Goats are social creatures and their relationships with other goats are crucial for their wellbeing. If you have a pregnant goat then you must know how to take care of her and her future baby.
Baby goats should not be separated from their mothers at birth. It is very important that mother goats have an intimate bond with their babies, so they should be together always for at least six weeks.
We will further discuss this topic below to ensure your baby goat grows up in a good environment.
Preparing The Mother
Whether you will want to separate the mother from the rest of your herd will depend on how many goats you have. If you only have a couple and the pregnant goat shares a special bond with the other goats then you may not need to separate her.
If you have more than a couple then you will definitely want to separate her from the other goats that she has not bonded with. If she has a bonded partner, it may cause her too much stress to separate her from that specific goat. In these cases, the bonded pair may be separated together. Also, the mother does not need to be separated until she is in labor.
You should prepare a kidding stall for the birth two weeks before the mother’s due date. This is so that it will be ready in case she goes into labor early. Close to her due date, the mother should be checked on every six hours. When checking for active labor, there are a few signs to look for including:
- softened pin bones
- contractions
- leaking from vulva
Making the Kidding Pen
The kidding pen is where the baby will stay as it grows to maturity. You can make two or choose not to. If you do, the first will be the birthing pen, where the baby will be born and kept with its mother for the first six weeks of its life and then moved to a second kidding pen for the rest of its nursing stage. Or the baby can spend the entirety of its nursing stage in one kidding pen.
The kidding pen should be very closed off from the herd. You can use an extra barn stall, or if you don’t have that, you make some walls with very heavy pallets or plywood. Some form of bedding should be laid on the ground.
Baby goats are very good at escaping and getting caught, so there should be absolutely no cracks in the walls and make sure the walls are very secure. If it’s cold outside you will want to lay blankets over walls to cover drafts and on the floors to keep the baby warm.
After Birth
The mother should be separated from the herd once she goes into labor. Caretakers should be there the entirety of the time that she is in labor. Though the mother can do most of the work by herself, you will need to be present to do several things, which includes:
- making sure the other goats don’t come in
The other goats will certainly be curious as to what is happening. They may try to get through the walls, jump up to see, or even stomp on the newborn. All of these should be prevented.
- Help with any abnormal deliveries
- Tie the umbilical cord
- Make sure the mother and baby bond as normal
Goats are very social and being social with other goats is very important to their well-being. The baby and mother must form an intimate bond. After the baby is born, the mother should clean her baby, help it nurse and eat the placenta. You may need to help in any of these situations. There is the rare case that the mother rejects her baby. We will talk about this more later.
The baby and mother should be together 24/7 for at least six weeks. During these six weeks, the baby will be nursing, but you can give it access to hay and water, to watch for when its interests sift. If you do give the baby a water bucket, make sure it is shallow so the baby cannot fall in and drown.
Weaning
After the six weeks have passed, check to see if the baby has gained any interest in the hay. If it has then you can start separating the baby from its mother during the nighttime. Another way to measure if the baby is ready is if it weighs at least 2 times its birth weight.
If separation seems to stress the baby too much you can give it some more time before weaning. However, it is normal for the baby to experience a small amount of stress at first. If you have other babies you can keep them together to help them socialize.
Once you have started separating the baby from its mother at night, you should be milking the mother in the mornings. You can use this milk for yourself if you’d like.
Rejection
There is a chance that the mother will not let the baby nurse. In this case, you may have to hold the mother still, while the baby nurses. This will need to be done every few hours. There is a chance that after doing this a few times the mother will get accustomed to nursing and can do it on her own.
However, there is a chance that the mother is extremely aggressive towards the baby, and forcing her to nurse is not helping. In these cases, you will have to buy a baby bottle and feed the baby yourself. You will want to make sure that the baby is kept in a place where the mother cannot hurt it. If the mother is aggressive and you don’t keep a close eye on them when they are together the mother could potentially hurt or kill the baby.
If you have another mother who is also nursing, there is a chance that she will adopt the new baby. Just go ahead and try putting it in her pen. You may have to try and help it nurse. The adoptive mother may also reject the baby, in which case you will definitely have to bottle feed the baby.
Taking precautions and learning how to handle difficult situations will help you feel more confident when it comes to your goats and their babies.