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Junior Member
 
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| I have a (best guess) 3-6 y/o DRY lamancha doe. UTD on shots, wormer....any who. When I got her, the people I got her from only had her a few months, the people they got her from, said her kids died young.....We're going to be breeding her in a few weeks, and though 145 (give or take) gestation seems like forever, I want to be prepared. I'm worried that her kids died because she had mastitis. 1. How can you tell, if a dry doe has mastitis? 2. How would I treat it if she has it? 3. Would it harm her, if I treated her for mastitis, when she doesn't have it. Sometimes I feel her udders and SOMETIMES it feels like she has small lumps (smaller than a marble). They move around, like from the teat to the udder. Her udders look normal, just really small, cause she's dry. We're hoping to get a baby doll sheep (or alpacas) sometime, what electric shears/clippers, (whatever you call them) would you reccomend? Any links to a good website that sells carts/harnesses for goats? Brand reccomendations? Thanks for the help.
www.twinoaksstable.blogspot.com ************************************** The horse stopped with a jerk, and the jerk fell off ************************************** It's kind of like nuts-and-bolts, if the rider's nuts the horse bolts.
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Junior Member
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Or advise of training a cart goat, or links to websites....thanks
www.twinoaksstable.blogspot.com************************************** The horse stopped with a jerk, and the jerk fell off ************************************** It's kind of like nuts-and-bolts, if the rider's nuts the horse bolts.
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Junior Member
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| If she had mastitis when she was dry, she would have fluid in her udder. The lumps you are feeling are probably just normal tissue. If it makes you feel better, you could infuse her udder with a dry cow treatment - I believe the one in the States is called "Tomorrow". It's unlikely that her kids died because she had mastitis - kids can die from so many things, coccidiosis being one of the main ones. Can't help you on the clippers, I sheared my sheep with scissors this year.  This is a good site for cart/pack goats - http://www.workinggoats.com/?id=218
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New Member
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Prenatal nutrition is very important for the kids' health.
The mom needs vaccinations, selenium shots, deworming at certain times, adequate calcium in her diet, etc.
Mastitis would not normally cause kid death.
I highly recommend reading "management from birth through kidding" at the following website:
http://dairygoatinfo.com/index.php?topic=2077.0
Also read "goat information, health, and husbandry"
http://fiascofarm.com/goats/index.htm
* * * * * * * * * *
Alice
Summers in the Ozarks, Winters in South Texas
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Not to be a stick in the mud, but giving a Doe selenium shots will not improve the health of the kid. Unlike human's though, giving prenatal vitamins and minerals doesn't always work. The placenta of ruminant animals is much thicker then in humans and so these vitamins and minerals do not always pass through. That is why all my lambs and calves get an injection of selenium at birth ASAP. I could give my pregnant ewe sheep selenium and it just won't pass through to the lambs in the womb.
Their rumans are also sterile at birth and that is why it is critical for lambs and other ruminant animals to have colostrum just as soon after birth as possible.
As for Mastitis, I have a few sheep with mastitis and while I should cull them, they have given awesome single lambs and so I keep them. In every case, the infected side is very hard and permanently bagged up. Cows do the same thing so I assume goats do as well. I think your animals are just fine, but I understand your nervousness. I am not chiding you for that, just trying to alleviate your fears.
There is a saying in the sheep and goat world "Lambs and Kids were born to die". It sounds cold but it just means that a lot of lambs and kids have so much going against them, that they just do not make it. I am not sure about goats, but in sheep the average mortality rate of lambs is 15%. That is pretty high as poultry mortality stands at 4%.
I love vegetarians...slice them real thin, dip them in ranch dressing and they compliment lamb quite well! :-)
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Junior Member
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| thanks everyone on the mastitis side of the post. If i did decided to treat her just in case, would it do any harm to her? Also still looking for info on clippers and cart goat equiptment.
www.twinoaksstable.blogspot.com ************************************** The horse stopped with a jerk, and the jerk fell off ************************************** It's kind of like nuts-and-bolts, if the rider's nuts the horse bolts.
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Senior Member
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Myself...I would not "treat just in case" for anything really. Granted everything I do has to be justified by the bottom line, but if running at a profit is not so much of a concern then I would probably invest in having a vet come out and check for mastitis. At the very least you will ask a lot of questions and learn a lot, but at best you are not giving the animal something it does not need.
From the sounds of things it does not sound like your animal has mastitis, and depending upon what you use for a treatment, it can mean once the baby is born, you have some long milk withdrawl times since its been treated.
I'm not giving you grief here, just advice. I know you really want to do the right thing, but sometimes with animal husbandry letting animals be is the best thing to do. As I said before I would not treat any animal for mastitis unless it truly had it.
I love vegetarians...slice them real thin, dip them in ranch dressing and they compliment lamb quite well! :-)
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Average Member
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| It could be a genetic thing. I have a cousin that cannot carry girls, she miscarries them. She did however have five boys before the doctors worked it out.
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I noticed some pretty cool looking goat harnesses/carts etc on the website at Hoegger Goat supply the other day...they have all kinds of neat goat-related stuff - including supplies for kidding. Goatwisdom.com was very useful to me when I had issues with newborn kids this year: they have an extensive section on kidding and message board too. Good luck with your kids. I have two pregnant does right now - due sometime in the next month or two (hah - not sure when so I am watching udders!!) and it's always exciting 
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