Goat pregnancy: definition, course, time period, care features and assistance with lambing

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Goats come hunting seasonally - in spring and autumn. If a goat is nearby, then the hunt ends in pregnancy. Determining the gestational age in goats is not easy, especially for beginners who are just starting to keep these animals. Even experienced livestock breeders cannot always say for sure whether a goat is pregnant or not. Although once our ancestors were able to determine the result of mating.

Pregnancy

Usually pregnancy in goats lasts about 150 days or 5 months. During this period, it is necessary to provide special care for the animal, pay attention to nutrition.

Sometimes goats develop false pregnancies. In order to identify it in time, it is necessary to conduct a test that will help determine whether the goat is pregnant. It is especially important to carry out this for first-cats, as well as for inexperienced livestock breeders.

After the pregnancy is confirmed, a goat is launched - this is the period whenthe animal must not be milked.

Determination methods

There are several methods for determining pregnancy in goats. If there was a mating, then after it you can try to determine the gestational age in goats. Our grandmothers also used the milk determination method. To do this, take a glass of water and milk: a few drops drip into the water and see how it behaves. If the drops sink to the bottom, then this may indicate pregnancy.

With this method it is possible to determine the result of mating at the gestational age of goats for at least two months. In cases where milk dissolves in water and its color turns white, this indicates that the goat is empty.

It is not always possible to determine pregnancy by milk. Therefore, it is worth using an additional method. After three weeks from the moment of mating, the goat is brought to the goat and her behavior is observed. If she does not show interest in him, then you can prepare for replenishment.

Some livestock breeders determine the gestational age of goats by the rectal method, that is, they try to probe the pelvic artery through the rectum.

The disadvantage of the method is that it can only be used from the age of three months, when visible signs already exist.

The algorithm for conducting a rectal examination is as follows:

1. To determine the presence and duration of pregnancy in sheep and goats, a finger is inserted into the rectum to the full depth.
2. Then, in the direction of 11 and 13 hours, you need to feel for the uterine artery. It nourishes the penis with blood. The longer the gestation period, the stronger the inflowblood flows through the vessel. If it is well palpable, then this indicates the pregnancy of the animal and a period of more than 3 months.

To determine the gestational age of goats, the palpation method is also used. The most accurate results are obtained for a period of more than three months. Goats have a scar on the left side of the abdomen, and the uterus gradually fills the right side. The method of palpation is carried out in the morning, before feeding. On the right, they try to feel the kids: during pregnancy, legs and other parts of the body are felt. With the ability to work with a phonendoscope, you can try to hear the heartbeat of a goat.

When attempting to palpate, goats tense their abdominal muscles. To make them relax, goats collect a fold at the withers.

Animal Watching

If you constantly monitor the animal, you can determine the gestational age of a goat by changing behavior, as well as applying various methods. To begin with, it is worth reducing the animal to the goat again. This is the most affordable method for determining pregnancy in the early stages. If the goat walked with the goat in the herd, then it will be difficult to identify it.

When observing an animal, you can see how the appearance of the external genitalia changes. Experienced breeders can immediately see the change and tell if the goat is pregnant or not.

On examination, pay attention to the state of the loop: its folds are smoothed out, the skin becomes even, smooth, slightly swollen. The closer to childbirth, the more swelling.

With the development of pregnancy, the goat's belly increases: itresounds downwards and to the sides.

Another sign of pregnancy is sipping. The animal begins to stretch like a cat, and from a month old. This action helps prepare the body for the upcoming birth, stretch the spine.

In late pregnancy milk yield decreases. The amount of milk decreases during the hunting period, but after it, milk yields return. Closer to lambing, they decrease again. From this moment, the animal is launched: they stop milking it.

To find out the gestational age of a first-born goat and not only, ultrasound is used. It allows you to determine pregnancy at any time, even at the smallest.

Goat launch

Different goats start differently. Some of them themselves begin to reduce their milk yield, and a month before lambing they will stop giving milk altogether. This is usually seen in goats that are low in yield and those with a poor diet.

A quick start of a goat can be affected by multiple pregnancies. During it, the animal's body, saving itself and the babies, stops milk production, directing all internal resources to the development of the fetus. At such times, it is important to provide the animal with a good diet.

During pregnancy, high-yielding goats, which are kept on a rich diet, use the forced start method. To do this, from the third month, gradually reduce the amount of succulent feed, cereals and mixed feed, as these species contribute to the production of milk. From this point on, gradually reduce the amount of milk by reducing the number of milkings and milk intake. First, the goat is milked three times a day, slightly reducing the amount of milk taken, and then they switch to two milkings a day. By this time, there should be no more than 1.5 liters of milk in the udder. Do not massage the udder, stroke, as this helps to increase milk production.

