Kid Care At Birth
1. Make sure the kid is breathing.
Clear the nose and mouth of birthing fluids with a towel first. If the kid is breathing, but the breath is rattling, use a bulb aspirator to clear the nose and mouth of fluids. If the breath is still rattling, you can hold the kid upside down and gently sling the fluids out of them towards the ground. This maneuver takes some practice. Be sure to have a good grip on the kid before you sling him.
If the kid is NOT breathing, clear the mouth and nose, sling the kid and recheck for breaths. Vigorously rub the kid with a towel to encourage breathing. If the kid is still NOT breathing, check for a heartbeat by putting the kids barrel to your ear. If a heartbeat is not present, you can compress the chest by putting your thumb on one side of the chest and your fingers on the other side of the chest and gently squeezing to encourage the heart to beat. You can also give the kid gentle breaths by covering the nose and the mouth with your mouth and give a very soft puff of air. In a last ditch attempt, you can give a dose of epinephrine with an insulin needle under the kids tongue to stimulate him to life. If all efforts fail, the kid is dead.
When the kid is revived and starts to breathe and his heart is beating, continue to rub him vigorously with towels and then proceed to the next tip below. Recheck his vitals and make sure his lungs are clear and his heartbeat is strong. He is probably going to need alot of care from this point forward, but it IS possible for him to make a full recovery.
2. Make sure the kid has normal body temperature.
The second most important issue to worry about is not food, it is body temperature. A cold kid (<100° F) will not eat, so that makes it more important than food for a newborn. Body temperature really has nothing to do with the temperature of a barn, and it can be 80 degrees room temp and the kid can still die from hypothermia if he cannot regulate his own body temperature. The easiest way to tell if your kid has a normal temperature is to stick your CLEAN index finger in his mouth. His tongue and mouth should feel warm. If his tongue feels cool, then he has a subnormal temperature, and you must act quickly to correct it. This is what the big bucket is for. Fill your bucket with warm water (103°-104° F). Lower the kid into the bucket so that the waterline is at his neck, and hold him there for fifteen minutes. Don't worry, he will not struggle and will probably fall asleep as he assumes he is back in the womb. After you remove him from the bucket, towel dry him and use a hair dryer to dry his hair. Be careful that you do not burn him with the hair dryer. After you get his body temperature normal, you may proceed to the 3rd step, but be aware that you need to keep a close eye on him and if his body temperature drops again, you will need to give him another hot bath until his body begins to regulate his temperature on its own.
3. Make sure the kid gets colostrum
Colostrum is the kids first milk. After a doe freshens, her first milk is slightly yellow and very thick. This is colostrum, and it is as good as gold to the goat breeder, and to the kids. It is packed full of vitamins and immunizes the kid against many threats. You should always use natural colostrum, and only use a replacer if you absolutely have to. You can freeze colostrum in small bags and keep them in the freezer in case of emergency. If you do not have colostrum because the doe did not produce, you may be able to call local goat producers to buy some. By the time the kid is dry, and starts to stand and walk (usually within the first ten minutes after birth) he will start rooting around for a teat. The dam will push him back towards her udder to encourage him to eat. Strip the does teats by giving them each a squeeze. This will clear away the natural plugs that have been keeping her colostrum safe inside her udder. Some kids find the teat right away, while others have to be encouraged and guided there. I never leave the barn before every kid has a full belly.
If you are going to bottle raise the kids, milk the colostrum out of the dam, warm it, and bottle feed it to the kids. It is not recommended to use a microwave to warm colostrum, but use hot water to warm the bottle instead.
4. Make sure his umbilical cord has been dipped in iodine
Use a strong iodine dip to coat the umbilical to the belly. You can trim the umbilical with clean surgical scissors if they are too long. Iodine will seal out bacteria and guard against the kid getting naval ill. You can also iodine the hooves if you wish.
Problems with Newborn Kids
Kid Will Not Stand- Some kids take longer than others to stand up and start walking. Smaller kids generally have a harder time getting going than larger kids. If the kid is having trouble standing or stands up but keeps falling down, he might be selenium deficient. If a kid tries to stand and walk but cannot after 30 minutes, give him 1/4cc of BoSe subQ with an insulin needle behind his front leg or give him oral selenium gel as directed on the tube. Remove the kid from his dam and siblings immediately until he gains strength. You might also give him some warm black coffee or molasses to give him some energy.
