Can you believe…
… that it’s taken us 7 years of goat-owning, over 20 assisted deliveries, and countless little baby goats running around for us to finally film a birth?
Gee whiz willikers.
But last Tuesday, on a sun-shiney morning while we were still in our PJs, we realized our Luna gal was about to give birth. And darn it, I was determined to film this one!
I knew this video would help a bunch of you new goat people. And you know, those of you who’d really like to avoid some kind of disaster during your goat’s delivery.
I’m glad to be of service and share with you Luna’s birthing experience. Hope it helps!
What you need to know before your goat goes into labor:
First things first, be sure you’ve checked out my Goat Pregnancy & Birthing Checklist and you’ve prepared all the necessary supplies.
Next, double check your goat’s due date with my Pregnancy Calculator.
Finally, you’ll need to study up on goat birth presentations and be ready to check your goat to make sure the baby is in the proper position. In the video, I go over these a bit. But it’s good to be prepared and know what to feel for. We’ve had a couple abnormal births here on the farm. One was a true emergency and the other was too hilarious to keep a straight face throughout.
It’s all worth it for those adorable baby goats, though.
Assisting a Goat Birth Delivery {a video tutorial}
What do you need to do after the birth?
Things can run as smooth as a new baby goat’s bottom, or you can have a real nightmare on your hands. Be sure to read up on all the how-tos of goat raising.
- Postpartum Care for Goats
- How to Care for Baby Goats
- How to Disbud (dehorn) Baby Goats
- How to Milk a Goat: Step by Step Pictures
- How to Keep Raw Goat’s Milk Fresh & Delicious
- A Simple Guide to Raising & Milking Goats
Hey Danelle,
I recently bought goat pregnancy tests from Emlab Genetics. I gave my 8 month nanny a tests back in November and it came out saying she’s in her 2nd month of pregnancy and I just tested her again to see if there was any changes and it’s now December and the pregnancy tests just came back as saying she’s in her 4 or 5 month. I wasn’t sure if you would know anything about these tests or not. Thank you!!
Hi Shaelyn-
No, I’m sorry but DaNelle hasn’t used them.
I’d call the company and see if they can help.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hi DaNelle ,
I recently bred my 5 year old virgin doe who is overly conditioned {fat} .It has been 18 days since she was bred, and she is now bleeding off and on. After we bred her, we left on vacation and had some friends come and feed them. Would that stress her out so that she would abort? Should I breed her when she comes back into heat? I gave her some colloidal silver in case of infection and to boost immunity.
Hi Gabby-
That type of stress and the over feeding can lead to aborting the pregnancy.
This article has more on this: https://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/pregnancycomplic06.html
You should get her in proper condition before attempting to breed again.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hi again. Have a few questions. I had a doe kid today and it was a nightmare. I checked on her this morning and nothing, checked on her around noon and one hoof sticking out so here we go, or so I thought. An hour later no progress so tried to feel for another foot, found it but couldn’t find a head or nose. So called so friends 5 miles away and they helped me. It took almost another hour to get the poor kid out. And of course it was dead but the kid was breech and the stomach was huge thats why was hard to pull. The stomach was like jelloey water. Did a bit of otopsy and was full of fluid in the abdomen cavity, not lungs or stomach. And there was a large tumor. What caused this? And will it happen again? Five minutes later( after pulling kid) she had a lil girl no problem. This is her third kidding. Any ideas would help. My friends have had goats for 40 yrs and never seen anything like it. Thanks
Hi Cindi-
I’m so sorry about your baby goat.
I’m not quite sure what went wrong with your goat. Typically when there are problems with stillbirths it is because the doe was infected with a disease or parasite during pregnancy. It can sometimes also be caused by a nutritional deficiency, but this is not as common. It would be very important to have a professional necroscopy done on your goat and the placenta to determine what went wrong and if there is some disease or parasite that could be infecting your herd.
I hope your doe and her little girl stay healthy!
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I had to pull a third one 12hrs after the first one so ended up with two girls both doing well. So it was triplets. And her daughter kidded the next day with a boy and girl. I still have one to kid and think she’s triplets or quads. Babies everywhere here. So much fun.
