Posted by Nat on March 29, 2001 at 17:47:15:
Hello Everyone,
The message board looked a little lonley since the last archive, so I thought I'd ask everyone a few questions again. :-)
I have a doe bred to freshen any day now. 150 days is on April 4th, and if anyone remembers, I posted earlier asking how early one can go and have live kids. Ok, foot in mouth now.. I've been checking her rear end day and night till I'm blue in the face. She's certainly "loose" enough, ligaments are limp, tailhead is starting to lift, all the tipical signs of restlesness, ect.. eating like a machine.... and nothing.. NOTHING!!! AUGH.... We have a weather front comming through tommorow, and I have an exam early, working late, so I'm guessing that it will be tommorow, by reason of Murphy's Law.
How can you tell when your doe is finally going to kid?!! I know the obvious mucus signs, ect. but this waiting is driving me crazy.
I think this doe is playing a horrible April Fools Day Trick... I know she's bred because she is huge, you can feel them (should I be bold enough, or curse myslef and say you can feel the girls in there.. lol) and her udder is full. Bringing me to my next question:
With a doe that is close, and has a huge bag - should I milk her before kidding to help prevent mastitis, and discomfort?
I'm sorry to say that she is a bit lopsided as result of a bout with mastitis in December. (tested as Strap D) I dry treated that side with Tommorow, milked it out, and it seemed to recover. There isn't a huge difference in size, just enought to be noticed by a judge who is observant. (and the mastitic side is the larger one! I was under the impression that it usually dried up a bit due to loss of milk producing tissue?)
and the last question:
If she ever freshens, and I milk her out and find that treated side has clinical mastitis, can the milk be fed to kids, or dumped? I supose it depends on how bad the milk quality is, but just wanted to hear what everyone else has done.
Thanks again everyone,
ooooo I love this message board!
-Nat's Little Bit Farm