Getting a little nervous

[Blue Dog Farms]

Ok so I excpecting our first kid in the next few weeks, but I keep hearing these horror stories of births gone bad. We just took a little buckling from the guy down the road when the doe died and then he lost another doe 2 days later leaving behind twin doelings. I look on here and see all these posts loseing does and Im starting to get a little nervous. My girl is a nigi/pygmy cross bred to a full nigerian buck what should I do for her to ensure the best possible delivery? What should I have on hand for emergency?

 

[Goatherd]

Take a deep breath...let it out...in again...let it out. There. That should start you to relax.

I just went through my first kiddings this week, Thursday and today.

My does were FF, and they both delivered twins without incident.
My first doe was quiet and I was awakened to the sound of her kid bleating on the baby monitor. When I got to the barn, the second kid had just dropped.
Today, at 3 AM, the sound of the second mom was what I heard.
When I went to the barn, she was pushing and making some sounds. First kid came quickly and the second followed within minutes. No knowing if I should help her with the first one because the head was coming out and she was pushing, I let her do it on her own before I intervened. I didn't have to. She did a great job cleaning them and getting them ready for the world. The 1st afterbirth came shortly after that and then the second.

Because I was there I did towel them off a bit and I sprayed their umbilical cords with iodine. They were looking for the teats to eat, so I put them on them and they suckled for all they were worth.
I cleaned up the "mess" and put them on fresh straw, gave mom some hay to eat and she went to town eating it.

Like you, I was worried because of all the problems that I read about associated with kidding. I tried to put that aside and kept telling myself that my girls were healthy, not grossly overweight other than the pregnancy weight, and had good prenatal care.

Nature seemed to triumph in this instance and no problems whatsoever.

Tell yourself that your girls will be fine too, but always be prepared to step in should the need arise.

Best of luck to you.

Oh, I forgot to mention, this goat shares the same stall with the other goat that kidded on Thursday. She and her twins were right there when the second kidding happened. Now some might say this isn't the way it should be done, but my two girls are joined at the hips and are inseparable. If I was to separate them, I know it would cause them far more stress than if they were left together.
First doe visited today's newborns and her twins came to see their cousins too. No problems whatsoever. Not saying this is right or wrong, just what worked for me.

I'm editing this to add...

Both of my girls were first timers and they had twins, so don't always think that the first time is only going to be one!

 

[vegaburm]

Most births will happen without incident. People post problems on here because they are looking for help and support....but you can also see many, many posts of people just sharing pics of their new babies.

That being said, it never hurts to be prepared. I have a birthing kit ready with everything Hoegger's recommends for birthing, checked out other sites and pretty much have everything I might need. And the vet's phone numbers and another goat breeder's numbers just in case.

I also lean toward more natural and holistic treatments, so I also give some herbs for weeks before a birth that are supposed to strengthen the uterus and make things easier. You can look on Molly's herbals and she has a pregnancy mix that is all made up and ready to go.

But I agree that you should breathe. Most of the time things go just fine and they could handle it all without your help if they are healthy and have been well cared for.

 

[elevan]

No need to overly worry

I have one due right now and I'm not worried a bit about her. She's a pro and knows it

As in most things the bad experiences seem to stand out "brighter" than the good experiences. And so, you're "seeing" a lot of bad births on here but in reality those only account for a very small amount of the kiddings.

Just take some deep breaths and try to relax

 

[20kidsonhill]

I have 3 due and I am going camping for the next 2 days, I am a little worried about that. Hope they wait for me to get back.

 

[savingdogs]

I went through my first two kiddings this year and it wasn't so bad, fairly uneventful. It was stressful but we made it through and got some beautiful kids out of it! I have mini nubians that I bred to a nigerian dwarf.

The things that surprised me were how much pawing one of my does continued to do even after delivering, and how the other doe tried to take over her babies! I needed more ways to keep everyone apart.

Then when the second doe had her own buckling, she rejected him at first! That was a little hard but I just kept protecting him and presenting him to her and she did accept him and was a very good mom in the end, was very upset when we sold him!

The biggest thing I would do different is make sure I am HOME for the birth (with one I was gone). After seeing what happened with my second doe, it was lucky for me that the one that kidded alone was the better mom. Even so, that first buckling she had probably took too long to nurse for the first time and ended up scouring and we had to deal with that. But other than that, everything went really well.

We disbudded at two weeks of age at the request of the person who did the disbudding for us, and she specialised isn nigerian dwarfs.When I've seen it discussed on here most people seem to do it a little younger, but it worked well in the case of my three, I think it was the technique the person used. We thought about doing it ourselves but after finding the person who did it so well, we decided we will just hire her again next year, it looked a little tricky to me (and I'm a do-it-your-selfer-type). We did band the bucklings ourselves without incident.

I hope my "newbie" experience is helpful. But I'm looking forward to kidding season next year.

After you get through this year you will feel like an old pro!

 

[20kidsonhill]

One of them kidded while we were gone, figures. Two little girls, and a big buckling stillborn, But all is well. Triplets on a first timer, Can't complain about that, even though we lost one.

Sending you good kidding vibs.

 

[jodief100]

Just relax and be prepared. You see all the stories about bad births because that is when people need help and come here looking for it. For every trouble post there are probably dozens of uneventful births.

This year, we had 13 does kid, 26 kids. I was only there for 2 of them and didn't have to asist on any, even the quads and triplets. We had a few weak ones and one whose momma was a first timer and didn't know to nurse him (he's a bottle baby now). Lost one and one was stilborn, not a bad year. One more to go!
Just search posts to see what others recomend and put together your kidding kit based on your personal needs.

Good luck! Can't wait to see the new babies!

 

[RainySunday]

Good luck, and try to relax! Our first doe just kidded and it went so very perfectly! No problems at all!

 

[peachick]

I was nervous for my first babies too. But the does did everything by the book, and most of the births happened with out me.

You dont hear about the text book births... only the ones from people looking for support.

Trust that the does instinct and mother nature have it all under control.