Goat pregnancy? How long does it last, when Should I go? Please answer!?
Image by Claudine
Custom mugs with Harley Farm seal… (not shown).
Question by Jeremy: Goat pregnancy? How long does it last, when Should I go? Please answer!?
Hi. This is kindof hard to explain. But here I go.
My mom has a friend who’s own a farm and she got 2 goats. It’s a boy and a girl and they mated on October 11th or 12th. Me and my mom are going to go to her farm (try to) when the goat is going to have her baby! I don’t no anything about goat pregnancies and if they have them Hsiang early or on the exsact day of the due date or whatever but hopefully some of you no som things about it!
So if they mated on the 11 or 12, when do you think we should go there? Like what day? It’ll be on a weekend that we go up there. What Is the normal gestation period for a goat? They are normal goats. And I live in wisconin so idk if that has anything to do with the different kinds of goats?
So when do you think would be a good day to go? What are some signs to look for when the female is close to having the baby? That I could tell the frend to look for. Just invade it’s before we go?
What do you think? Answer below!
4 Responses to Goat pregnancy? How long does it last, when Should I go? Please answer!?
Leave a Reply
Gestation for a goat is 150 days or 5 months. That amount of time is the average. The time it takes varies with each individual goat. The Nanny will decide when she wants to have the kid. It could be two weeks earlier or two weeks later..
ranger_co_1_75
June 5, 2014 at 4:44 am
I understand your desire to watch your half human half goat baby being birthed, but stop diddling the goats. Please.
?
June 5, 2014 at 4:51 am
150 days….they rarely have their kids on the day they are suppose to so good luck with that. They are about to kid when their back end has discharge comming out their udder swells and they arent acting themselves ex: not eating and keeping to themselves. You need to do some research before the kid or kids are born. Sometimes you have to reach inside and untangle them if they are comming out backwards or one baby is tangled with the other so try to find a good country vet who has experience with goats and or sheep just in case sometimes if you wait for the vet it gets to be too late and the kid dies as well as the mother. Also your kids will be born when it is cold out so you will need to put them into a warm heated building or seprate them from their mother and put them under a heat lamp. I also live in wisconsin and winters can be miserable.
heart.becca
June 5, 2014 at 5:35 am
The other kind responder had some good information for you. A goat’s gestation period is AROUND 150 days. This can be shorter or longer by several days; even a week. A first-fresher (1st time mom goat) may hold the kid longer. A goat having only one kid may hold it longer than a goat having more than one.
Some Signs of approaching labor:
Goat’s udder begins to fill. Often just before birth the udder will be so tight that it is shiny. (OUCH!)
Goat’s tendons at the base her tail (where her tail meets her spine) get really loose and gooshy.
She may look “sunken in” around her pelvic area and her bottom may be swollen.
Strangely enough, the goat may not look as wide just before delivery. The kids are moving into a different position.
The doe goes off by herself, away from the herd. (Some goats go to the same place every time.)
The goat may be much more friendly or vocal that usual. She may “seek out” human comfort…or she suddenly may not want you around at all. She may try to hide.
The doe may suddenly become very protective, butting the farm cats and even dogs she trusts. She may bleat at other baby goats (if you have any in the herd.) She may even try to adopt another young kids.
She stands up and lays down over and over, laying down on her right side. This is a MAJOR sign. You will often see that her eyes are dilated and that she seems tense as she begins her labor.
You MAY see a very thick yellowish discharge at some point. Goats frequently have discharge, but this is thick, yellowish, and very stringy.
If you see her lying on her side and pushing, you KNOW she’s in labor (or, VERY occasionally, she may simply be shifting a malpositioned kid early in the pregnancy…but I’ve only seen this once.)
These are all signs to look for…but there’s been plenty of times I’ve gone out to the barn to find a newborn kid or kids all dry and happily nursing. Some goats just don’t show very obvious signs.
Before the “Big Day” get a copy of Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats if you can. It has a LOT of good information about what to do during and after the kidding, and about WHEN TO CALL THE VET. Most goats have no problems if you just give nature time to take it’s course, but I’ve had to deliver plenty of kids and also had does go into toxemia and other problems. It’s just best to be a LITTLE prepared. Be sure you know a vet that you could call in an emergency. There is also Goat-911 and Med-a-Goat 911 which list people you can call in a goat-related emergency (see links below.)
🙂 Good luck and God bless!
angelharp7
June 5, 2014 at 6:11 am