Goat Pregnancy Questions?

I used to breed Boers, Nubians and Alpines, the first two are larger breeds (meat/multipurpose goats) while the Alpines I bred were minis. There were a few "ooops" when an Alpine doe would worm her way in with one of my larger bucks and we had some rather interesting kids from such breedings. All the kids were small birth weights and my does had no more problems delivering the crosses than they had with purebreds.

Since you already know there will be triplets, possibly quads, you need to either get set-up to do bottle feeding or find someone before she kids who wants to take on a bottle baby or two. You will want to be there as she kids to make sure she has no problems and to see which, if any, kids she rejects. It sounds brutal, but in most multiple goat births the doe will pick the healthiest one or two to survive and attempt to butt the other one(s) to death so that the strongest have a chance to thrive. Even my most maternal, sweet does would do this (the boers would have up to 5 kids a breeding).

Hopefully there is no pygmy in the buck she was bred to as pygmies have rather large chests and can pose problems during kidding. Not knowing what she was bred to it is almost impossible to determine how big the kids will get, though if it was a larger breed buck the kids will most likely grow bigger than the doe but smaller than the buck as she is a mini.

To seperate her from her older kid is your call. Sometimes it's ok to leave them together, the older kid will keep an eye on the newborns, play with them, etc., other times the older kid will hurt the new siblings. You could seperate them but leave the older kid close by where she can still her mother and intro her to her siblings after a few days when they are well established and doing good. As far as the older kid nursing when her mother comes back into milk, again you just never know til it happens. Most won't some will. I've had does that have kidded and were nursing their own offspring but would still shove younger siblings off their mother's udder to drink.

As far as castrating, I castrated at a month usinng the banding method. You can dehorn as soon as you feel the horn buds. I would suggest taking them in and getting it done at the vets as burning them is somewhat tricky and if you are not experienced you can damage the goat.

You might want to call local goat keepers and see what they vaccinate kids for in your area. Where I'm at there are really low levels of selenium and we always gave newborns a small dose to prevent white muscle disease.

Good Luck! The kids will be tons of fun and are so sweet and active.

As long as her first baby doesn't try to harm her or the other kids when they are born all can be kept together.

Any males should be wethered (castrated) as soon after birth as possible. This helps lessen the pain and trauma involved (also keeps the males from developing "buck odor" the musk males secrete to attract the females).

Disbudding (dehorning) goats is purely a personal preference. The

horns act as a cooling mechanism for the sinuses, so I would advise against having that done.

For any species having multiple babies can pose problems. Most goats can carry and raise 3 or more kids without a problem, though sometimes problems can arise. Since we don't know what size or breed/type of buck your doe was bred to, you will have to be very watchful when it comes time for her to birth. Does your vet have a estimate on how far along your goat's pregnancy is? Gestation time for a goat is roughly 6 months (150-155 days). Find out from your vet his/her guesstimate on your doe's pregnancy. Then see if he'll be on call around the time she is due in case problems arise.

Feel free to contact me if you need more info.

Your soon be a goat mommy again is most probably not a pygmy goat and her kids could be bigger than she is. Goats, especially Nubians frequently have triplets and quads (if yours has more then 2 you should consider bottle feeding the other/others) Keep an eye on her if it takes too long once labor starts to deliver her babies, one could be blocking the others or just be to big. Babies should be disbudded at a week of age for males but you can wait up to two weeks for girls (have tit done under sedation by your vet) little guys can also be castrated at that time. Do not worry about an older kid hurting the newborns, it will not and do not separate it from her mom, it is weaned and will not attempt to nurse again once she is in milk. Look for a local goatbreeder! good luck to all.

Try holding her under the belly by standing above her and feel her tummy for a few minutes and see if you feel any baby movement inside. If the baby is sleeping, you will not feel anything so you may have to try this a few times. At this stage of development the fetus is only about 6-8 inches long or so.