After the daily milk yield does not exceed 2 liters, they switch to the ragged type of milking. It consists in the following: a goat is milked normally for a couple of days, but once a day, and then between milkings, increase the time, shifting it by several hours. As a result, it turns out that the goat is milked not once a day, but once every 1.5-3 days.

After launching a goat, be sure to conduct a daily inspection of the udder - it must be empty. A couple of weeks before lambing, the udder begins to swell in the animal, and colostrum collects in it. This is a very active and nutritious product that allows you to form strong immunity in kids and allows them to develop quickly. At first, colostrum is yellow, thick, then it becomes more liquid and light.

Features of food

Knowing how long the goat's pregnancy lasts, and when it came, they change the diet. Juicy feed is removed from it, but hay should be in the feeder all the time. If a goat is milked, and the amount of milk decreases by itself, then this indicates the correct diet.

It happens that after the winter lambing, the goat again comes into the hunt and covers itself. In this case, pregnancy occurs during the pasture season. With this option, the launch is not performed, but the goat is milked in the usualmode. Low-yielding goats can run themselves even in the summer.

Features of gestation

Can a goat cross the gestation period and for how many days? Yes, a goat can walk. Usually, the gestation period of a goat in days is 140-160 days, on average - 150. But this is according to textbooks, but in practice everything is somewhat different. Animals can walk or give birth prematurely by 5-10 days. It depends not only on the diet, conditions of detention, but also on the number of fruits, the lambing period. So, during autumn lambing, the period is reduced, and during spring it can increase. This is due to lack of nutrition, lack of sunlight, movement, cold. Daily walks are important for the animal. With a lack of movement, the timing of pregnancy is shifted upwards, pathologies may develop in the postpartum period.

The goat is walking. Reasons

Goat pregnancy can go through due to a violation of the feeding ration. If in the first half of a cat the animal does not need a serious change in diet, then from the second half it needs a lot of energy and nutrients, and because of their shortcomings, the deficit is replenished from the reserves of the mother, which greatly depletes her. This condition can negatively affect both babies and adult animals, and in some cases causes miscarriage.

Harbingers of childbirth

Knowing when the mating occurred, and how long the pregnancy of the goat, you can calculate the approximate date of lambing, plus or minus 5-10 days. They're talking about babies coming soon.ongoing changes in the appearance of the goat, its behavior.

Two days before lambing, the animal's pelvis turns into a generic one. This is due to the relaxation of the ligamentous apparatus - the tendons lengthen and become looser. Throughout pregnancy, the sciatic ligament is firm, dense, and does not change with pressure. But before lambing, it is easy to grab it, take it aside. In some animals, it changes several weeks before lambing.

Changes the appearance of the external genitalia. The labia become swollen, enlarged. The uterine cork begins to liquefy and come out in the form of drops on the tail. The goat begins to produce colostrum. In first-cats, it can begin to be produced immediately after lambing.

Before childbirth, the cork is released from the uterus, and after a while the process of childbirth begins.

Help with lambing

Harbingers of childbirth can appear at different times. A month before lambing, the stomach greatly increases, and a week it sags. At the same time, colostrum begins to arrive. Before the birth itself, the uterine cork comes out. If 1-2 hours after this, contractions and attempts do not begin, then this indicates a weak labor activity. To stimulate muscle tone, the animal is injected intramuscularly with 10 units of "Oxytocin" or another stimulant in accordance with the instructions for it.

If the kid does not come out, he will have to help by pulling a little on the paws, holding his head (goats are born with their legs and head forward). Sometimes, in the wrong position, kidsborn forward with hind legs and tail. In any case, it is necessary to look so that the legs do not tuck - they go forward with their hooves, and so that the goat can push the fetus out. If she cannot give birth herself, then she has to help by pulling the kid: you need to pull only during the fight, and at the end of it stop, waiting for the next one. Usually the goat comes out for 3-5 fights. The umbilical cord is cut with sterile scissors, treated with brilliant green. The kid is wiped and given to the goat.

Complications of childbirth

There are situations when a goat has complications during childbirth. In such situations, the help of a veterinarian is necessary. In isolated cases, the doctor performs a caesarean section, pulling out the kids. In practice, such operations are rarely performed, as they are expensive. Usually the breeders themselves try to save the goats.

Conclusion

With the right diet, good conditions, pregnancy is easy and without any complications. The main thing is to watch the animals, diversify the diet, monitor the quality of the feed given.

Usually, goats give birth without help, and most often they do this in the absence of people. Primal cats need to be especially carefully watched, as they most often have complications and need human help.