The Kidding "Plan"

I say "plan" because my real plan is to have four does kid easily and completely without any assistance from me other than an encouraging, "you, go, girl!"  But I also know from the experience of others that sometimes things go awry, so I want to be as prepared as I can be.  In all things, however, I trust God to work it out for all of our good, so I have peace in the fact that I am still learning and growing and finding my own way.

The first thing I plan to do is to be there when my doe kids.  That means paying attention to the due date and keeping a working baby monitor on so I can hear what's going on from the house (which is very close to the barn).  Plus I have six children who are constantly in and out and will be watching for *changes* in the barn as well.

I plan to call my goat friends to come over when she is kidding, and if my doe has any trouble getting the kid(s) out within 30-60 minutes, I plan to (a) not panic and (b) make sure I have someone with me.  If I can't have anyone there with me, then my goat books, laptop and google will have to suffice.  Freaking out won't help anything, right?

Once the kid(s) are born, I'll wipe away the sack from their nose and mouth, and give him (or her, but to be clear, we'll call the kid "him") to the mama.  If he isn't responding well, I'll give him a gentle upside down swing to help clear him.  Hopefully the mama will start licking him right away to stimulate him further. I'll cut the umbilical cord short and dip the stub into a small cup filled with iodine.  Once mama is up, I'll help him if necessary find her teats and insure that he is getting some colostrum.  If he's lopey at all, I'll give him a 5cc SQ injection of Bovi Sera, mainly because I do not vaccinate other than for tetanus, and I'll offer a pea sized amount of Fastrack probiotics.  A bit of selenium/vitamin E would be good, too. He'll be banded around the neck with mama's name and which baby number he was, too.

For the mama, I'll have on hand some molasses water, and I may give her 10cc SQ of Bovi Sera as well for a boost if she needs it.  If anyone had to "go in" to help get a kid or two out, I would give her some penicillin as well.

Hopefully that would be it! I'd leave the babies and mama alone in a clean pen alone for a few days and just check in on them regularly.  I plan to take some colostrum from the mama for a couple of days to freeze in case I need some for the other kids upcoming.  Last year we were successful with our kidding and I'm hoping for another good year.