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Goat Birth Defects

Goat kids are special. They are cute and soon provide hours of fun watching their various escapades. Waiting for them to be born doesn’t include thinking about goat birth defects.

Like people, goats grow old. High Reaches Juliette is old. She got bred by accident – she wasn’t supposed to be in season, her daughter was, but she wasn’t as out of season as I thought – and I watched with a mix of anticipation and dread. The dread won.

Goat Birth Defects

Yes, livestock can have babies born with birth defects. Juliette’s single kid was born with several. Why? I will never know.

In a way, I think Juliette knew. Most new mothers talk to their kids. She says nothing. She doesn’t look for her kid.

The kid was born dead. There was nothing to be done for it, if it was alive.

being small is not goat birth defect
Goats usually have twins. Sometimes one kid is a glutton and gets big while the other is born small. This little Nubian buck kid was one of the small ones. He was too small to nurse and had trouble standing up. That meant he was a bottle baby and had to be fed often. So, he went to work with me.

Disappointment

Yes, I am disappointed. The strain of wondering if the kid would be born during the recent cold made sleeping hard. I was glad the kid waited.

When Juliette showed all the signs of imminent kidding, I was excited. The prospect of new kids brightened my day.

Now there is a different disappointment. Goat birth defects have been rare in my herd, only a handful over almost fifty years. Each is a loss and felt as a loss.

Nubian goat wether
The little Nubian buck kid grew up. Sometimes the small kids have internal problems and they don’t survive. Pest didn’t. Yes, his name is Pest. He is now a wether weighing around 200 pounds and spoiled.

Living With Disappointment

Goat birth defects are disappointing. Such kids are usually born dead or must be destroyed as they will not survive.

Louie, a blind kid, was an exception. He learned to get around quite well and lived several years before falling victim to illness.

Losing livestock is part of life for owners. It’s always disappointing and demands reflection as to what happened, why and changes to prevent it in the future. Unfortunately, this loss for me has no obvious cause or prevention.

Looking Forward

Four does are due to kid in March. All are younger.

Like Juliette, I will put this behind me. March kids will be here in two months.

By Karen GoatKeeper

Karen GoatKeeper loves to write. Her books include picture books, novels and nonfiction for science activity books and nature books. A recent inclusion are science teaching units.
The coming year has goals for two new novels, a picture book and some books of personal essays. This is ambitious and ignores time constraints.
She lives in the Missouri Ozarks with her small herd of Nubian dairy goats. The Ozarks provides the inspiration and setting for most of her books.