[Udder Insanity Toggs]

Our cross (Alpine x Nubian) Sundgau doe, Jezebel, is not due to kid until the 18th, but she is as big as a house, has a lovely udder on her with a good MSL, and attachments, but her teats are still tiny as anything. She has been ligament free since early last week when she was presenting a lot of goobers on her tail hair. Last week, we made her a nice 8'X8' kidding pen in our basement, but she has not been doing much except eating and getting familiar with the stanchion. She is being her usual picky self, and will only eat certain hay, eat certain treats, and has all but refused the pellet portion of her feed mix. I use Pennfield dairy coarse grain mix, and she also has free access to the Sweetlix Meat maker block and loose mineral. She got her dairy clip (which she HATED :angry: ).

I am still a little concerned about her teats, as they are only about as long as half of my little finger, and just about as wide. She is a 3 yo. doe on her second freshening - she missed her service last year when we first purchased our buck, but then again, we only had 25% fertility with him as he was running with our 4 does and only one kidded. I am assuming that it was from possible mineral deprivation, as well as some parasite infestation, as he came with a serious case of lice, and pin worms. This year he had no problem, although Jezebel and her HORNED condition caused him quite the injury to his ribcage when she tired of his antics. He has been off the property since December living at a friend's barn getting LOADS of TLC while she works her magic on his wound. it is healing , but he wont leave it along, and as soon as it is nearly closed over, he scratches it with his bottom teeth, and we call him "blood beard" the pirate.

Well, here I went and turned my post into more about the goats, than kidding. I am going nuts waiting for the kids to be born, and while at the sale barn today to auction some rabbits, we were bombarded by some of the CUTEST kids I have seen in some time - maybe it is more because I am just dying to get some of our own on the ground, but my boyfriend Jeremy was checking out a cute little Barbados ram lamb (couldn't have been more than a few days old), and a pair of Boer cross kids that must have been bottle babies because they were searching for fingers, and sucking on anything that got near them, not interested in the other kids, but VERY interested in people.

Anyway, we wont have much excitement here for about 2 weeks, but I am SO anxious for kids. And after having twin bucklings last year, and really am 'thinking pink' for Jez's little surprises. They will be "Udder Insanity JeMo..." and I am already trying to think of some good names for them.
Jezebel is not registered, but she is a black and white Sundgau,old pic below when we first got her 2 yrs ago:

sire is Moose - our registered Togg buck, in his faded winter pajamas:

http://www.adgagenetics.org/GoatDetail.aspx?RegNumber=T001367113. I am hoping for some correctly colored kids so that we can register them Grade, but I will take healthy ones regardless :baby: .

Kelly

 

[Sara]

Was she milked on her FF?
If not then her udder never got to hold a big amount of milk, and probably never streched.

 

[Udder Insanity Toggs]

No, we never really milked her, except to relieve pressure on mom the first week so her kid could latch on - and NOW that you say it, it makes sense :hammer: ! She did raise her kid the first time, but it was a single doeling, and EXTREMELY bright. She caught on to eat feed and hay extremely quick, and probably didn't need that much milk anyway. I never really thought about it that way!

The other kid that we had that year was also dam raised, but she was kind of dense. She wouldn't even nibble hay or feed until Jezebel's kid was born and observed eating - which was more than 2 months later. Although both of our kids were dam raised that year, we spent a tremendous amount of time with them, and they were just as people friendly as our bottle raised kids from last year.

I have pretty high expectations from this doe as a milker - her capacity is awesome, and she had a surplus last time, but we were unprepared for kids, and I didn't even have a stanchion. Milking without one is a real pain in the butt when you have a doe that is not happy with you handling her udder, and is trying to escape the whole time. Poor girl had so much milk that a few days after kidding she laid down on that big shiny udder and milk literally squirted out of both teats :slapfloor: ! This year everything is ready, and the wait is killing me.

Thanks Sara for your advice - hopefully those teats will stretch some once I work her in the bucket.

Kelly

 

[Di]

It's so hard waiting for "the big day" isn't it? Izzy kept me waiting but then presented me with 4 beautiful healthy little darlings! So, keep thinking :girl: and keep the coming! I had to laugh about the goat in the basement! My hubby thinks everybody should freshen in the basement, then go out "later"...he's so funny. Good luck! Di

 

[StaceyRosado]

well as you milk her her teats will get larger. Those first few times will be lots of fun though

 

[Muddy Creek Farm]

I have a doe who is due the 11th and her teats are about an inch long, teeny weeny. I am hoping they aill stretch from milking though.. I can hardly wait for KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Udder Insanity Toggs]

Poor Jez today - she went to scratch her horn base with her RIGHT hind foot and couldn't quite reach. It was just digging air. She also let out a huge breath of air in disgust with herself. She really is not all that wide (compared to some of the other does that I saw in today's threads read:Fuchsia), but she is carrying VERY low compared to her first freshening. Her udder is getting bigger, but she does appear to have a slight pocket to her fore - rear is nice and high, and her attachments and MSL still look good to me. Her left teat is pointing slightly towards her leg, but the right one is pretty plumb, but then again, the left side is a little fuller looking overall.

Her personality has changed slightly too - usually she doesn't run from me when I go to stick her in the stand, and she has become a little more spooky at normal noises. She still "talks" to her favorite hay (her kid did the same thing too...lol), and has decided that she still does not need the pellets in her feed. I did catch her chewing her SweetLix block though, which is always good.

Ahh well...10 more days to go. It is just KILLING me :hair: :coffee2:

Kelly

 

[liz]

Hi and Welcome! I know you have the baby bug!! The pair of them certainly are sure to produce some adorable kids. As far as her teat size, once you get her milking regularly they should grow, I have minis and an accidental breeding caused my 9 month old Angel to be a FF....Talk about TINY teats! 3/4 inch long and she didn't develope her udder fully til her doeling was 4 days old!