Spring time means baby goat season here on the homestead! We have some babies born and more on the way. Here are so cute pictures!

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Our daughter Frankie Rae is 6 months old this month and just old enough to love these babies. If you have been following along on my instagram account we are in the goat pen multiple times a day weather she is in the baby carrier or I have her on my hip there is no shortage of cute giggles and smiles when she is around the goats.

How to Care for Baby Goats:

To care for baby goats, make sure they’re getting milk for the first 8 weeks after they’re born. If the goats aren’t getting milk from their mother, you can bottle feed them instead with colostrum (more information on that below). Once the goats are 30 days old, start to wean them off of milk by slowly introducing hay, grain, and water into their diet.

What to do Right After Birth:

Immediately after your baby goat is born, you should be present (or try to be sometimes this is not always possible) The one huge items we added to our kidding kit this year is our camera that we had in the barn. I could watch the goats at 3 am while nursing Frankie and not have to walk outside in the dark. This is the camera it is $29 and worked amazing! I highly recommend. While being present for birth this helps the baby goat imprint on you and it starts to get accustomed to human contact.

Allow the umbilical cord to break naturally, and only trim it if it is longer than four inches. You will want the cord to be about three to four inches in length. If you need to trim the cord, use a sterilized pair of scissors, then clean the cord with iodine, and allow the stub to fall off naturally.

If possible, leave the baby goat with the mother. She will lick the baby clean, and the baby goat and its mother will bond. The mother goat will likely eat some of the afterbirth; that’s fine. Your job is to stay and monitor the situation. If the mom is not helping to clean the baby it is ok to help clear the airways mouth and nose from fluids with a towel and help clean. This should happen right away the mom might be in labor again to push out another baby. Just make sure once the baby is cleaned off put back near the mom.

Make sure the baby goat feeds from its mother within the first hour after birth. If the kid does not feed from its mother, you will need to bottle-feed it colostrum, the early milk that is high in nutrients and immune-building properties. Colostrum can come from its mother, another goat, or purchased at a feed store. Here is the colostrum we have on hand in case this happens.

Also visit this blog post with so many more resources on pregnant goat care & what you need to be prepared for goat labors.

How many is too many pictures with Frankie & the baby goats?! I think there is no answer to that! 🙂

C

These three boys were our first three that kidded this season. We named them John Michael Montgomery after one of our favorite classic country artist. I am still undecided on Summer’s baby girls name!

I hope you all love these images as much as I do! Baby goats bring us all so much happiness around here. During a time with such uncertainty these brighten up our days. He sure to follow along on my instagram stories with videos of the baby goats jumping and running all over the place.

Hugs,

Christina & Trevor

You also might be interested in some other blog posts:

Here is one about June our Baby Mini Donkey

Also one about Archer our Livestock Guardian Dog