Hi everyone,
Both my does kidded last night within an hour of each other! Both girls had 0 problems and have already passed the placenta. I am a bit concerned about the set of twins, they seem generally a bit weak and they are pretty small, one more then the other. They both were attempting to stand within a few minutes and we’re able to latch a few times that I saw last night, so I know they got some colostrum. I gave them selenium and nutria drench last night. Their mother is wild and absolutely petrified of us. We had to chase her into the barn (25 min) to be with her kids last night. She will stand for them to nurse but any time she hears a sound or something/someone moves she takes a few steps away from them and gets freaked out, so the kids are not latching for very long at all. The kids also don't seem very eager to eat and are sleeping more then the kid from the other doe. When they do eat its only for a few seconds at a time. They follow mom around with their tails up She cleaned them at birth and I’ve seen her lick them but she’s not nearly as attentive as our other doe is with her kid and seems much more scared of us then she is worried about taking care of her babies.
My biggest concern is they they aren’t getting enough milk and they are already a bit weak.
So what do people think. Should I start giving them a bottle? I don’t think they need to be full time bottle babies because she is feeding them, so how often should I feed? How much? What milk replacer is best? Am I just being paranoid??
They are the our first farm born babies and we're very worried about them!
Thank you for any input.
Both my does kidded last night within an hour of each other! Both girls had 0 problems and have already passed the placenta. I am a bit concerned about the set of twins, they seem generally a bit weak and they are pretty small, one more then the other. They both were attempting to stand within a few minutes and we’re able to latch a few times that I saw last night, so I know they got some colostrum. I gave them selenium and nutria drench last night. Their mother is wild and absolutely petrified of us. We had to chase her into the barn (25 min) to be with her kids last night. She will stand for them to nurse but any time she hears a sound or something/someone moves she takes a few steps away from them and gets freaked out, so the kids are not latching for very long at all. The kids also don't seem very eager to eat and are sleeping more then the kid from the other doe. When they do eat its only for a few seconds at a time. They follow mom around with their tails up She cleaned them at birth and I’ve seen her lick them but she’s not nearly as attentive as our other doe is with her kid and seems much more scared of us then she is worried about taking care of her babies.
My biggest concern is they they aren’t getting enough milk and they are already a bit weak.
So what do people think. Should I start giving them a bottle? I don’t think they need to be full time bottle babies because she is feeding them, so how often should I feed? How much? What milk replacer is best? Am I just being paranoid??
They are the our first farm born babies and we're very worried about them!
Thank you for any input.