[Barnes19]

I'm going to split this into a couple of separate posts as its going to be huge otherwise.

Some of you may recall a month or so back I had a doe who I was wondering about fertility problems in. After posting some pics the consensus was she actually looked bred, and to see how she went as she could be pregnant yet ... a month on I've got some more pics on which I'd like a second look.

Since then I do keep seeing an increase in her belly, perhaps a bulge on the lower right side, but its not much and often disappears completely, like flat right side as before. Maybe a food baby? Her udder has not changed at all. As before it does have a very little flesh but thats always been there.

She would be 3 months along (or otherwise 3months+3 weeks but I think not that). This is her first pregnancy (assuming it is one).

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

She doesn't look pregnant to me, at all.

Possible causes of fertility problems, could be a copper deficiency, selenium deficiency, many other mineral deficiencies, lack of food, fatty build up on the reproductive organs, uterine infection, etc

 

[ksalvagno]

Doesn't look pregnant at all to me either.

 

[Barnes19]

I have also been thinking (and looking through my records) about what the cause of conception problems might be (moot point if she's bred of course but this is a constant point of concern and deep thought to me!)

I must apologise in advance ... below is another one of my book length entries ... in short, the question is did I in fact make too hasty an assumption in thinking that as he'd got 2 other does pregnant the problem couldn't be with
him?

I'm wondering if it was the buck ... when I work out the dates (I write everything down in my calender), its feasible she just had bad luck on his fertility at that time. Although the ease with which the others conceived vs the
trouble she had concerns me ...

(Yes I do spend an unprecedented amount of time thinking about this ... shes driving me up the wall with "shes not / ooh I think she might be / oh look Rita a baby bump / you know I don't think she is really / oh drat you Rita!" :GAAH::wallbang::shrug::?:

 

[Barnes19]

Oh gosh you guys got in quickly ... my internet doesn't work that fast!

I'd previously discounted the buck as the source of the problem as he had successfully bred 2 other does a few weeks before. However on tracing back the 13 weeks of the sperm (production to use) cycle on my calendar,
there may be a discrepancy.

He's a young buck. For the first couple of months I had him he was a bit underweight, maybe even warrants the word unthrifty, and I was pampering him to keep him at least relatively sound. On the 23/04, he developed
scours and became very ill. This lasted until the 5/05. Obviously during this time he wouldn't have been producing much viable sperm.

He got back on his feet ok and gained weight, seemed much stronger. 29/06 I was told he was copper deficient, and too small, and I started giving him copper supplement as soon as I got them on the 8/07. Meantime on the
5/07 he bred a doe, pregnant first go so issues there, and another on the 13/07 the same.

But in the evening of the same day (5/07) he had a go at Rita (the doe who is the point of contention here) ... and she definitely didn't take whereas Miss did. But ... on thinking he only had one quick sneak go at Rita, then got
chased off (she hates him), whereas he spent most of the day courting Miss repeatedly.

On the 26/07 he bred Rita again (I held her from now on). Of course this was exactly 13 weeks after his illness so I didn't expect success this time. Sure enough she came back on, and he rebred her several times (held)
through 16-17/08 ... now that would be sperm from 3 weeks after he got better ... and he was doing pretty well at that stage, gaining weight and strength well ... but even so I guess he could have still been under the weather
fertility production wise.

On the 7/09 Rita came on a weird half-heat, bred her a couple of times, but it was an odd halfway heat, I think because of the end of breeding season coming. If she's pregnant its from that time.

Thing is ... the other does got pregnant on sperm produced before his illness ... I had assumed that he would have been just as copper deficient before his illness ... that in fact it probably had something to do with it. But what if
he wasn't? What if that copper deficiency really came into its own later, and none of the sperm produced through that time were healthy?

Of course she didn't take from the one time before that ... but it was the same day as he'd been paying lots of attention to another doe ... maybe he was just all used up ...

She didn't take the time 13 weeks after his illness ... fair enough ... or from the next time after that ... which I would have thought he would have been fine but ok ... she still didn't take after that though ... but he would have been
still short of copper 13 weeks before ... have I overthought this or what!

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

Have you given your buck copper and selenium? It's as important to the buck as it is to the does. The motility of sperm is decreased for a bit after a selenium shot, but should be back to normal 40 days after the shot.

Do you have a microscope you can check the sperm under?

 

[ksalvagno]

It could be that she is copper and selenium deficient too. When they are actually showing signs, it has already been bad for a while.

 

[MsScamp]

Something else to consider is that stress can interfere will a doe settling. If Rita hates your buck or dislikes being handled, either or both could have prevented her from settling.

 

[Barnes19]

Oh-oh ... I can't do much about her hating the buck! Hes what she's got ... although I do have to say they're getting on better lately, as he grows up and gets to be more of your normal strong male figure she beats him up less ...

She undoubtedly doesn't much like being held though ... but again not something I can change a lot ...

I'm thinking at this stage it was probably the boy, and probably copper related, that had just come out worse after he got sick or something.

He's definitely fertile in and of himself as my goat currently in labour shows. If it was copper he's bound to be back in shape by now, which is a good thing as although yes I have a microscope theres no way I can say acquire anything to put under it!

Not only have I no idea how you'd do that, I'm also shall we say squeamish ... thats a job for a vet!

 

[lottsagoats]

Another cause for sterility is being a freemartin. I know it's rare, but it does happen to goats who had a buck as a litter mate. I've had one.

When your posting opened and all I saw was that first picture I thought it was of a Yeti smiling!