HOW TO TELL IF YOUR GOAT IS PREGNANT
There’s many times when I’ve stood watching my herd and thought to myself ‘is my goat pregnant?’ If your nannies live with a billy goat all year around, it can be hard to determine if they’ve been bred. But even if you’ve taken your nanny to be serviced, she won’t necessarily be pregnant. So, when you’re hoping for kids, it can be pretty frustrating to not know if your goat is pregnant.
Luckily, with some careful observation, there are some tell-tale signs. These are not guaranteed, but can help you work out if you’re expecting.
SCANNING
The easiest way to establish if you nanny goat is pregnant is to have them scanned. This is normally done earlier on in the pregnancy to determine how many kids are being carried. Once the babies have reached a decent size, it’s easy to determine pregnancy with a scan but the kids can obscure each other.
The downside of scanning is that it can be quite expensive, especially if you’ve not go a big herd. In fact, some scanners will not even taken on jobs with small numbers of nanny goats as it isn’t worth their while. In addition, due to scanning happening early on, there can be times when your goat loses her pregnancy so though she scanned with kids, none of them actually appear.
BEING IN HEAT
Unlike sheep, it is very obvious when a goat is in heat. Nanny goats are desperate to go and say hello to the billy, wagging their tail, spending a lot of time by the fence and screaming. If you keep goats, you know that scream.
When you only have a few goats, it’s pretty simple to keep track of your goats heat date. Goats will cycle every 15 - 17 days and you can simply jot the date down in a diary or a cute goat kid calendar! If you take her to be serviced by a billy, make time to watch whether she comes back into heat. If she doesn’t, there’s a good chance she is pregnant.
I keep my billy with the herd all year around so this makes noticing nannies in heat almost impossible because as soon as they ovulate, their serviced before I notice.
Nanny’s will scream for attention from the billy
BAGGING UP
A good indication that your goat is pregnant is if she begins to bag up. Goats often have a small bloom in their bag shortly after being serviced. With all those hormones rushing around, it’s unsurprising. And though this is more noticeable in first timers, it’s a worthwhile sign to look out for.
Bagging up properly begins towards the end of pregnancy, normally at about the four month mark. At this stage, a nanny goat’s bag will really begin to show and should fill quite substantially. However, like all matters with nature, every individual is unique. And some goats will only bag up days, if not hours, before giving birth.
Nannies will bag up ahead of kidding
GOAT LADY-PARTS
Another sign to look out for is whether the backend of your goat begins to be a little puffy. Generally, the area is fairly tight, with a concave shape to it. I find that this area on my nanny goats as they approach the delivery date tends to become rather loose and puffy. Combined with bagging up, this is a good sign that kids are on the way.
COLOSTRUM
Colostrum is an essential feed for any newborn kid, full of antibodies and giving newly born babies the best start in life. Colostrum normally begins to come in about a week to 10 days before a nanny gives birth. If you have friendly girls that don’t mind you have a quick squeeze, then it’s worthwhile taking a look. Colostrum is thick and yellowy and nothing to be concerned about; it’s perfectly normal.
BELLY GROWTH
As with all mothers-to-be, nanny goats will put on weight as their babies grow. However, don’t be fooled into thinking it will definitely show because some breeds, such as the Anglo Nubians I keep, really do not have much of a belly. In fact, some of my wethers when they’ve been out browsing all day are far more rotund than my heavily pregnant girls.
The behaviour of heavily pregnant goats will change
75% of kid growth happens within the last six weeks, so it’s at this time, along with bagging up and other late pregnancy signs, that your pregnant goat may look like she’s blooming.
KID MOVEMENT
At the later stages of pregnancy when the unborn kids are relatively large, you can often see them moving around inside. This normally from the 4 month onwards mark, and is most noticeable when your goats are laying down. When standing up, breathing and chewing the cud can make it difficult to tell whether it’s baby movement or not. But when your goats are laying down, the babies tend to move to one side and are much more obvious.
BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES
Very pregnant goats, will of course, act differently. They’re less likely to be springing around, will find it difficult to get up and down. In particular, heavily pregnant nannies find it tough to lay down and you’ll notice them pacing back and forth and attempting to settle several times before they finally get comfortable.
With a large kid inside them, you’ll also notice more panting and quicker breathing due to less room for the lungs to expand. Your goats will also eat more little and often because a lot of the space their rumen would normally take up is filled with unborn kids!
TAIL LIGAMENTS
Finally, if you’re able to get up close and personal with your goats, it’s well worthwhile checking the ligaments around the tail. If you gently pinch either side of the tail base, you will feel two straight things that feel like pencils. Approximately 24 hours before a nanny goat gives birth, these disappear. It’s a sure sign the baby or babies are on the way.
I hope these tips help you establish whether to expect lots of beautiful baby goats. Nothing is guaranteed, and a nanny might not show any of these signs. After all, goats can be difficult and determined creatures! So Good Luck!
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