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Winter Kidding

By Regina Tervo

Those of us that plan their breedings and choose to have their does kid in the winter months know there are extra prep time for these cold months. 

No one wants to have kids freeze to death or have to spend hours trying to save one that temperature is to low and has to be brought up.

Breeding goats since 2004 I only lost one kid because I didn’t know the doe was pregnant and she gave birth outside on a cold winters morning. I could not revive the doeling.

I have had hundred of kids born and no does or kids lost in kidding until that one doeling. This is a extremely good tract record for kid and doe survival during kidding time during the winter time or any time. How do I do it some might ask? I like to make things simple for me so I don’t stress. Also I am older so be prepared helps give me more time for other things. I have a Three step method.

1. Planning ahead

2. Being prepared

3. Being there

Planning ahead, I decide which does will go with which bucks, make sure they are fecaled, wormed if need before bred, have their BoSe, shot. Set on calendar for 35 to fourty days for ultrasound for confirmation of pregnancies.

Being Prepared, checking my kidding kit and replenishing it for the number of does I have this year. My kit include Organic Raspberry tea for my does right after they kid. This helps them to expel the afterbirth. Make sure I have enough kid sweaters. Check my Premier prima heat lamps to see that they are in good working order, change bulbs if needed, buy extra bulbs, just in case. Make sure I have enough, bedding and extra for kidding before time. Also the extra Alfalfa & grain I will be boosting as they kid.

Being There, is where I feel makes a huge advantage on survival. You can give the kids and does a huge advantage by having a place with clean deep breeding with a heat source. Yet still you can loose kids to the cold because of a number of reasons.

They don’t get dried off and get chilled. They don’t nurse within the first hour. They don’t get to the heat source. Doe may be a first freshener and may need some help from us but we were not there. Like in my case when we lost the doeling. She was beautiful.

If we can be there at kidding time the kid has the best chance of survival.

When my does kid, I routinely dry the kids off dip their naval. I allow dam to bond while I dry. I put a sweater on the kid to hold their heat. A lot of kids can have a difficult time maintaining their temperature level. The sweater helps in winter. I get them to the teat and make sure that they can latch on and they can find it by themselves. That they poop and pee. All this while waiting for doe to pass placenta.

I don’t leave until I see that the kids have nursed on their own several times and placenta has passed.

I make a nest under the heat lamp on the  thick clean bedding, brim it like a bowl and put the sleepy full kids in it. Dam enjoys her alfalfa, grain & warm tea. After she goes and lays with them.

I must be doing something right it has worked very well all this time.

GoGo’s Spirit and her twins of GoGo’Herd Farms

Picture taken by Regina Tervo