Goat with udders - False pregnancy??

[crazyducklady23]

Okay so I have bred goats and have had kids born on our farm but I have a goat that is making my head spin! I was wondering if this means she is pregnant or giving me a false pregnancy. I got this goat which is a pygmy/Nigerian about a year and a half ago from a friend who got it from another person that was selling their whole herd. The person told my friend she is about five and has been bred before. I have seen my buck go and try and breed her numerous time and nothing has happened since I got her, until the end of April I seen she started forming udders. I moved her to another stall due to another one of my goats beating her up and did not want her to hurt the baby. Well....to this day I have no babies from her but her belly is getting round and larger. Her udders have stayed about the same size as from when I put her in there in April. Could this be a false pregnancy or just a weird case of starting to form udders at a weird time in her pregnancy? I don't want to put her back in that pen with the other goat if I know she has babies that are to come soon. Thanks for any feedback!!!

 

[cassie]

A picture would be helpful. I do have some suggestions though. Stand behind the goat and look at the udder where it attached to the body. It starts filling and changing at that point. What does her vulva look like? In a pregnant doe it usually looks soft and kind of puffy. Also, stand behind the goat and put your arms around her abdomen. Clasp your hands together right in front of the udder. Push up sharply. You should be able to feel the babies if there are any as they come back down. Another thing, as a goat gets close to delivery the tailbone loosens. Sometimes you can get your fingers under it. A lot of people talk about ligaments but I never figured out how to do that.

 

[MountainGaurdian]

I picked up a few Nigerian dwarfs long ago and they are bred into my herd. I have had some and now that you mention almost specifically the Nigerian crosses make bag within the first month or two of pregnant rather than the last month or two as most of our goats do.

Goat gestation is 5 months and if you saw the bag say a month in to the pregnancy then you could be looking at mid August birth or if 2 months in it could conceivably be any time now. I have had a few in August though September is more common in my herd when I have spring conceptions.

 

[crazyducklady23]

A picture would be helpful. I do have some suggestions though. Stand behind the goat and look at the udder where it attached to the body. It starts filling and changing at that point. What does her vulva look like? In a pregnant doe it usually looks soft and kind of puffy. Also, stand behind the goat and put your arms around her abdomen. Clasp your hands together right in front of the udder. Push up sharply. You should be able to feel the babies if there are any as they come back down. Another thing, as a goat gets close to delivery the tailbone loosens. Sometimes you can get your fingers under it. A lot of people talk about ligaments but I never figured out how to do that.

Thank you for your feed back! I tried to get a picture of her with her udders but she is not the most trusting of people so of course it was always eyes on me. I am going to try and catch her tonight and see if I can feel around for the babies. Its been horrible hot and humid here in PA and I did want to stress her out with chasing her and making her over heat. Will update and thank you again!!

 

[crazyducklady23]

I picked up a few Nigerian dwarfs long ago and they are bred into my herd. I have had some and now that you mention almost specifically the Nigerian crosses make bag within the first month or two of pregnant rather than the last month or two as most of our goats do.

Goat gestation is 5 months and if you saw the bag say a month in to the pregnancy then you could be looking at mid August birth or if 2 months in it could conceivably be any time now. I have had a few in August though September is more common in my herd when I have spring conceptions.

That is really good to know! Thank you!! I keep trying to figure her out and i'm going a little crazy. Figures crossed she has a little one in her! I feel like if it was a false pregnancy wouldn't the bags have gone down by now?

 

[OneTwoMany]

Certain spring grasses and clovers can bring on false lactation in certain species, so the early udder might be more seasonal and just happened to coincide with pregnancy.

Of course this is highly dependent on where you are located. I see this seasonally with my mares every year. Not every mare, but at least one gets a big udder every year.

 

[crazyducklady23]

Certain spring grasses and clovers can bring on false lactation in certain species, so the early udder might be more seasonal and just happened to coincide with pregnancy.

Of course this is highly dependent on where you are located. I see this seasonally with my mares every year. Not every mare, but at least one gets a big udder every year.

thanks for letting me know! I wouldn't have thought of that!

 

[crazyducklady23]

A picture would be helpful. I do have some suggestions though. Stand behind the goat and look at the udder where it attached to the body. It starts filling and changing at that point. What does her vulva look like? In a pregnant doe it usually looks soft and kind of puffy. Also, stand behind the goat and put your arms around her abdomen. Clasp your hands together right in front of the udder. Push up sharply. You should be able to feel the babies if there are any as they come back down. Another thing, as a goat gets close to delivery the tailbone loosens. Sometimes you can get your fingers under it. A lot of people talk about ligaments but I never figured out how to do that.

Here is the picture of her udders sorry it took me so long.