Birthing Kit for Goats
What do you need when your goat is going to have babies?
Goat Kidding Positions
Kidding Kit
1. Children's Pee Pads: We place these under the doe while she is in active labor to keep the wet kid from getting debris stuck to it. It also makes the area easy to clean after kidding.
2. Old Towels: We use these to help momma (still let mom lick and clean as this is important for bonding.)
4. Unflavored Dental Floss: We use this to tie off the umbilical cord about 1/4-3/8" from the abdomen. You want to make sure you pull it very tight and double knot it. You are helping to prevent bacteria from getting into the navel and causing a navel abscess or even a septic infection.
3. Scissors: We use these to cut the umbilical cord a little below where the cord is tied off and also to trim off the extra unneeded dental floss.
4. Iodine & a small plastic cup: We get our idodine in the wound cleaning area at Walmart. After you cut the umbilical cord we dip it in iodine to kill any bacteria and to help prevent infection.
5. Kid puller: This is essential if you have a stuck kid.
6. Nasal aspirator: To suck out thier nostrals if needed.
7. Gloves: We use gloves handling all newborn kids and momma. Also if we have to go in to help a kid (although I do know some that just wash up before going in because grabbing kids is easier without gloves - if you cannot get a kid out and are wearing gloves, this could be an option).
8. Molasses: We put molassess in the does water to drink after kidding. This gives her a boost of energy and iron after stress and blood loss in kidding. It also causes her to drink more to help keep milk supply up and prevent dehydration.
9. Scale: Keeping track of kids weights after birth, along with other information about the doe like how many kids each kidding, what day she kid on, the sexes of each kid, etc can be beneficial for future kidding both in evaluating the doe and the buck - and also for future owners. Also if you are concerned with the weight/growth of the kid you have a starting point to evaluate from.
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