Seems I go through this every year, wondering if the does "took" because they seem to hold in their guts until the end. My questions are 1) When do yours start looking pregnant and not just full of hay, and 2) When your does are carrying triplets or more, do they look any fatter than when they're carrying one or two? Thanks.

-- gita (gita@directcon.net), December 22, 2001

Answers

My does are due in March. It is obvious that 2 of the first fresheners are pregnant since when felt they have deffinent pooches to their udder. One 6 year old also has some development. Every one else is sleek and beautiful, with saggy empty udders. We will slowly start increasing the grain at 50 days due, check for worms, especially because we are being promised deep freezes (yeah right :) the first of the year, no better time to worm than then, and do a last hoof trimming. It is impossible to tell which doe will quad or triplet, or twin or single, older does can get as big as houses quite literally touching on both sides of the 4 foot door, and then have twins. I keep them all in good condition, and that means flesh over their ribs, this gives them something to milk off. Too thin in good milkers is worse than to fat. Always feel over those ribs, you should feel the ribs, but not just with a layer of skin over them, aim for some flesh, not enough to grab though :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 23, 2001.

We have 2 goats that are due in March and 1 in April. The main way we tell they're pregnant is that they don't go into heat again, but these 3 have had babies before and the 2 that are due in March look like they're going to pop already! They are very wide out to the sides, while normal hay bellies seem to be rounded all the way around. We also have 4 does that have never freshened and it is difficult to tell yet on them, but only 1 has gone into heat again (just last week). We raise a few alpines and have some alpine/something crosses. :o)

-- Sharon in Alabama (sharonspaws@aol.com), December 23, 2001.

I have had does kid, that I was not 100% sure they were even pregnant! Most of them start showing about 2 1/2 to 3 months, but it sort of depends on the age of the doe and the number of times she has kidded, and the number of kis she is carrying. I have done a lot of guessing in the past about whether a doe is carrying triplets or more, sometimes I've been right, other times it was just great big healthy twins.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), December 24, 2001.

We have had a full range, from does that look as if they will kid tomorrow when they are only 3 - 4 months along, to does who didn't look pregnant, and had 1 good sized kid. One doe last year took the prize. She didn't cycle again after breeding, but as time went on she appeared to keep her trim figure. Even still had the normal sunken sides at kidding time. I had decided she probably wasn't pregnant, and if she was, there would be one small kid. We hadn't been too wild about breeding her that year anyway, so it was of small concern. She kidded with 3 doe kids, all normal size, and healthy. They had been stacked one on top of the other under her belly. In watching her sides for expansion, we had not keyed in on the deepening belly. Talk about guilt feelings - Rose was skinny as a rail. She had been fed as a dry, possibly-not-pregnant doe. We immediately changed her food program and dried her up so she could recover, although she showed no signs of illness, and didn't complain.

-- Dianne Wood (woodgoat@pacifier.com), December 24, 2001.

By the "twinkle in their eye"!!! No...actually, just joking!! I have three does that I can tell that they are preg. after only 5 wks. by looking at their lower bellies. There is just something different about the way the belly hair hangs. Can't explain it. After being "in goats" as long as I have, you will know!!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), December 24, 2001.