| Preparing To Kid © Hannah Miller Our goat Belle is going to kid at the beginning of May 2003. We are very excited. My sisters and mother and I are trying to guess how many babies she will have. We are all thinking three. Having two or three babies is the most common for a goat. Now I am thinking of things I need to do to prepare for her babies. Getting ready for your doe to have babies requires a few things for you to do. The first thing for you to do is to make sure the doe gets some grain in the last month. Usually a pound a day to provide for the growth of two or more kids. I have read that at about a week before her due date, separate her from the rest of the herd and put her in pen with clean dry straw. We do not do that because we have such a small herd. We just watch her carefully and make sure the goat barn is clean and comfortable with dry straw. Make sure she has plenty of fresh water. Other supplies we gather are iodine and a small cup so we can dip the cords of the babies after they are born. This prevents infections. Also we will need several clean old towels to help dry off wet babies after they are born and latex gloves in case we need to assist. If we plan to bottle feed we will need a few 16 or 20 oz. pop bottles and nipples. For Belle we make sure we have molasses handy for after the birth. We mix molasses with warm water for a nice after birth treat. Don’t give her tons of food right before she has her babies. Too much grain can cause pregnancy toxemia. With all the supplies handy and any preparations that need to be done complete we now wait and watch for labor to begin. Here are some signs that the doe is going into labor: she will appear restless, smells the ground, paws at the bedding and gets up and lies down quite frequently. |
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