Kid Will Not Eat- Check his body temperature by putting your index finger in his mouth. If it is cool, he needs a hot bath to bring his body temperature up to normal. If his temperature is normal (warm) then he might be developmentally delayed and has not yet developed the suck reflex. This happens alot with smaller kids (runts) and bucks. If he will not latch onto his dam's teat, express a little colostrum into a pop bottle and warm it up under hot running water. Attach a Pritchard nipple and see if he will take a little colostrum from the bottle. If he hasn't taken any colostrum within the first two hours of birth, it's time to start thinking about tubing him (explained below).
Kid Has Not Pooped- A newborns first poop is called meconium, and it is dark, sticky and tar-like. Kids should pass their meconium within the first few hours. Once they start eating, their little bodies will start working and things will start moving through them. I am always quick to give newborn babies a warm, soapy enema if they are having any issues, because I really think it kickstarts their bodies to start working like they should. Poop will soon turn yellow and sticky as the colostrum moves through them. It will stay yellow and sticky for several weeks.
Kid is Down- If a kid is down, you have a serious issue. Kids who act depressed, won't eat, won't stand, and won't make an effort to do so is in serious trouble. If a kid is down, remove him from his dam and siblings immediately. He should be brought into the house where you can care for him properly. I use a large plastic tote that I line with a towel, and hook up a small heating pad under the towel. This becomes my NICU incubator that I keep next to my bed. You have three major things to worry about when a kid is in the NICU. He needs warmth, nutrition and he needs to be eliminating waste. If he cannot keep his temperature up, continue to give him hot baths. Try to bottle him as soon as he is warm. If he will not eat, he needs to be tubed. Give him a soapy enema to stimulate his bowels to move. You can start giving him Vit B Complex and Dexamethazone to help him gain strength. You have an uphill battle with a down kid, but it is possible to pull them through. You need to keep them warm, fed and eliminating waste to get over the hill. Keep trying to get him to stand and offer him a bottle until he takes it.
How to Get a Kid to Take a Bottle
Seems so simple, but sometimes it is not. To get a kid to take a bottle, make sure that the milk is warmed to body temperature (103° F). Then you need to think like a momma goat. Think about what the dam does to encourage him to eat. She licks his behind and messes with his back end to push him towards the teat. When he gets there, he will nudge the teat and his forehead will hit his dam's belly. So you just need to simulate those same things. Hold the kid across your lap towards your dominant hand. Hold the bottle in your dominant hand and put it in his mouth with your palm cupping underneath his chin and holding the bottle with your fingers. With your other hand, you may have to tickle his tail and his butt like his dam would do. With your chin, bend over and rub the top of his head so that he thinks he is standing under his dam. It takes practice to get this right, but this is the best way to encourage a kid to drink from a bottle.
How to Tube a Newborn Kid
Kids must eat to survive, so if the kid will not eat, you must tube nutrients into them in order for them to survive. Tubing a kid with colostrum seems scary, but it is essential that you learn how to do it. You will need a Weak-Kid Syringe and Stomach Tube. JeffersPet sells them for under $3 each.
1. Warm some colostrum under hot running water.
2. Measure the tube from the kids mouth to the last rib. This is how much tube you need to put into the kid.
3. Lay the kid down on its side.
4. Thread the tube into the kids mouth down the side of the throat. If you meet resistance, pull it out and start again. When you reach the length that you previously measured, stop.
5. Listen to the end of the tube for breath sounds. This will ensure that you are in the stomach and not in the lungs.
6. Attach the syringe and pour 1 oz of colostrum at a time into the syringe. Introduce the colostrum slowly as to not overwhelm the kids little stomach. You can lift the head to have gravity assist the liquid into the stomach. Tube a total of 2 oz of colostrum for the first feeding. This little bit of nutrition might be enough to jump start the kid to eat.
7. Pinch the tube before pulling out the tube, because liquid could enter the lungs otherwise. Make sure you keep the tube pinched until the entire tube exits the body.
8. Tube the newborn 4 times per day until he starts eating on his own.
How to Give a Kid an Enema
To give a kid a soapy water enema you will need a 6cc sliplock syringe and a length of IV tubing.
1. Prepare a bit of warm, soapy water to use. Dish washing liquid works fine.
2. Cut a few inches of IV tubing and push it onto the sliplock syringe.
3. Draw up the soapy water into the syringe.
4. Lay the goat on a towel. This can get really messy.
5. Use a bit of the soapy water to lubricate the anus.
6. Carefully, push the tubing into the anus a few inches. BE VERY CAREFUL!
7. Slowly push some soapy water into the goat, (3cc for minis, 6cc for standards) and then withdraw the tubing.
8. I usually stand the goat up at this point and wait. There may be bubbles. There will be soapy water that either leaks or shoots out of the goat's anus. The sticky meconium will also make an exit. Catch everything with the towel and clean the goat up after he is done. Repeat as necessary to get the bowels moving.
