We had an April Fools’ Day snowstorm.  It was a little late, but it still was a joke on us and not nice! And, to top it off, two of our does had FIVE kids, all born at the exact same time. Talk about confusion when I went to do chores. They had just been born and I could hardly tell whose babies were whose. Our old white doe, Buffy, had triplets, which was very hard on her, at her age. One, a little tan doeling, seemed dead when I found them. But when I picked her up, she made a sound. So I quickly took her to the house where I warmed her up and tube fed her some warm colostrum. As the evening was blowing snow, I kept her in the house so I could keep her warm and tube feed her every two hours. She was very limp and weak.

But our lab, Spencer, adopted her! He licked her off and slept next to her all night. Every time I got up to feed her, she was stronger. By the next morning, the little girl was standing and hungry! I took her down to her mother and she nursed. To make sure, I went down every few hours and made sure she got to the udder and nursed. Today, she’s bouncing around, but is still pretty little, yet.

We had another baby a week ago — a single spotted doe from our first freshener Boer doe and she is as bouncy and cute as can be. We now have five more does to kid but nobody looks ready yet. But they can fool you! Baby goats sure make spring fun, here on the homestead. — Jackie

4 COMMENTS

  1. Cris-Wasan,

    Yes, I’ve had a doe reject her kids. It’s usually a first freshener or one with a big bag that gets tender. She’ll often resist nursing and even butt or kick at her kids. What I do is try to be there at kidding, then if she doesn’t seem to want to nurse the kid because of a tight bag, I milk out about half of the milk into a container to save. Often, the release of tension on the bag will eliminate the pain and she’ll allow the kids to nurse, especially if you feed her and hold her from moving around. Sometimes it helps to have an assistant. Being right there when she kids helps a lot. And then there are sometimes just does that are crappy moms. It happens.

    Jackie

  2. Beautiful babies you have there. So glad you were able to save the little doeling. My three girls had their babies a whole month sooner than I was expecting, 8 total (egads!) After scratching my head and wondering “what the heck?” my husband sheepishly informed me that he let Shane, our buck down to the creek with the girls in September because he felt sorry for him. Grrrr….

    I wanted to ask, what breed are your doe’s? Mine are a cross between boer and nubian and one of my gals always ignores one of her babes. Last year she didn’t realize she had one wondering around the barn trying to find her and this year one was left off in the corner. I had to do the same thing you did, bring her in and get her warmed up and colostrum. I tried to get mom to take her right away and I tried to get her to take her the next day and she just wouldn’t do it. I guess she is just stubborn that way but two years in a row now I have had her reject one of her kids.

    Have you ever had any of your does reject their kid or kids? I realize it might just be that she isn’t aware they are there and if she doesn’t get to them right away she just doesn’t know it’s hers, but it can get a little maddening. Silly goose of a goat.

  3. How adorable!!!! And congrats on the save, poor little thing….LOL at Spencer being “a Mom”, too…

    Hope all continue to do well and thrive….spring is always about new beginnings :)

  4. I love the pictures! I can’t wait to get a place where I can have goats! I’ve been wanting them for a long time.

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