[savmoree]

I am completely new to goats. I bought 2 pygmies, Reba and her boyfriend( Elvis), in mid June. In June her babies were 4 months old so that would put her now about 6 or 7 months since her last kidding. She is definitely pregnant because she is huge, I can feel babies really well, and her bag is slowly filling up. I noticed her belly looks like it dropped and I can see her hip bones now. Her tail looks droopy as well. Any ideas on how much longer from this info and looking at the pics? I am about to burst from excitement and wanting to be here when it happens. It's so hard not having an exact due date. :/

 

[savmoree]

A pic from a few days ago.

 

[Texaslass]

Well she doesn't look super close to me. Generally, the udder will begin to fill around a month-month and a half before kidding. When it gets really full and tight and shiny, and you can no longer feel kids, then she would probably kid within twelve hours.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Also I would look into seperating her and the buck (thus needing more goats ) so she is not continually bred... After this kidding, I would give her at least a 1.5-2 year break to give her some time to recover from constantly having kids.

 

[Texaslass]

Yes, I would have to agree there. You'll need a couple more does, a wether to keep the buck company..... :lol:

 

[savmoree]

Thanks y'all!! Definitely going to separate and give her a break. She has been having kids ever since she could for 5 years continuously. So she deserves a long break.

How much in advance, on average, does their girly parts become swollen before they're ready for labor?? I just went and checked her and she's starting to swell and I can see a little pink on the inside of her vaginal area.

I'm so confused on this. Being used to cows, it's so hard to tell anything about these tiny little creatures. Lol. I can't wait to do this again with an actual due date. The people I got them from before just let them do as they please and I really like keeping up with this stuff for their health.... And my sanity. Lol.

 

[erica4481]

One of my does has been puffy and open for a couple weeks now and isn't due to kid until the end of this month. All does are different

 

[savmoree]

Here's a photo collage from a month ago up until now. It's definitely more swollen. I feel so weird taking these photos but I want to remember and be prepared for next time so my sweet goat can have a descent midwife.

 

[savmoree]

Thank you Erica!! That's what I needed to know!!

 

[erica4481]

This was my first year with kiddings. And most of the does we're already pregnant and I had no idea when the babies were due.i just kept checking their udder every day. For me it seemed like it would start really filling about a month before and kind of stay the same size until the day before or the day of then get noticeably bigger. I learned how to check ligaments which was the easiest way for me to know. 90% of my does kidded within 12 hours after I could no longer feel anything but the other 10% were a little more tricky. Their ligaments would come and go for a week or a couple days prior to having their babies which can be very frustrating...lol also if you spend time with your goats and know how they normally act you can usually tell by their behavior when they are acting different . so far I only missed 1 kidding