How to Care for Healthy Kids (Birth-Weaning)
A kids main diet from birth is milk. If you choose to dam raise, then the dam takes care of the milk. If you choose to bottle raise the kids, then give the kids as much milk as they want, four times per day from birth. A daily schedule might be: 7am, 1pm, 7pm, 1am. Whichever schedule you choose, they should be fed every six hours for the first two weeks. When they hit two weeks old, back off to three times per day. To do this, drop the last feeding so that there is 12 hours between the last feeding of the night and the first feeding in the morning. This will give the kid a bedtime and a rise time. When the kids are about a month old, you can back off their feedings to two times per day. Kids can be weaned as early as eight weeks of age, but most breeders wait to wean until they are 10-12 weeks old. Kids can have hay immediately after they are born, and some start nibbling on it at just a few days old. You can introduce grain when the kids are two weeks old, but they may not be interested in it until they are about a month old. It takes quite awhile for kids to start drinking water. Mine usually start sneaking little drinks around 6 weeks of age. You should not wean the kids until they are drinking water, and eating hay and grain readily. To wean, back their bottles down to one per day for two weeks, and then cut the other bottle the following week. Kids may be whiny for several days while they adjust to their new feeding schedule.
Kids should be disbudded as soon as horn buds can be felt. Bucks usually develop hornbuds earlier than does, sometimes at birth. We usually disbud bucks at around 3 days old, and does at 1 week. If you choose to vaccinate, kids should get their first CDT shot at 3 weeks of age, and then another booster dose at 6 weeks of age. Kids can start on a cocci prevention program (maintenence oral doses of DiMethox 12.5%) at three weeks of age.
Kids should be tattooed when they are registered. I like to wait until they are three months of age before I tattoo them, unless I absolutely have to for a show.
Although many farms recommend castrating bucks as young as four weeks of age, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND STRONGLY DISAGREE. I wait until the bucks are 12 weeks of age before they are castrated.
Let's go to the Castrating section now...
1. Make sure the kid is breathing.
Clear the nose and mouth of birthing fluids with a towel first. If the kid is breathing, but the breath is rattling, use a bulb aspirator to clear the nose and mouth of fluids. If the breath is still rattling, you can hold the kid upside down and gently sling the fluids out of them towards the ground. This maneuver takes some practice. Be sure to have a good grip on the kid before you sling him.
If the kid is NOT breathing, clear the mouth and nose, sling the kid and recheck for breaths. Vigorously rub the kid with a towel to encourage breathing. If the kid is still NOT breathing, check for a heartbeat by putting the kids barrel to your ear. If a heartbeat is not present, you can compress the chest by putting your thumb on one side of the chest and your fingers on the other side of the chest and gently squeezing to encourage the heart to beat. You can also give the kid gentle breaths by covering the nose and the mouth with your mouth and give a very soft puff of air. In a last ditch attempt, you can give a dose of epinephrine with an insulin needle under the kids tongue to stimulate him to life. If all efforts fail, the kid is dead.
When the kid is revived and starts to breathe and his heart is beating, continue to rub him vigorously with towels and then proceed to the next tip below. Recheck his vitals and make sure his lungs are clear and his heartbeat is strong. He is probably going to need alot of care from this point forward, but it IS possible for him to make a full recovery.
2. Make sure the kid has normal body temperature.
The second most important issue to worry about is not food, it is body temperature. A cold kid (<100° F) will not eat, so that makes it more important than food for a newborn. Body temperature really has nothing to do with the temperature of a barn, and it can be 80 degrees room temp and the kid can still die from hypothermia if he cannot regulate his own body temperature. The easiest way to tell if your kid has a normal temperature is to stick your CLEAN index finger in his mouth. His tongue and mouth should feel warm. If his tongue feels cool, then he has a subnormal temperature, and you must act quickly to correct it. This is what the big bucket is for. Fill your bucket with warm water (103°-104° F). Lower the kid into the bucket so that the waterline is at his neck, and hold him there for fifteen minutes. Don't worry, he will not struggle and will probably fall asleep as he assumes he is back in the womb. After you remove him from the bucket, towel dry him and use a hair dryer to dry his hair. Be careful that you do not burn him with the hair dryer. After you get his body temperature normal, you may proceed to the 3rd step, but be aware that you need to keep a close eye on him and if his body temperature drops again, you will need to give him another hot bath until his body begins to regulate his temperature on its own.
