Goats in kid

Biscuit and her friend Belinda enjoy a stroll out in the fields every day, but should this pregnant lady goat be staying closer to home?    We don’t know the exact date she is due but the large bulges on either side make it obvious that giving birth can’t be far away.   A few weeks ago we thought it was all going to happen – Biscuit started pawing the ground, looking round at her tummy and getting up and down in a real tizz.   These are all signs that labour is imminent.   But Biscuit was only kidding!   Or not kidding!    After a few hours the ‘false labour’ passed off and she went back to chewing the cud.   Since then she has just got bigger and bigger.   How many kids are in there?    Two at least but she seems well and likes to go in a pen on her own at night so that is a sign that she has kidding on her mind.   Goats are pregnant for five months and it’s usual for them to have multiple births.   Two kids are ideal, three are manageable, four would be impossible for a goat to rear unaided.

When a goat has several kids she will need help to rear them as she has only two teats, unlike a cow who has four.    Kids can be bottle fed quite successfully either by milking the goat and using her own milk or by buying in powdered kid milk (like formula feed for babies).   It is a labour of love and like having a baby, four feeds a day to begin with and keeping the bottle and all utensils sterilized just as you would do for a human infant.   You can buy  lamb or kid baby bottles and teats from specialist farm suppliers.   A few years ago one of the sanctuary goats had quads.   Sometimes they are mixed sizes and one might be very weak, but these were all even and strong and healthy.   There were three girls and one boy.    We took a boy and girl away from mum and left her to rear her daughters herself.   The other two kids were put on the bottle and they thrived, following us around all day and saying ‘where’s my milk?’ Bottle fed kids become very tame.

Biscuit’s bulges!     This lovely gentle goat is a permanent sanctuary resident.   We allow the goats to breed from time to time as we like them have a natural life and they sometimes develop cystic ovaries and look as though they are having a sex change if they are prevented from having kids.   Goats are devoted mothers and adore their kids.   They have strong family ties that last their whole life.   Biscuit has feeds of grain every day, like most pregnant ladies she has become a little fussy and at the moment she adores rolled oats with some added linseed flakes.   Made up goat mix?   No thanks.   All goats need hay ad lib and this should be in a rack and not a hay net – they can get caught up in these with disastrous consequences.   Goats don’t like wet weather or the cold and need access to a shelter day and night.  All our goats come in at night and we are keeping an eye on Biscuit as if she decided to kid outside in the fields, it would attract all the local foxes – there is a big dog fox who has a wander round here at night and during the day, so we have to take special care especially at this time of the year.  The vixens have cubs and they are all hungry!