Penn State’s very own Dr. Ott of the Animal Science department is making groundbreaking advancements in the development of a pregnancy test for cows, news that made the headlines of the PSU e-mail newsletter. But how do farmers know when their goats are pregnant?

There are several methods that famers use. There are the more tried-and-true folksy ways of seeing if your goat might have a kid, such as seeing if her pee foams when added to bleach or if her anus has dropped lower than it was (up under her tail) to make way for baby. Sometimes a bulge can be seen on the right side of the goat (the side opposite the rumen) around month 3 of pregnancy. The more scientific and accurate method is to send the goat’s blood sample to a lab, where it can be tested for the presence of indicator hormones.

                                                     Goat Ultrasound: Not very common

Generally, a dairy doe should be “freshened” or first breed when she has already grown to at least 65% of their adult weight. For most goats, this is around 1 ½ years old. Breeding could happen at anytime, but most goat breeders prefer to breed goats in the fall and have kids born in the coming spring.

A goat gestation period is 150 days, or roughly 5 months. Some pre-gestation care can be given to does that are going to be bred, including de-worming and mineral supplements. After gestation begins, the goats are given no drugs and they are hopefully kept unstressed. Stressed a goat could reabsorb the fetus. If a dairy goat is being bred, milking will decrease from twice to once a day as they are dried off (quit milking). The farmer wants the goats to be ready to produce milk for their kid.

Later in gestation, does may be vaccinated and de-wormed again to ensure that they are in good health for delivering the kid and will not abort the fetus. At this point, test can be done to see if there are is any complications with the pregnancy that could cause complications with the birth.

Most of the time, a goat owner can (minimally) assist a goat to have a successful birth. Goats usually have anywhere from 1-3 kids in a pregnancy, with 2 kids being the most common. These twins should come out one after the other. Often, a farmer does not know if a doe is having more than one kid or not. Ultrasounds are costly and often unnecessary.

The ideal position of a fetus is hind legs first. Sometimes, a fetus never to “flips” to the birthing position or have an extremity bent in a funny way that may harm the mother, and in these cases a famer has to reach in, feel around, and try to help the kid into the right position to make his debut. Caesarian sections are possible with goat births that are having extreme complications, but these are carried out by a veterinarian.

Source: jrcnboergoats.net

After the birth, kids are placed by the mother’s nose so that the tired mother bonds with her kid and to prevent a later rejection. If all goes well, and usually it does, there are new baby goats in the world! If the spring is especially cold, they can be dressed in tiny sweaters to keep warm.

Pre-warning: Goat birthing is something that is really interesting, but is potentially graphic or gross for some viewers. Consider yourself warned.

Sources:

http://www.acga.org.au/goatnotes/B015.php

https://fiascofarm.com/goats/kidding.htm#howmany

http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/basic-goat-pregnancy-care-2/