How to Care for Newborn Goat Kids
Most goat kids are born without human help. You might, in fact, go out to check on your pregnant doe only to find she has already given birth. However, it’s always a good idea to be there during the event, in case the doe needs help. If she is a first freshener, or likely to have multiple kids, you definitely want to be there to help care for the newborn goat kids.
Make Sure the Kid is Breathing
A newborn goat kid is covered with slimy mucus. The mama doe licks her kid, which both stimulates it to breathe and creates a bond between mother and offspring. However, the doe may immediately get busy having another kid. In that case, help her clean mucus from the first one’s nose and mouth.
If the kid does not breathe right away, tickle the inside of its nose with straw until it coughs. If you hear rattling sounds when the kid breathes, lift it by its back legs to let the air passages drain. You will know the kid is okay when it bawls, which indicates it has gotten a good lungful of air.
Cold Weather Kidding
In cold weather, the best thing you can do to care for newborn goat kids is to rapidly dry them so they won’t get chilled. Use old towels or clean rags. In freezing weather, complete the job with a hair dryer or old towels warmed in a clothes dryer.
If you find a newborn kid that is not moving or feels cold, warm it up in a hurry. A kid that is shivering but otherwise seems fine may be warmed by tucking it inside your jacket.
A kid that is not breathing or moving may be warmed by soaking it in warm (not hot) water for 15 minutes. Then dry it thoroughly and place it on a heating pad or under a pet heat panel. and hope it revives.
Even a kid that appears to be dead sometimes can be brought around, so don’t give up too easily. A kid that has been cold or wet for too long, though, may not revive.
Get Ready for the Next Kid
If the doe goes back into labor after the first kid emerges, put it out of harm’s way. Having a helper on hand to cuddle the first kid(s) is always nice.
But if you are alone, have a box ready to put the kid(s) in so they can’t scoot around. You don’t want the first one(s) to be trampled or rolled on by Mama while she’s giving birth to the next one.
Scatter fresh bedding over the mess left by the first birth. Or spread newspapers behind the doe to give the next kid a clean place to land.
Attention to the Umbilical Cord
A newborn kid has a bloody umbilical cord hanging from its navel. If the cord is long enough for the kid to step on, tie it about 1″ from the belly with dental floss. Cut only where the cord starts to thin. Do not cut through the cord close to the body, where it is thick and pink, and do not pull the cord off.
The care of newborn goat kids also involves preventing bacteria from invading through the navel by coating the cord and navel with a tamed iodine solution. Good choices are povidone-iodine or chlorhexidine.
Keeping Records
As each kid is born, keep a record while the information is fresh on your mind. Important things to write down include:
- the date
- time of day
- duration of labor
- birth weight
- the kid’s sex
- identifying marks
If two kids look exactly alike, put temporary marks inside their ears with a marking pen until you can identify some other distinguishing feature. You may choose to name them at this time. Or you may prefer to wait until some feature of appearance or personality hints at an appropriate name.
Weighing a Kid
Often overlooked in the care of newborn goat kids is recording is each kid’s weight at birth. Weigh each newborn kid as soon as it is dry, but before it starts to nurse.
Kids are easy to weigh on an accurate bathroom scale. Weigh yourself with and without the kid. Subtract the second weight first from the first. The difference is the kid’s weight.
You can also weigh your kids on your dairy scale, which is what I do. Place a kid in a grocery bag with handles and hang the bag from the scale. Be sure to keep the kid’s head outside the bag so it can breathe.
Track each kid’s growth by weighing it every other day for the first 4 weeks, then once a week until it reaches maturity. Record weights on a calendar, or make a chart to record the dates and weights of each kid.
The average newborn kid weighs about 7 pounds at birth. Doelings may weigh less, buckling more. Triplets and quads usually weigh less than twins or singles. Miniature kids weigh about half as much as full-size kids.
Weighing is especially important when a doe has multiple kids. By tracking the weight of each, you can be sure they are all nursing adequately.
After the first week, a kid should gain ¼ to ½ pound per day. Some grow faster than average; some grow slower. Except maybe briefly during weaning, at no time should a kid lose weight.
Weight Loss — Uh, Oh!
If a kid fails to gain weight or loses weight, look for a reason. Most likely it is not getting enough milk.
A doe that nurses more than two kids may not have enough milk for them all. A strong kid may push a weaker kid aside at nursing time. In such cases, you may have to bottle feed the slow-growing kid.
Bottle Feeding
If a kid you are bottle feeding grows slowly, you may not be feeding it enough. Bottle feeding charts apply only to the average goat. In real life, no goat is average. Make adjustments to suit the needs of your individual animals.
