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1st day after triplets - All the Questions

517 Views 21 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Moers kiko boars
Hi all,
Our first of three pregnant does popped yesterday. She is a first freshener and had triplets, which I understand might be less common. Overall, the process went completely by the book. The first kid absolutely took us by surprise as we had one of the other does in the box stall / birthing area thinking she had more significant signs of imminent labor. We lucked out and heard the kid calling out (it was below freezing here so would've been quite bad if it had taken any longer than a few minutes).

We then transported mother and daughter to the box stall and before we knew it, another one came out that looked IDENTICAL (but was a boy!).
Then, after probably 10 minutes max (I'm not sure as the perception of time distorts so much during such a high intensity event), another popped out. The last one was still fully encased in the amniotic sac. I remember reading that once the kid's torso passes through the birthing canal you must act quickly as they could suffocate, so we made the decision to slice open the sac with an box cutter (sprayed it with iodine first).

We had a bit of issue at first where the doe was not having any touching of her teets, stamping her foot and walking away when they tried. We believe this was due to simply the milk bag being so full. Once the kids had used some of it, she seemed completely fine with touching. We coaxed her to stop moving around so much by giving her lots of grain.

The placenta was probably 2 hours in coming out. It had been wrapped around her leg some but everything I had read said NOT to touch it at all and let it come out however it will come out. We let her eat some, but eventually decided to remove it from the pen once she seemed to have lost interest.

We drenched mom and kids with electrolytes. The doe didn't actually need to be drenched as she was willingly drinking several 10cc syringes full. She also went to the water bucket and took in a huge amount.

As of sometime this morning, the doe has scours. I would say 2-3 rather large BM's worth at this point. We've free-fed baking soda, mineral, and drenched with some more electrolyte. She still has her appetite and seems to be producing milk decently well.

Questions:
  • If the placenta is hanging out and wrapped around a leg etc. Can you trim it or should you literally just leave it be.
  • Anything else I should do for the scours at this point or just continue monitoring?
  • As for the kids, it's so hard to know if they are getting enough. We are concerned that this doe may not produce enough milk to support triplets, especially once they start to grow and need more with each meal. Should we be making the executive decision to switch one to a bottle now? Can we try to "cross train" one on a bottle once they are off colostrum so they are willing to take it either way?
  • We have read that bucks need to be separated around 10 weeks due to risks of them maturing sexually, which seems pretty early to be weaning off of milk. Would bottle feeding the buck make the most sense then so we can continue to give milk after separating?
  • Our other doe is likely going to pop imminently but we arent sure what to do with the birthing area. We feel that the first doe needs to stay in there for now but aren't sure it's a good idea to bring the other doe into the same area to deliver. We are actively working on a way to partition the box stall but just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this.


Of course here is the obligatory family photo as a thank you for reading!

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Awe, you have a sweet mama goat… none of mine are so nice! lol
Judge by weight and stomach. You don’t want her poochy, just flat and firm after she eats.
Keep an eye on the other two kids to ensure they also are getting enough to eat and not getting squeezed out at feeding time.
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Most does, if fed well, will produce enough milk to handle triplets, some more. Their udders are more demand & supply. Yes with supplementing you can easily over feed. I only give 3 oz, 2 times a day when supplementing and this is for 10lb boers or bigger.
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