Triplets born today

Need advise. Triplets born to a first timer r. Not very attentive that I've seen so far. One is very tiny looks to be last born . Wet cold. Been 35-40 degrees outside. Heat lamp was on but wasn't under. I brought inside to warm up. Now what? Should I try getting to nurse on mom or bottle her milk/ colostrum for it

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  • Sorry you lost her. Without a necropsy there's no way to know why she died, but that's why I've become more likely to bring kids like that inside. I hated the "what if" scenario that would play out in my head. 

  • I gave her mom's colostrum before I went to bed. And made sure all were under the heat lamp. Mom was laying with them. But this morning she was under mom, dead. So sad. I thought she was doing well. She may have been undeveloped. I removed her right away.

    Mom seems depressed. Didn't eat her grain this morning. Tried putting her mom, my oldest doe, in there to see if they'd eat together as they usually do but that didn't help and older doe didn't want to stay in there. And mom was guarding her babies. I took her back out to her other pen. 

    I feel bad. I don't know if bringing her inside with me would have helped or prolonged the inevitable.

  • She needs colostrum for the first 24 hours -- at least 10% of her body weight. So, 2 pounds, 5 ounces = 39 ounces, which would be 3.9 ounces in the first 24 hours. Half of that needs to be in the first 6 hours, but I can often get the whole 10% in them within the first 6 hours. If they'll take that much, I sleep better. 

    If I have colostrum in the freezer or if I can milk mom, I continue feeding colostrum into the second day. After that you can feed milk. If you don't have any fresh goat milk, then you'll get all sorts of opinions about whether cow milk or milk replacer is better. But they are both second place to fresh goat milk.

    When you said no one will hold the doe for bottle feeding, I'm not sure what you're talking about. If you mean for milking, you just put her on the milk stand like you do with other milkers. However, most does will stand in the middle of the barn and let you milk them for at least the first 24 hours because their hormone levels are raging so high. You may have to give her a pan of grain, but they're usually very amenable when they've first kidded.

  • When you say start her on a bottle, do you mean milk replacer?

    Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

    She's big enough, so no worries there. But first time moms often don't make enough milk to feed three. I'd probably just start her on a bottle right away.

    How is she doing?

  • Hi, she is active and trys to nurse but doesn't stay on very long. I've been holding mom still to make sure she nurses. Is it good to do that every few hours? I'd like to try and bottle feed her but haven't had any help to hold mom while I do that. 

    Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

    She's big enough, so no worries there. But first time moms often don't make enough milk to feed three. I'd probably just start her on a bottle right away.

    How is she doing?

  • She's big enough, so no worries there. But first time moms often don't make enough milk to feed three. I'd probably just start her on a bottle right away.

    How is she doing?

  • Just weighed her. She is 2lb 5 oz. Fed her some colostrum by a tiny syringe.  I could try. Mom is letting the others nurse with my supervision. I'm just afraid since she is smaller than the other 2 she may not get enough.

  • If you're sure the kid is warm, would you be able to stay outside with it and oversee nursing? If mom is reluctant, you could encourage her to stand still by giving a treat while you direct the kid to nurse. From what reading I've done, it sounds like a dry kid would do fine in those temps.

    All best!

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