I’m glad the others are doing well and good luck with the last one! Enjoy the new babies!
I think I looked over this half a dozen times before my first kidding. It helped a bunch as do all your posts! Thanks for the help!
Hi Sabrina-
So glad it helped! Thank you for reading and posting! Happy Goating! -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
LOVE the video! I’m trying to learn everything I can before we get adventure out and get goats. Thanks for sharing!!
Hi!
We have cattle but are new to the goat scene. I’ve been digging through all of your goat posts! They’re great. I was wondering though-
Do you always have to assist in the births? As in catching the babies, clearing their mouths etc. Or do you just help out as needed? This birth seemed normal so would it have been necessary to assist? We have had to help our cows but most of the time we just keep an eye on them and intervene as necessary. I appreciate any advice you have to give!
There are some times when we walk out and see baby goats standing there, so it’s not completely necessary to be there for every birth, but we truthfully always try because it’s better to be safe than sorry.
THE BEST goat book I own is Pat Coleby’s Natural Goat, she also wrote Natural Sheep, Natural Horse and Natural Cattle, she recommends the same basics for all of them- nutrition fights off a LOT of problems, She recommends free choice minerals (copper and dolomite I prefer to mix- the dolomite is the antidote for copper poisoning- I’ve only had two older kids OD, out of a few hundred), and kelp meal. She provided info nobody else hinted at- 1. If your animals have plenty of potassium, you won’t have to pull another baby (goat, sheep, cow or horse). And I have followed that every years since and have been blessed with not having to pull any more babies and the risks of contaminating their wombs with my hands (very hard to keep things clean here, the incessant winds blow dust all over my equipment, very hard to keep things sealed and clean). We have also been blessed with accidental breedings in too young girls still popping their babies out without a hitch!
In Australia, a hard and unforgiving land of minerals deficiency, (much like the Great basin were we are), their frequent droughts cause periods of no green goods, and green is where the potassium lies. So in bad hay years I buy the Agrilabs electrolytes (with vitamin A and D, E and K- we really suffer from lack of those here too), and it has enough potassium to keep me happy. Valleyvet will ship free if you buy 50 packets. It’s cheaper than the feedstore. I give it to chickens, dogs, myself when I was having vomiting from an ulcer, Awesome saving product.
The other thing is iodine. Mrs Coleby cleared up the mystery of weak or nonexistant girls- they are very dependent on iodine, moreso than boys- this explains a lot- years when all we had was boys- girls lacking iodine can be reabsorbed by their mother. In the 2011 Fukishima meltdown, iodine was especially needed by all of us, all over the world- but it really showed in my very premature baby girls, boys would come out a little small at times but girls, so very small, lacking hair, undeveloped, and stillborn. There is a reason radiation can do that- it uses up the body’s iodine. Since I was sick last year and recovering slowly, we didn’t have money from my job (too sick to work) to keep us in even mineral blocks- and we suffered even more form tat, tiny babies, weak, early mortality, failure to thrive, tubing feedings not always successful, I hate having to suffer through those- but it’s all our own fault for not making sure they all get at least a copper/selenium block which also has iodine. Read up and look it up, iodine deficiency has caused a lot of livestock death. Once we got back on the kelp meal track, everyone bulked up and looked great and shiny. Now my 2 month olds are in rut like a 4 month old, and 50 lbs!
Thank you for posting this. I enjoy reading your blog.I don’t have any goats yet…or a farm….but your blog gives me irrational courage that I can make this happen some day. My husband and I talk about it and dream about it. My daughter and I have a running list of what animals would be on the farm (cute goats are a must). We keep our eye out for properties. In the meantime, I enjoy reading your blog- it is a great resource!
Thank you! thank You! thank you!!! I’m going to watch–share with my FB group, share with my family–so excited to get there someday and so grateful you shared. 🙂
Hi DaNelle,
Am I doing something wrong…can’t see where to get the video to play?
You should be able to see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBYBkmxfoVA