People are always asking how we raise litters of kids, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share details in a blog format because for once we have a single litter and no more expected right away.

On Sunday, we had a beautiful litter of quadruplets born to one of our older, experienced does. The 8 year old doe in question is Sapphire and she had a rather long labor because the first kid was coming out breech. Once that kid was on the ground and partially dried off, the other kids started arriving one after the other. It was late in the evening and it can get quite chilly in December at night, so we decided not to risk letting the newborns get too cold because cold and wet is a very bad combination, especially in a newborn that isn't really regulating their body temperature well yet. Our older does are accustomed to such shenanigans on our part and tend to not be very distressed when their entire litter is scooped up when it's chilly and dark, but they can be very distressed in the morning if we don't show up promptly at milking time or slightly before that with their kids in hand.

We had milked out an entire bottle of colostrum during early labor because the labor was taking so long and we were trying to help stimulate progress, so we were able to divide that out between the 4 kids to give them a little something in their bellies right away when we brought them inside. We like to imprint them on a bottle before they get to suckle their dam for the first time so we can get them to switch easily back and forth between bottles and their dam for milk test days or to give us the freedom to sell their dam or let them go as bottle babies. We find that if each kid takes at least 1-2 ounces from the bottle with a steady suck, they don't usually forget that bottles can contain milk. These kids easily finished off the 16 ounce bottle between them just as an additional quart or so of fresh colostrum arrived from the barn. They were topped off with as much as they would take with a 16 ounce bottle left for their breakfast.

Since my introduction to dairy goats was working on a family owned commercial dairy farm, I have a bit of experience caring for bottle babies. I raised just under two thousand lambs and kids over the course of the first 8 months from the time I held my first goat kid. Needless to say, it was a lot of work. I worked from about 4:30am to well after dark most days simply because there was so much work to be done. Farming is the kind of work where there's always more to do. I quickly figured out that if I spent too much time on just one or a few really needy babies, I wouldn't have the time or the energy to care for all the others and their care would suffer, leading to more really needy babies, etc. I also figured out that I had to 'clock out' to pace myself so that I could be fresh and ready to tackle the challenges of the next day. Later as the mother of young children with newborn lambs and goat kids to juggle, there came a point where I had to recall those lessons. I made the conscious decision that humans were the priority over animals and that I had to make sure I got to bed (obviously, with nursing infants that wouldn't mean sleep would be unbroken), so that I had the energy to get up and take care of all the littles everywhere. I couldn't allow myself to push myself to the point where I was useless or ill. I recalled that I had usually left the barn by about 10:30pm on the sheep and goat dairy so I could shower, sleep and be up promptly at 4am to start the routine all over again, so I decided that as a light sleeper, I would not get up for baby goats or sheep until they aroused me in the night or early morning once I had gone to bed for the night. To this day, littles aren't fed on a schedule and I cannot say we've ever lost any weak or sick kids due to this practice that might have been saved by interrupting our own rest. Again, I'm a light sleeper, so I'm easily aroused by even a small sound from a little one that might be kept in the kitchen if they need extra care. To this day, I'm usually up between 5-5:30am and I'm going to sleep between 10-midnight, so it's not that many hours for a little one. If you're not a light sleeper or you need a lot more rest, this might not work for you, but one way or another, find a way to care for the caregiver so you are better able to maintain a high level of care for little ones or others that require extra care.

So Sapphire's quads were fed as much as they would take that first night and then in the morning, we fed each one about equal portions of the bottle of colostrum that was left over from the previous night. Then we brought the two smallest kids, which were a good 2-3 pounds lighter than the two larger kids out to their mother first (because it's hard to carry quads in one armful safely). We helped them latch on several times before the larger kids were brought out and coached into latching on. We let the kids drain out their dam until their little bellies were full and they stopped to urinate and lie down to rest. Then we put Sapphire on the milking stand and milked out 0.9 pounds (about one 16 ounce bottle) of colostrum which we promptly filtered and froze for future needs.

Periodically throughout the day, we went out to make sure kids were latching on, always starting with the smallest kids. We were also watching for meconium and regular urinating to reassure us that kids were getting enough. We watch for appetite and hopping about because kids with plenty of milk start engaging in unneccessary activity the same day they are born. A bouncing, quiet kid is a happy, content kid. We stayed outside often and nearby so that any time we heard a kid cry out, we could show up promptly to make sure their mother wasn't accidently stepping on them or their siblings weren't piling on them or they weren't getting separated from the mother. Whenever we checked on kids, we looked to see that none were off by themselves. We made sure if one was off by itself, it was moved to snuggle with it's siblings for warmth and so they wouldn't miss meal time when their dam started urging them to suckle.