3. Make sure the kid gets colostrum
Colostrum is the kids first milk. After a doe freshens, her first milk is slightly yellow and very thick. This is colostrum, and it is as good as gold to the goat breeder, and to the kids. It is packed full of vitamins and immunizes the kid against many threats. You should always use natural colostrum, and only use a replacer if you absolutely have to. You can freeze colostrum in small bags and keep them in the freezer in case of emergency. If you do not have colostrum because the doe did not produce, you may be able to call local goat producers to buy some. By the time the kid is dry, and starts to stand and walk (usually within the first ten minutes after birth) he will start rooting around for a teat. The dam will push him back towards her udder to encourage him to eat. Strip the does teats by giving them each a squeeze. This will clear away the natural plugs that have been keeping her colostrum safe inside her udder. Some kids find the teat right away, while others have to be encouraged and guided there. I never leave the barn before every kid has a full belly.
If you are going to bottle raise the kids, milk the colostrum out of the dam, warm it, and bottle feed it to the kids. It is not recommended to use a microwave to warm colostrum, but use hot water to warm the bottle instead.
4. Make sure his umbilical cord has been dipped in iodine
Use a strong iodine dip to coat the umbilical to the belly. You can trim the umbilical with clean surgical scissors if they are too long. Iodine will seal out bacteria and guard against the kid getting naval ill. You can also iodine the hooves if you wish.
Problems with Newborn Kids
Kid Will Not Stand- Some kids take longer than others to stand up and start walking. Smaller kids generally have a harder time getting going than larger kids. If the kid is having trouble standing or stands up but keeps falling down, he might be selenium deficient. If a kid tries to stand and walk but cannot after 30 minutes, give him 1/4cc of BoSe subQ with an insulin needle behind his front leg or give him oral selenium gel as directed on the tube. Remove the kid from his dam and siblings immediately until he gains strength. You might also give him some warm black coffee or molasses to give him some energy.
Kid Will Not Eat- Check his body temperature by putting your index finger in his mouth. If it is cool, he needs a hot bath to bring his body temperature up to normal. If his temperature is normal (warm) then he might be developmentally delayed and has not yet developed the suck reflex. This happens alot with smaller kids (runts) and bucks. If he will not latch onto his dam's teat, express a little colostrum into a pop bottle and warm it up under hot running water. Attach a Pritchard nipple and see if he will take a little colostrum from the bottle. If he hasn't taken any colostrum within the first two hours of birth, it's time to start thinking about tubing him (explained below).
Kid Has Not Pooped- A newborns first poop is called meconium, and it is dark, sticky and tar-like. Kids should pass their meconium within the first few hours. Once they start eating, their little bodies will start working and things will start moving through them. I am always quick to give newborn babies a warm, soapy enema if they are having any issues, because I really think it kickstarts their bodies to start working like they should. Poop will soon turn yellow and sticky as the colostrum moves through them. It will stay yellow and sticky for several weeks.
Kid is Down- If a kid is down, you have a serious issue. Kids who act depressed, won't eat, won't stand, and won't make an effort to do so is in serious trouble. If a kid is down, remove him from his dam and siblings immediately. He should be brought into the house where you can care for him properly. I use a large plastic tote that I line with a towel, and hook up a small heating pad under the towel. This becomes my NICU incubator that I keep next to my bed. You have three major things to worry about when a kid is in the NICU. He needs warmth, nutrition and he needs to be eliminating waste. If he cannot keep his temperature up, continue to give him hot baths. Try to bottle him as soon as he is warm. If he will not eat, he needs to be tubed. Give him a soapy enema to stimulate his bowels to move. You can start giving him Vit B Complex and Dexamethazone to help him gain strength. You have an uphill battle with a down kid, but it is possible to pull them through. You need to keep them warm, fed and eliminating waste to get over the hill. Keep trying to get him to stand and offer him a bottle until he takes it.
How to Get a Kid to Take a Bottle
Seems so simple, but sometimes it is not. To get a kid to take a bottle, make sure that the milk is warmed to body temperature (103° F). Then you need to think like a momma goat. Think about what the dam does to encourage him to eat. She licks his behind and messes with his back end to push him towards the teat. When he gets there, he will nudge the teat and his forehead will hit his dam's belly. So you just need to simulate those same things. Hold the kid across your lap towards your dominant hand. Hold the bottle in your dominant hand and put it in his mouth with your palm cupping underneath his chin and holding the bottle with your fingers. With your other hand, you may have to tickle his tail and his butt like his dam would do. With your chin, bend over and rub the top of his head so that he thinks he is standing under his dam. It takes practice to get this right, but this is the best way to encourage a kid to drink from a bottle.
