Are these signs of labor? Is she even pregnant? 😳

[valper]

My goat has been acting pretty strange since yesterday afternoon. I noticed her laying down a lot which was the first sign that something's up. She's also super "lovely" with me and rubbing herself all over me which is very unusual for her. She's a little fidgety, walking and laying down many times over the day.

I noticed her walking with her tail up and her genitals, a little more swollen than usual. I have not noticed any obvious discharge. Normally I would attribute it to her being in heat but the way she's been acting makes me think it might be something else.

She is 12 or 11 months old and has been living with my buck and other doe, so there is the possibility that she might be pregnant. Thing is, I can't tell! She's a tiny thing and these are my first goats so I'm a total newbie. Today she seems calmer and not so antsy. I imagined it would be the opposite if she's possibly approaching labor.

Help, please?

 

[animalmom]

Is she developing an udder? Have you checked her ligaments by the base of her tail... usually the ligs feel like pencils along side the tail, if it is squishy around the tail she may be loosing her ligs and getting ready to go into labor.

Your 2nd picture looks to me like her teats are more prominent that normal.

Your 3rd picture looks to me as if she is having some discharge (totally normal, don't panic).

Good luck with your wee goatie. What's her name?

Would you please put your general location in your profile. Honest we won't show up at your house, it is that some suggestions are location specific as in what works in Texas may not work in your area. Thanks!

 

[hoovesgalore]

She does look pretty big she could also have had a false labor which happens can you post some pictures of her udder?

 

[Alaskan]

The only way I can tell is by feeling the ligaments where the tail joins the body.

If they disappear then she is going to have kids in 24 hours or less.

 

[rachels.haven]

If she has been living with a buck she is pregnant unless there is something wrong with her or him. As to whether she's in labor, find those ligaments. She's hopefully not very far along at that size. She looks small.

 

[Legamin]

Is she developing an udder? Have you checked her ligaments by the base of her tail... usually the ligs feel like pencils along side the tail, if it is squishy around the tail she may be loosing her ligs and getting ready to go into labor.

Your 2nd picture looks to me like her teats are more prominent that normal.

Your 3rd picture looks to me as if she is having some discharge (totally normal, don't panic).

Good luck with your wee goatie. What's her name?

Would you please put your general location in your profile. Honest we won't show up at your house, it is that some suggestions are location specific as in what works in Texas may not work in your area. Thanks!

I did not know that about the ‘squishy ligs ’ along the tail…good to know. It seems this last year. as I got very busy in the Fall, I did not get the marking harness on the boys and thought I could ‘keep an eye out’…which really didn’t go as planned at all. The last sentence of that story goes like.. ”well, I was out doing some fencing then noticed the pasture needed discing…oh, yeah, then the load of fertilizer came in and needed spread…and then the last half acre of garden all ripened at once and suddenly it was canning season!“. By the end of that sentence it was end of October and I rearranged the ewes and separated the rams out…watched in horror as they cracked skulls for several hours with such violence that I couldn’t enter the pen…did some First Aid, stitching, sealing the wound, injecting antibiotics…putting up plywood around the pen walls to block all viewing of the ewes from stimulating them again…and then the final loads of hay came.. So I have no idea who got pregnant (I DO know by whom) or when. Now it’s almost 153 days later…roughly…and I’m looking through thick wool for signed of impending lambs!
I have been doing physical exams daily but had not heard about the ’squishy tail ligs’. That will be helpful! Thanks!
Our breed of sheep grows out wool so quickly that between breeding and lambing they have 6 inches of wool so even checking the udder and ‘works’ has to be done ‘hands on’ and pregnant ewes are skittish ewes….and one is quite defensive thinking she is a ram! But any day now! We are thinking this week or next for sure.

 

[ChristIsEverything]

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