April 2024 Issue |
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WEAK AND ABANDONED NEWBORNS As a goat raiser, you must learn to identify and quickly correct the many problems that can result in weak or abandoned newborns and very young kids. 1) Weak Kid Syndrome: Newborns and very young kids who cannot stand and nurse, regardless of cause, have Weak Kid Syndrome. Hypothermia (sub-normal body temperature) kills. I have an entire article devoted to this condition on the Articles page at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com and in MeatGoatMania. Probably the single biggest problem with newborns, you can avoid a lot of it by not kidding in very cold weather. Breed for kidding under good weather conditions and most of your Weak Kid Syndrome issues won't happen. 2) Dam Uninterested in Kid at Birth: Many things can cause a dam to be uninterested in her kid, some of involve her health and others to the kid's condition. If the problem is not over-crowding which has interfered with bonding (very common), then her own health issues may be in play (pain from giving birth, mastitis, congested udder, poor nutrition, worm load, etc), or being an inexperienced first-time mother (especially if she was bottle raised). The dam may have sensed problems with her newborn and decided that it is a waste of her effort and milk because it is not likely to survive -- cleft palate, atresi ani, fever, or a host of other things that she cannot fix. A kid must be able to stand on its own in order for its dam to feed it. Nature takes out the weak fast. Survival of the Fittest rules. Sometimes the dam decides that she doesn't have enough milk to feed all the kids she birthed, so she will kick off the one she believes has least chance of surviving. You have to provide an alternative source of milk, either by fostering the kid onto another dam or bottle feeding it. 3) Kid Uninterested in Nursing: Kids must actively try to nurse. Some dams urge kids to nurse as their udders fill, while other dams wait for kids to get hungry. Learn to "think like a goat" and identify the mothering techniques of each of your does so you don't lose kids to starvation. If over-crowding exists, a kid can become separated from its dam. If it steals milk off multiple dams to survive, its own dam may not claim it because it no longer smells like her kid. If there are multiple kids and they are all nursing off the same teat, the weaker one will be dead soon (lack of milk) unless you correct this problem. These problems are often the result of over-crowding that prevents proper bonding. Goats cannot be feed-lotted and over-crowding of dams and kids is the kidding equivalent of feed-lotting. If the kid won't nurse and doesn't have fever, it is probably premature and hasn't made the mental connection between nursing and milk availability. Give the kid 1/2 cc to 1 cc thiamin vitamin B1) SQ to "wake up" the brain. Stomach tube the kid until it figures out how to nurse. Sucking takes energy that a Weak Kid doesn't have. Try to hold the kid to her teat repeatedly to induce nursing. Giving the kid a bottle makes it more difficult to get it back onto its dam's teats because they won't feel like the bottle's nipple. Premature kids of both sexes have problems nursing because they are developmentally not ready and because the teeth with which they hold the teat are still in their gums. Preemies usually require stomach-tube feeding for up to a week until their teeth erupt through the gums. 4) Cleft Palate: Cleft Palate is a lengthwise split in the roof of the kid's mouth. In most cases, it is a developmental problem rather than hereditary; regardless of cause, it cannot be fixed. Although it can live with a cleft palate for a short time, as the kid grows, the split will widen and the kid won't be able to chew and swallow its food properly. The kid's growth will be stunted, it will have trouble breathing as fluid comes out its nose via the split in the roof of the mouth, and pneumonia will develop. A kid with a cleft palate should be euthanized. Check each kid at birth for a cleft palate. Knowledgeable dams will abandon these kids and let them die. You should euthanize them. 5) Atresia Ani: This lack of a rectal opening that is properly connected inside the body to the digestive system prevents solid waste from being expelled from the kid's body. Like cleft palate, atresia ani in goats is usually a developmental problem rather than hereditary, but it is also not fixable. The kid should be euthanized immediately to avoid a painful death. Check each kid at birth for atresia ani. A rectal thermometer can be gently inserted as a probe to verify a functioning orifice. 6) Fever: Fever occasionally occurs in newborns. Kids with fever may seem perfectly normal but won't nurse. Take the rectal temperature of any newborn that seems healthy but won't nurse. If fever is present, I give the kid 1/2 cc to 1 cc of Excenel RTU (prescription antibiotic) into the muscle (IM) for five consecutive days after I give it 1/10th of a cc of Banamine IM (prescription anti-inflammatory/fever reducer), then I rehydrate the kid with Lactated Ringers Solution as described in my Weak Kid Syndrome article. 7) Dam is Too Sick or Dies, Leaving Orphans: I stomach tube these kids with the milk of the dam onto which I want to foster them. I avoid having bottle babies. A bottle baby loses all its adaptability and its identity as a goat. This is not good for the animal and is both time consuming and expensive. It can take several days (up to a week) getting a kid fostered onto another doe, but it is much better than 90 days of bottle feeding. See my article on this topic on the Articles page at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com. If you must bottle feed (because you have no dam onto which to foster the kid), here is how I do it: Getting a kid to nurse a bottle takes time and patience. Sit and place the kid between your legs. Placing your thumb across the bridge of the kid's nose and your fingers under its chin, insert the Prichard teat on the bottle into the kid's mouth, using your other hand. Put your thumb across its eyes to simulate the darkness of being under its dam's legs. Hold the Prichard teat in the kid's mouth, slowly moving it in and out of the mouth to simulate nursing and squeezing gently to stimulate the kid's interest. Once the kid learns that the teat delivers milk, it should begin to suck if it is physically strong enough. Nursing takes a lot of energy. |
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Getting a newborn to accept a bottle is much easier than an older kid. By then the bottle's nipple does not feel like mom's teat and the older kid will fight acceptance of it. Sometimes it is necessary to let the kid get hungry by waiting six or eight hours before offering it a bottle. Do not let the kid have access to dam's milk or water during this waiting time. When the kid gets stronger, I sit on an overturned five-gallon bucket, placing the bottle under my knee, and the kid will feel like it is under its dam's legs nursing her teats. If at all possible, I graft an orphaned or rejected kid onto another dam. Bottle babies are not desirable. They are expensive to raise, almost never fit in with the herd because they are bonded to humans, and are dangerous when grown because they perceive themselves as that small kid who used to climb into your lap. The most dangerous goat on your ranch is a grown male who still thinks of himself as a bottle baby. Someday he will hurt someone unintentionally -- probably you. 8) Floppy Kid Syndrome: Young kids who have overeaten on milk (often but not always bottle babies) have Floppy Kid Syndrome. Enterotoxemia -- overeating on milk. Life threatening. FKS usually happens around 7 to 12 days of age. Undigested milk (from over-feeding) builds up inside the very young kid, becomes toxic, and kills the kid. Read my article entitled "Weak Kids or Floppy Kids" on www.tennesseemeatgoats.com's Articles page. These are two very different problems that require completely different treatments about which goat raisers seem to be perpetually confused. Suzanne W. Gasparotto, Onion Creek Ranch, Texas 4/1/24 |
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