At 4pm, we start milking in the winter months because it's not long before dark. At 4pm, Sapphire was empty from the kids suckling well. Not knowing if the kids were really getting all they wanted, we started thawing out some frozen colostrum that was milked out of a doe last year at more than 24 hours after she kidded. We noted that two of the kids were latching themselves on, but no one had witnessed the other two latching themselves on yet. Sapphire was put on the milking stand for a grain ration. She has been getting a handful of grain at 4pm every evening to encourage her to go into labor during the daylight hours, but in this case we were later more days than not, so she had gone into labor a few hours later than we normally would expect. Now that she's in milk, we want to gradually increase her grain intake. Feeding her on the milking stand establishes the routine for her. She finishes quickly and goes back to the stall with her kids. We have been having trouble with an unknown doe ramming others, so she had been separated with a buddy for the last month or so. Sapphire has free choice grass hay and alfalfa pellets in the stall. It's a roomy 12x12 foot stall with an attached outdoor paddock that's 12 feet wide and a good 20 feet long with about a third of that roofed.

Later, we still haven't seen all the kids latching themselves on, so we take the whole litter into the house for 'extra care' even though it's not particularly cold this night. We have had does reject the kids we take away if we don't take all the kids at once, so we take either all or none. If we left the litter with her and only some kids are able to latch on there's a risk that kids that can't latch on might get too cold as suckling is one way they keep warm through the night. There's also the issue that kids that are suckling throughout the night are growing stronger while the littermates that aren't are inherently growing weaker. We want all the kids to be about the same size and strength going forward so none have an advantage over the others when it comes to getting their turn to suckle. One thing we have been known to do to help younger ones catch up is helping them latch on before larger siblings and bringing them to the milking stand to get every bit of milk from their dam before we milk her out at milking times.

Even though we latched kids on to Sapphire before bringing them into the house, she still had another pound (about a 16 ounce bottle) of additional milk that we milked out. Right before I turned in for the night, I fed each kid as much as I could get them to take. They finished the entire bottle of thawed colostrum and most of the bottle that we had milked out of Sapphire that evening, but there were still 2-3 ounces they just couldn't fit into their little bellies. I had started with the smallest kids and then come back to offer more to them after feeding the larger siblings and then offered more to the larger siblings again and finished up yet again with the smallest kids, but they were snuggly and content and just wouldn't take the rest of the bottle.

At 7am, this morning, the kids (starting the smallest two) were brought out to their dam. After each of the kids had taken all they were willing to take, we milked out Sapphire and got 1.6 pounds. We reserved this for bottle feeding back to kids this evening or throughout the day if Sapphire is empty at any point because there's likely still colostrum in the milk and we aren't really fans of the colostrum flavor. We noted that one of the smallest kids is latching herself on readily and the other one tends to not lose the teat once she has it, so she doesn't have as much practice latching herself on.

Today should be pretty much a repeat of yesterday with us checking on the litter and their dam throughout the day, but most likely the litter won't need to come inside for the night because they'll all be latching on reguarly and we will top them off with what we milk out of Sapphire to make sure none are hungry going into the night.

This is how we start our kids off to make sure they are healthy and strong and set up to thrive on a bottle and on their dam. We haven't always given this much care and attention to ensuring each kid is fed and that any surplus is fed back to the kids because we didn't always have does that provided a surplus. Excess colostrum set aside will go to lambs or kids born to does who don't have a surplus or to help larger litters until their dam's milk comes in. Most of the time we are looking for excuses to feed it out or it goes to other animals to make room for fresh colostrum because we have a limited amount of space in which to keep colostrum in the freezer for future use. If Sapphire continues to milk the way we anticipate, the surplus that we get from her each milking will continue to increase daily as her milk comes in despite our feeding as much as we can by bottle into her kids and letting them suckle before we milk her out. Usually by 3-5 days after kidding, the kids aren't interested in bottles because they are getting more than they need from their dam. Often they are closer to each other in size and stay that way. If we see any are still not as large as their siblings or if we see any regress, they will be allowed time to suckle before we milk and encouraged to go back for more if they get distracted instead of staying focused on emptying their dam. We might even try to get them to take a bottle, although they usually prefer their milk straight from the source.

There are many 'right' ways to raise little goat kids, but we want to share what we do to help people learn what to look for when caring for the goats and give them ideas of things to try as they figure out what works best for them. Merry Christmas and happy kidding and new year!