The dam will probably clean and care for the kid if you allow the opportunity. She is, after all, "by far the best stirrer of life and general sanitizer. She will lick, massage, and tend her kid as soon as it enters the outside world, and then efficiently deliver a second or third, tending them all within an hour’s span. An experienced darn has her progeny delivered, up and about, licked, and fluffed-up within fifteen to forty-five minutes of the first one’s presentation".Give them a warm and dry space. Part of keeping your baby goat happy and healthy will involve giving them a proper space to live in.
Baby goats need a space that is both warm and dry, as either cold or dampness can have an ill effect on their health.
- Make sure there is plenty of warm bedding, such as pine chips or hay.
- Change any bedding that becomes wet.
- If the area is cold, consider adding a heat lamp. Make sure the heat lamp is absolutely secure, as it is a fire hazard.
- Allowing the mother to clean the baby will increase the bond between them.
- Creating a bond between the mother and newborn is extremely important.
- Stay with both the mother and the newborn goat. Help keep the birthing area clean and monitor the baby goat.
- A few moments after the baby goat, or goats, have come out the afterbirth will follow. Allow the mother to eat the amount of this she will before disposing of it.
- The kid should feed for the first time within an hour.
- Baby goats should feed four or five times a day
- Pull a few streams of milk from the doe to make sure the milk isn't blocked.
- Watch the baby kid to make sure it drinks milk. If the kid is having trouble finding where to feed from, give it some direction.
- If the kid isn't drinking from the mother, bottle feed it the colostrum. The milk needn't be from the mother, it can be from another goat producing milk.
- You can also find colostrum in stores. It will require refrigeration.