Take care not to go overboard by feeding your kids too much milk at once, or they will get diarrhea. Diarrhea, also known as scours, is a dangerous cause of weight loss.
Get my take on natural nursing versus bottle feeding here: Bottle Feeding and Weaning Dairy Goat Kids.
Sometimes bottle feeding is inevitable, in which case you can learn more here: How Much Milk to Bottle Feed an Orphan Goat.
Colostrum First
Colostrum is the first milk a doe produces after kidding. It is thicker and yellower than regular milk, because it contains extra nutrients. It also has antibodies that help protect a newborn kid against disease. The easiest way to feed colostrum is to let the kid nurse.
Some kids are ready to nurse as soon as they can stand. Others want to rest first. A newborn kid can absorb antibodies from colostrum for only about 24 hours, during which it should nurse several times. Don’t let more than 2 hours go by without ensuring that a kid gets its first colostrum.
Ready to Nurse
Clean the doe’s udder with warm soapy water and dry it with a paper towel. Make sure the teats are functioning by gently milking a stream from each side. Getting the milk started removes the waxy plug that sometimes seals each teat, making it easier for the kid to get started.
If the doe is a heavy milker, the pressure from her milk-swollen udder may already have caused the plugs to pop out. A really heavy milker may be so swollen with milk that she feels uncomfortable and kicks when her teats are touched by you or her babies.
In that case, milk out just enough to relieve the pressure and help her relax. You may need help holding the doe still, but after she gets the idea that milking makes her more comfortable, she’ll learn to stand still on her own.
With the udder cleaned and dry, squirt a bit of colostrum into each kid’s mouth. Once the kid gets a good taste, it should start sucking right away.
Poor Sucking Instinct
If the kid refuses to start sucking, milk the doe and put the colostrum in a soft plastic bottle you can squeeze. Fit the bottle with a rubber nipple such as the Prichard nipple designed for this purpose.
Warm the filled bottle in hot water for a few minutes, until a squirt of colostrum placed on your wrist feels neither hot nor cold. Put your clean finger into the kid’s mouth and rub gently back and forth along the length of its tongue. As soon as you feel the kid attempt to suck, squeeze a little warm colostrum onto the back of its tongue and stroke the throat until it swallows.
Keep at it until the kid drinks ½ cup of colostrum. After a nap, the kid should be stronger and ready to nurse on its own. If not, keep trying and eventually the kid should come around.
To Heat or Not to Heat
Newborn baby goats are most comfortable at a temperature between 50°F and 70°F. A good thick layer of clean bedding will help them conserve body heat.
At temperatures of 50°F or less the bedding must be thick enough that when a kid curls up to sleep it can burrow in so well its legs are hidden by the bedding. As long as the kids have a draft-free place to bed down, they should be fine.
Do not put a kid under heat unless it is premature, weak, or suffering from extreme cold. As soon as a newborn kid is dry, its body should adapt to normal temperatures. Routinely using a heater prevents healthy kids from adapting and therefore does more harm than good.
On the other hand, at a temperature of 40°F or below, kids can easily suffer from hypothermia. In such situations, I hang a panel heater where the kids can tuck themselves in if they feel the need.
Weak Leg, Folded Ear
Sometimes a kid struggles to stand or walk, but can’t straighten one or more legs. The pasterns may be weak and need help to strengthen. See: When a Newborn Goat Walks on Pasterns.
Nubian kids are sometimes born with folded ears. If you don’t straighten them, they may remain permanently folded. See: How to Correct a Nubian Goat Kid’s Folded Ears.
More Kids?
Stay with your doe until you are certain she has had all her kids. You don’t want to come back later to find that a kid has died because the doe was so busy taking care of the first one(s) that she didn’t have time clean off the last one’s face so it could breathe.
The final step in the care of newborn goat kids is to keep the doe and her babies separated from the herd for a few days while they learn to respond to one another’s calls. The kids need time to learn which one is Mom and to grow strong enough to scamper away when they get butted for trying to steal milk from the wrong doe.
How many kids a doe has depends on her age and breed. An older doe usually has more kids at a time than a doe giving birth for the first time.
A Pygmy usually has twins. Most other breeds have either twins or triplets. Nubians and Kinder goats may have four or five kids at a time. A doe that is herself a twin, triplet, or quadruplet is more likely to have twins, triplets, or quads, respectively.
In Summary
- Make sure the kid is breathing.
- Dry the kid and keep in warm out of harm’s way.
- Shorten the umbilical cord if necessary, and disinfect.
- See that the kid nurses and gets colostrum.
- Don’t forget to keep good records.