Attending Goat Birthing for the First Time?

Reading Time: 10 minutes

The season of goat birthing is a busy and fun time. But it can also be stressful when goat owners embark on it for the first time.

Kidding is an anticipated and awe-filled time of year in my goat shed. Each year, I look forward to a riotous new crop of gamboling kids. I keep Myotonic goats for brush control and for the sheer joy of watching them be goats. Kidding goes well most of the time. Indeed, goats live ferally in some parts of the world and have survived for generations without human intervention. This helps me remember that it’s usually best to relax and just watch. But kidding also brings angst because I have no backup veterinary care where I live.

I’ve watched or helped with goat birthing almost 70 times here on my farm, Persimmon Ridge. For all but one of them, I was alone. For that one, I had to load and transport the goat to the vet, arriving too late to save the kid. Although the average goatherd won’t be able to anticipate and handle every possible scenario during goat birthing, being well-informed and prepared will help in most situations. Even a little basic information can help you “do no harm.” I hope to help you prepare by describing how to know when delivery time is near, what normal labor and delivery look like, what supplies to have on hand, and how to help if necessary.

Goat Kidding Supplies

In preparation for kidding, establish proper shelter and gather supplies so you’re ready for most situations that may arise. Many people create a kidding pen within a larger shelter for goat birthing where the doe can be separated from the rest of the herd. Bed it deep with straw to provide a safe, warm, and clean space for her to kid in

Have clean towels on hand so you can help the doe dry the kid more quickly if it’s cold. First-time goats giving birth sometimes get so occupied with the first kid that they ignore the second one when it arrives. You may need to nudge her in its direction or help clean the caul away from its nose so it can breathe. Once the kid is dry and has nursed, it can usually withstand cold temperatures.

If the temperature is below freezing, lots of bedding and a wind block will be necessary. If you use heat lamps, it’s safer to use Premier 1 Prima Heat Lamp or create a warm barrel by placing sturdy wire over the top of the can, secure the heat lamp to the wire, and cut a hole big enough for the babies at the base. Put just enough shavings into absorb moisture.

Learn all you can in advance about goat birthing so you feel more comfortable if you must intervene. If you’re lucky enough to have a veterinarian or trusted mentor you can call in an emergency, have that number handy.

Signs a Goat Is About to Give Birth

Goats deliver about 150 days after breeding. The best way to know when a doe will deliver is to know when she was bred. Gestation varies by a few days and by breed. For example, Myotonic goats have a gestation period of roughly 145 days, and all my goats’ births have occurred between 141 and 151 days.

Changes in the Doe

Changes in the doe will occur as delivery time approaches. Her udder will fill with milk, or “bag up.” The udder can begin to fill as early as six weeks before delivery, but sometimes, a first-time mom won’t bag up until delivery.

Another prominent sign your goat is about to give birth is that her tail ligaments will soften and they’ll become indiscernible within about a day of giving birth. Hormones are released that soften these ligaments and allow them to stretch during labor. Practice checking the ligaments well in advance by placing your thumb and forefinger around the area where the tail connects to the goat’s rump. When taut, these ligaments will feel like tightropes on either side of the tail. If you accustom yourself to their normal rigid feel, you’ll discern when they become spongy and “disappear.”

A mucus plug will dislodge from the doe’s vagina for up to a few days before kidding as her muscles soften and relax. Mucus will string from the vulva, which will swell and gape open.

Early Labor Signs in Goats

When a doe goes into early labor, she’ll become restless. She may pace, get up and down, look back at her hindquarters, make murmuring noises, or stop eating. This period before active pushing will usually last 10 to 12 hours for first-time moms, but can vary greatly. Active pushing should last only about 30 minutes before the first kid is born.

What to Expect When Goat Kidding Goes Well

After up to 30 minutes of active pushing, the kid’s nose and front hooves will become visible at the vaginal opening and will usually be covered by the caul, or amniotic sac. The doe will deliver either lying on her side or standing and pushing, similar to urinating. During goat birthing, a normal presentation of the kid is nose and front hooves first, as if diving out into the world, or both back hooves come first. Either is fine.

When the kid emerges, it’ll fall from the doe’s vulva, breaking the cord. The doe will begin licking and cleaning the kid to remove the caul and amniotic fluid from its face, nose, and body. Goats usually have twins, so this process may repeat within a few minutes. After the births, part of the amniotic sac and the cord attached to the placenta will hang from the doe’s vulva; she’ll pass it within 24 hours. Do not pull on it.

After the Birth

The first moments after birth are critical in the doe’s bonding with her kid. She’ll learn to identify it by licking it clean. The smells of the infant and the hormones that are released at birth facilitate this imprinting. These hormones also help the doe’s uterus to contract and expel the afterbirth, lessening the chance of excessive bleeding. Licking stimulates and dries the kid, which will stand on wobbly legs to search for the teat and nurse on colostrum. Colostrum is the immunity-passing substance produced before the doe’s milk comes in, and it’s critical to the health of the kid.

