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The local pastor brought his flock beneath our house yesterday and one of the ladies gave birth there and then. To cut a long story short (and this is Andalucia - it was a long story!) we now have mummy and 2 baby goats.

One of her boobs is heavily loaded with milk and the other is miniscule (though still seems to contain a little milk), problem is babies only seem interested in the little boob. One of them has bright yellow diaorrhea - though seems healthy otherwise.

Your thoughts and comments for a confused newbie please.

Clara x.

Gidday

I would not worry too much about it unless the bige one gets hard or too hot. Try to encourage the littluns to drinck fro both. If they empty the one they will probably go to the other then.

The bright yellow I believe is quite normal.

The larger one is most likely plugged, Clara. You'll need to hand strip the milk out so the babies can start nursing. Sometimes they've got a waxy plug there and it can be a bit difficult for those little mouths to get it started; plus sometimes they just are too big for little mouths to wrap around. You don't want to wait until it gets hard and hot, as then you'll have trouble.

Bright yellow is scours. Here's a link for you http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/scours.html

Saw BOOBS and thought - Spam!!!

That doesn´t bear thinking about

Have the kids started drinking from the other teat yet? As each day passes and they get stronger they will find where the milk is. It just vital that they get colostrum in the first 24hours. If the mother doesn't like them feeding from the larger teat ie she walks away or kicks them off it could be signs of mastitis, this will need treating. Chances are by the time you read this they've all got it sorted. Any concerns you have you should report to the pastor of course

The yellow poos are normal its a sure sign they are feeding, but do keep an eye on them, scours(diarhoea) is not good for a kid goat. If they sleep excessively or shows no signs of feeding they may well be dehydrated and will need some electrolytes(glucose) and if scouring something to deal with that too.

Some other things to consider (I know you said they weren't your goats)

We vaccinate here for Clostridial diseases - include blackleg, malignant oedema, black disease, tetanus and enterotoxaemia. These are usually fatal diseases in unvaccinated stock. A `5 in 1' vaccine is commonly used. Not sure how you cover these in the UK so this may or may not apply

If the does had been vaccinated 4 weeks before birthing then the kids will need vaccinating at 4 weeks and again 4 weeks after that. After that it's an annual booster.

I love goat kids, when my first kids were born here last year I sat for ages in the paddocks watching them, they are so funny.

What sort of goats are they, you didn't say

Thank you all.

It seems to be sorting itself out. They are still preferably feeding from the smaller teat, but they will feed from the larger one if put in position. I think the main problem is that the smaller one is at head height whilst the larger hangs down - they just need to learn what to do to get at it.

Because of this I milked the colostrum and have given it by syringe, a little bit at a time over the day. I don´t know if this is right but I just wanted to make sure they got it. I´m breastfeeding my 5 month old daughter and know just how important this start in life is.

They are still with mum and seem to be happy, active and hydrated. The yellow poo seems to be ok, in that its poo and not runny anymore.

I have no idea about vaccines, I´m guessing that she probably hasn´t been - things are a lot more basic here than in UK or NZ regarding animal husbandry, most things are just left to nature. I have added essential oils of dill and fennel to her water to encourage the lactation to sort itself out - fortunately there is no sign of mastitis.

Can anyone recommend any other good websites or books regarding goat keeping - it all happened a little quicker than we expected.

Clara x.