This is a topic that most new goat breeders do need to know about. It is often discussed, so I decided a page was due to explain the whole kidding cycle. I can't promise great photos like Suzie put up on the actual kidding itself, but hopefully, I'll remember to go take 'twat shots' of the gals as they progress into heavy pregnancy.

When a doe is open (not bred), or newly bred, her rump and tail area will be pretty flat. The tailbone won't protrude and her vulva will be small and thin, hardly noticeable.

When they come in heat, the vulva may swell and leak clear fluid a little, but again, not a lot of swelling or anything you'd notice if you weren't really observant.

But, when they get close to kidding, within a week or so, they start forming the birth canal. The tailbone will 'raise up' at the base of the tail, a hollow will form on either side. Some folk call this 'ligaments are getting loose', and I've heard it called 'the tailbone is raising', either way, a kid is on the way!

As she progresses into kidding stages, that hollow will become thin skin and her vulva will swell and pooch out, wrinkle up, become noticeably larger, longer, etc.

When she lies down, it may even open up and become a catch- all for hay and dirt. Don't worry, there is a heavy mucus (waxy) plug between her babies and the outside world. When she starts to lose this plug, kidding will usually be very close, within the next 24 hours.

If you can put your fingers completely around her spine at the base of her tail, it's said that her ligaments are loose.

She may stand roached (hunched over) during this phase, lining up the babies. Her vulva will suck back inside to aid in the muscle contractions when she goes into labor, and will sometimes look like she did before becoming pregnant.

At this stage, most goat folk start keeping a constant vigil. Knowing her due date is helpful, but either side of that date within a week can occur, so watching for physical signs is your best bet.

If a doe is a couple of days late, I usually try to prepare for extra large kids. After all, they've been growing like mad during overtime.

Some first fresheners may not form many exterior symptoms, so your best bet is the tail ligaments loosening.

Since I'm often blunt to the point of tactless, I call this time 'twat watching'.

Until your doe actually goes into physical labor, you really don't know what each will do or look like. Nice to have a reference of prior kiddings, some history, etc, so while you're observing, take some notes for this doe's future kidding cycles.

After the first baby is born, if you can stand the tired doe up and give her a big bear hug (really squeeze) around her middle, you often can tell if she has more than one inside her. You'll be able to feel little hard spots along the underside of her belly, either knees or feet of the next baby in line. This is so handy.

You can stop the maternity vigil if you realize her innards are 'squishy' and it's only afterbirth. Or, you know to go make another pot of coffee and heat another bottle of colostrum.

This also seem to help her start her afterbirth if she's really too tired to push. Just let nature take it's course, don't pull on the afterbirth or try to clean it off as it appears. The weight of the stuff outside her helps remove all the stuff inside her cleanly. If she's dragging around afterbirth and you're tired of looking at it, or she's contorting herself to get at it, you can tie a slight weight to it and let gravity aid the flow.

Sometimes, simply getting her up and milking her out will stimulate enough contractions for her to pass the afterbirth.

Remember, this was the feeding sucker tubes and home that kept the babies alive while she was carrying them. This also is a cleansing effect on the doe's uterus and very necessary to her let-down of milk. Most does will try to eat some of it, and no harm to her if she will eat it. (Turn your head, don't watch!)

You'll probably be milking her and still noticing a rusty discharge from her vulva up to a month after kidding. Unless her appetite, or milk are affected, don't worry too much about this. This is her uterus shrinking back to normal size, and ridding itself of all the 'debris' the babies left behind while they were growing inside her.

This was a description of a normal, healthy goat delivery. Complications, while not impossible for layfolk to deal with, are best left to your own veterinarian to tackle until you're more familiar with the process involved.

What's considered complications? I don't like to let a doe go into hard contractions more than 15 minutes or 30 minutes without sign of progress. By then, she's weakening and I'm nervous enough to get inside her and find out why there is no kid on the ground yet. Again, until you know the signs of your own stock, this should be a matter for your vet to handle if possible.