Kidding

Alright, here's a post about kidding. Keep in mind, all this stuff about goats is purely from my experience with my goats. Goats being goats, yours may vary widely! Here's a general overview, though.

Some goats, especially first timers, will have a long and fairly obvious early labor. You may see the sunken belly mentioned in an earlier post, mild contractions, general discomfort, clingy behavior, looking as if they are looking for something while making little bleats, etc. They may or may not have a normal appetite. Mine always eat up til the actual pushing, but some don't. At some point, things will get down to business and you will be in the actual process of birth.


Often the doe will paw the ground a lot. After a while she will lay down, sometimes to get back up and paw some more. Not all paw, but most of mine do. Usually they will lay down to actually push but once in a while you'll get one that stands up to birth. Either is fine, she'll do what is appropriate. When they are laying down, the contractions are obvious. The back leg sticks out and grinds into the ground to giving the doe something to push against and she'll push. If it's early yet, it may be only a grunt of a push. Once things are serious it's a biiig push! There is often screaming involved but not always.

Here's a comparison of relaxed and during a contraction.

As always, first timers take a lot longer for every stage than multi para's. Usually you'll see a sack with feet or feet and/or nose sticking out first. Sometimes you'll just see a big bubble sticking out but the baby is not generally very far behind. In general if there is no progress being made in about 15-20 minutes of active pushing, she needs help. If the doe is up and down, up and down a lot, she may also need help. This can be her attempt to rearrange the babies into proper position. On the other hand, it could be what this doe does.

 Below is a head, feet were under it so don't show in the picture.

If you are unsure you can go in and check. If things are fine give her some more time. Here is another time where it does help to know your animal. I had a doe last year that was doing this. It was her 4th kidding and I knew that she tended towards a fast labor after she started pushing. This time she would lay down, give a little grunty push and get back up. Not her style at all! I went in to check and found ribs.  I was able move the baby around and get it out. The remaining two came out with no problems.

Once they are out you may need to break the sack and clean the face off. You shouldn't have to, but sometimes the sack doesn't break. An experienced mom usually gets right on this, but some aren't so great and sometimes first fresheners haven't a clue what to do. Or worse, they want nothing to do with the nasty little thing which with they have been presented. After a couple minutes if the mom hasn't stood up and moved to reach the little one better, I moved it up by her head so there's room for the next one if she decides not to move between times. Some move, some don't. Not that I think this is necessary but I like to do it anyway.

With this baby the sack is already broke so we didn't have to worry about that. The back feet are just coming out and you can see some meconium. That is generally not a worry with goats.

15 minutes to half an hour is not uncommon between babies. They often come out just minutes apart but don't worry if they don't.

The typical presentation is front feet and nose first. Sometimes you'll get back feet first and that is ok. Both times I've seen this the doe stopped pushing and sat there with the kid halfway out so I ended up pulling it the rest of the way out but I don't know if they would have finished up eventually. What I also did both times, since I just saw upside down feet for a few contractions, was go in and make sure it was back feet. If it was front feet with no head, you've got a problem. I just followed the legs up til I felt where that big tendon meets at the hock area.

Here's an upside down foot. In this case it was a back foot and all was fine.

Here's is the backwards baby, half way out. He stayed there for a couple minutes til I just grabbed a hind leg and gently pulled.

Most other non standard presentations can be a problem, depending on circumstances. A big doe could possibly birth  a kid with one leg back just fine while another one would need help. I've only had to help a few times and none were serious. I've had a leg stuck on the cervical lip, easy to unhook and I've had ribs first and couple where the heads were turned to the sides. Those were also easy fixes. If you have a tangle you can try lifting the back end of the doe on a hay bale or something to let gravity help you and give you a bit of room to untangle things.

I'm not a big fan of interfering but I would suggest that the first couple of births you have, you clean up and go in at different stages of the birth. This gives you a feel of what things should feel like. Of course this assumes a normal birth, but most are. This way you can get a feel for what the cervix feels like, if it's fully open, what the kids' mouth and feet feel like. Make sure you wash up well before going in. You don't want to introduce bacteria that could cause problems. I don't give antibiotics if my interference was minimal, just checking or something.

After the birth, you'll usually see what looks like bags of reddish liquid hanging off her hind end. This can come after any of the babies or after they are all out. And it won't happen every time. Perfectly normal. After a bit, those pop or drop and you're left with what looks like a long, reddish meaty cord hanging out. Again, normal. The afterbirth can take up to two days to come out, usually a couple hours here.

Here's the big bag looking thing.

Here's a pic of the large, meaty looking cord. It's actually part of the placenta. Sometimes it is longer than in this picture. If it's dragging the ground, you can carefully tie it in a knot. That keeps it off the ground and adds a wee bit of weight to help it come out. Never, never, never, NEVER pull on it!!

Below is a picture of the placenta. It is not always this big and obvious. Sometimes the cotyledons (the red chunks) are small and white and sometimes you actually have to be looking for them. The final product that you may find laying in the stall is small and pale looking. Sometimes the does will eat them, sometimes not.

After the birth and afterbirth are all done the doe will continue to have a tomato souplike discharge on and off. This can go on for a few weeks. If it doesn't smell nasty and there is no fever, the goat is acting normal, it's fine.

Last is to make sure the babies learn how to eat. Most get it without a problem, but some need help and sometimes mom is not very cooperative at first. I have one that is sooo ticklish that, even though she is an excellent mom, we have to make her stand for the first day or two til the babies learn what they are doing and are more firm about things. The tentative poking around of newborns is just too much for her to stand without being forced to. I always make sure they have a quick meal before leaving them, especially if it's cold.