How to Tube a Newborn Kid
Kids must eat to survive, so if the kid will not eat, you must tube nutrients into them in order for them to survive. Tubing a kid with colostrum seems scary, but it is essential that you learn how to do it. You will need a Weak-Kid Syringe and Stomach Tube. JeffersPet sells them for under $3 each.
1. Warm some colostrum under hot running water.
2. Measure the tube from the kids mouth to the last rib. This is how much tube you need to put into the kid.
3. Lay the kid down on its side.
4. Thread the tube into the kids mouth down the side of the throat. If you meet resistance, pull it out and start again. When you reach the length that you previously measured, stop.
5. Listen to the end of the tube for breath sounds. This will ensure that you are in the stomach and not in the lungs.
6. Attach the syringe and pour 1 oz of colostrum at a time into the syringe. Introduce the colostrum slowly as to not overwhelm the kids little stomach. You can lift the head to have gravity assist the liquid into the stomach. Tube a total of 2 oz of colostrum for the first feeding. This little bit of nutrition might be enough to jump start the kid to eat.
7. Pinch the tube before pulling out the tube, because liquid could enter the lungs otherwise. Make sure you keep the tube pinched until the entire tube exits the body.
8. Tube the newborn 4 times per day until he starts eating on his own.
How to Give a Kid an Enema
To give a kid a soapy water enema you will need a 6cc sliplock syringe and a length of IV tubing.
1. Prepare a bit of warm, soapy water to use. Dish washing liquid works fine.
2. Cut a few inches of IV tubing and push it onto the sliplock syringe.
3. Draw up the soapy water into the syringe.
4. Lay the goat on a towel. This can get really messy.
5. Use a bit of the soapy water to lubricate the anus.
6. Carefully, push the tubing into the anus a few inches. BE VERY CAREFUL!
7. Slowly push some soapy water into the goat, (3cc for minis, 6cc for standards) and then withdraw the tubing.
8. I usually stand the goat up at this point and wait. There may be bubbles. There will be soapy water that either leaks or shoots out of the goat's anus. The sticky meconium will also make an exit. Catch everything with the towel and clean the goat up after he is done. Repeat as necessary to get the bowels moving.
How to Care for Healthy Kids (Birth-Weaning)
A kids main diet from birth is milk. If you choose to dam raise, then the dam takes care of the milk. If you choose to bottle raise the kids, then give the kids as much milk as they want, four times per day from birth. A daily schedule might be: 7am, 1pm, 7pm, 1am. Whichever schedule you choose, they should be fed every six hours for the first two weeks. When they hit two weeks old, back off to three times per day. To do this, drop the last feeding so that there is 12 hours between the last feeding of the night and the first feeding in the morning. This will give the kid a bedtime and a rise time. When the kids are about a month old, you can back off their feedings to two times per day. Kids can be weaned as early as eight weeks of age, but most breeders wait to wean until they are 10-12 weeks old. Kids can have hay immediately after they are born, and some start nibbling on it at just a few days old. You can introduce grain when the kids are two weeks old, but they may not be interested in it until they are about a month old. It takes quite awhile for kids to start drinking water. Mine usually start sneaking little drinks around 6 weeks of age. You should not wean the kids until they are drinking water, and eating hay and grain readily. To wean, back their bottles down to one per day for two weeks, and then cut the other bottle the following week. Kids may be whiny for several days while they adjust to their new feeding schedule.
Kids should be disbudded as soon as horn buds can be felt. Bucks usually develop hornbuds earlier than does, sometimes at birth. We usually disbud bucks at around 3 days old, and does at 1 week. If you choose to vaccinate, kids should get their first CDT shot at 3 weeks of age, and then another booster dose at 6 weeks of age. Kids can start on a cocci prevention program (maintenence oral doses of DiMethox 12.5%) at three weeks of age.
Kids should be tattooed when they are registered. I like to wait until they are three months of age before I tattoo them, unless I absolutely have to for a show.
Although many farms recommend castrating bucks as young as four weeks of age, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND STRONGLY DISAGREE. I wait until the bucks are 12 weeks of age before they are castrated.
Let's go to the Castrating section now...
Go To Castrating or Choose From the Menu Below