You can help clean up the babies during goat birthing. The doe won’t mind and it will help the babies bond with humans as well as their dam. Getting them dry quickly is crucial to preventing them from getting too cold. A kid that gets too cold will need special care before it can eat. This is a good time to dip cords in iodine. Pour iodine into a cup and make sure to dip the whole thing. This is vital to preventing naval ill.

If you feel a baby is struggling too much to reach the teat, you can steady it and help it find its first meal.

Sometimes, the doe will eat part or all of the placenta. I don’t know exactly why, but she seems to know. Discard the remainder away from the goats to deter predators from being lured in by the scent goat birthing. Give the doe some food and water to replenish her energy and calm her. My goats enjoy a little molasses stirred into their water right after giving birth.

Common Kidding Problems

Although the majority of goat birthing goes smoothly, it’s best to be prepared for when they don’t.

The birth isn’t progressing

If a doe actively pushes for more than 30 minutes without the kid fully emerging, she may need your help. The kid may be stuck or may not be in the proper position for birthing. The head could be turned to the side, the legs may not be lined up correctly, or could be very large.

Glove up and use the lubricant to help you reach inside the doe to feel for the hooves and head. If you don’t feel them, you will need to go in until you do and can sort out what is happening. If this is your first time dealing with a kidding malpresentation, this is where a call to a trusted mentor or good veterinarian should be made.

If the kid is very large, you may have to pull it out. Grab hold of both front hooves and pull slowly but firmly with the contractions. Pull one leg out a little further than the other to narrow the width of the shoulders and allow for an easier passage.

Pull out and down as if drawing a comma in the air between the doe’s vulva and the ground. When I’ve had to do this, I worried about the pressure I used on the kid’s legs, but I knew I’d lose both kid and doe if I didn’t get the kid out. Fortunately, the big buckling didn’t seem to mind and was unfazed afterward.

The newborn kid is too cold

If a newborn kid becomes too cold to nurse, you can revive it by taking it indoors and putting it in a warm bath in the kitchen sink. Place into a bag up to its neck before placing it in the water to avoid the baby being wet and becoming chilled again when you remove it from the water. I had to do this during a polar vortex. I had been making two-hour checks during the night, but the doe had her own timing. When the twins revived and warmed up, I returned them to their mother and the heat lamp. They did well.

Another heating trick is to place the baby in a small box, lay a towel over the box leaving one corner uncovered. Use a hair dryer to blow warm air into the box while you hold the babies nose up so it can get fresh air from the uncovered corner. This gives constant warmth unlike water which will begin to cool immediately.

When the newborn kid is too weak to nurse

With a kid that’s not strong enough to nurse you’ll need to milk the colostrum from the dam and try bottle feeding. If the kid is too weak to bottle feed, you’ll have to tube-feed. Do not attempt to feed with a syringe, there’s too much risk for aspiration.

Being able to tube-feed a kid will require reading about it in advance and watching some videos. You’ll learn how to measure the length of tube to pass, how to position the kid for insertion, and how to check proper tube placement before feeding. Again, this is where having a good vet or an experienced mentor would be helpful.

As soon as possible, return the kid to its mother, even if you must repeat the process. This worked well for me when I had to care for tiny twins; they became strong enough to nurse after a couple of tube feedings. Sometimes, they can go back to their mother, but many times, babies this weak become bottle babies as does often reject weak kids.

If a doe delivers triplets or quadruplets, she may need help. Some does can nurse three, but many can’t. Some goatherds get all the kids used to the bottle from the start so they can help feed. Others choose to bottle-feed the extra kids exclusively.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a kid is just too small or weak to survive. Although each loss is truly heartbreaking. I take comfort in the wisdom of nature, which seems to provide kids in multiples so at least one survives. With each of these losses, the surviving sibling was larger and more robust, and it benefited from the extra care and nurturing the dam provided.

The doe rejects her kid

Some does seem completely bewildered as if she doesn’t know what this new creature is or where the heck it came from, and she rejects the kid. If that’s the case for your doe, give her molasses water and some feed to distract her while the kid searches for the teat. If she moves away from the kid, you may have to hold her still the first time or two that she nurses. Once the kid latches on, everybody usually figures it out. This has worked for me all but once. My doe, Bella, consistently refused to care for her kids. She delivered healthy kids and then butted them away whenever they came near. Her kids became bottle babies. The second time she kidded and refused to care for her kids was the last time I let her breed.

Relax – you did it! Enjoy these lively little creatures. Within hours, they’ll be jumping about, exploring the world, and finding mischief as if they’ve always been a part of your herd.

---

BETTY TAYLOR keeps a small herd of Myotonic goats in middle Tennessee for brush control and for the sheer joy of watching and learning from them.