Southern by choice
Herd Master
With all of the kidding taking place and it seems so many kids having weak legs and dying I thought Id share my experience from last year.
My doe who was a FF, kidded 2 does. The first doe large and healthy, the second doe came along 30 minutes later. Born weak, momma wasnt sure if she wanted it after she started cleaning it off. We helped and got the kid on her but the kid had a hard time standing and was weak. Momma started to really reject the 2nd kid eventually wanting to stomp it. The first kid she was fine with.
I hesitated to help the 2nd kid, as in the dog world and the poultry world if a momma rejects it or tries to kill it there is a reason. I decided to force the nursing so the kid could get the colostrum and we took the kid in. The kid did die, I saw it coming couldnt stand etc. and wouldn't eat.
We took the kid and wrapped her up, kept ice packs on her and took her up to Rollins Lab for a necropsy. The actual cause of death was basically micomium aspiration.
The findings showed more than that though, she was born with underdeveloped kidneys. So the Vets at Rollins said the doe would have died anyway because of the kidneys. They also felt that was why she was so small and weak. In their database they looked worlwide to find out if this was something prevalent. We wanted to make sure this was nothing genetic. It was not, they considered this to be acceptable farm loss. Their findings were they have seen this in sheep in two lines in England. They also found NO deficiencies. The underdeveloped kidneys were ruled as a birth defect of sorts.
I share this because many times we can assume it is a selenium deficiency etc. Where that is just not always the case. Although many would have said selenium injection, we are not in a selenium or copper deficient area. For a newbie or beginner I find having a necropsy done can be very helpful. If the kid would have not had the micomium issue but continued going downhill only to die 2-3 weeks later I would have been mortified, wondering if I was doing something wrong etc.
If you have a good state lab anywhere close to you take advantage of that, they are usually very reasonably priced and it will also help you to manage your herds better if something is found to be genetic etc. and will give you peace of mind.
My doe who was a FF, kidded 2 does. The first doe large and healthy, the second doe came along 30 minutes later. Born weak, momma wasnt sure if she wanted it after she started cleaning it off. We helped and got the kid on her but the kid had a hard time standing and was weak. Momma started to really reject the 2nd kid eventually wanting to stomp it. The first kid she was fine with.
I hesitated to help the 2nd kid, as in the dog world and the poultry world if a momma rejects it or tries to kill it there is a reason. I decided to force the nursing so the kid could get the colostrum and we took the kid in. The kid did die, I saw it coming couldnt stand etc. and wouldn't eat.
We took the kid and wrapped her up, kept ice packs on her and took her up to Rollins Lab for a necropsy. The actual cause of death was basically micomium aspiration.
The findings showed more than that though, she was born with underdeveloped kidneys. So the Vets at Rollins said the doe would have died anyway because of the kidneys. They also felt that was why she was so small and weak. In their database they looked worlwide to find out if this was something prevalent. We wanted to make sure this was nothing genetic. It was not, they considered this to be acceptable farm loss. Their findings were they have seen this in sheep in two lines in England. They also found NO deficiencies. The underdeveloped kidneys were ruled as a birth defect of sorts.
I share this because many times we can assume it is a selenium deficiency etc. Where that is just not always the case. Although many would have said selenium injection, we are not in a selenium or copper deficient area. For a newbie or beginner I find having a necropsy done can be very helpful. If the kid would have not had the micomium issue but continued going downhill only to die 2-3 weeks later I would have been mortified, wondering if I was doing something wrong etc.
If you have a good state lab anywhere close to you take advantage of that, they are usually very reasonably priced and it will also help you to manage your herds better if something is found to be genetic etc. and will give you peace of mind.
