson said:
Melissa Johnson said:
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