# Emergency! goat in labor, kid stuck/dead?, mom going into shock



## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

I'm at work, my mom and others are the farm. Hopefully this is clear enough.

A 3 year old, second freshener Alpine started laboring at about 8 AM, had the first healthy kid at 8:30. Contractions were short and fast and she groaned the whole time (seemed unusual). Started contracting again 1.5 hrs later, no progress. My mom went, found a kid but couldn't get it coming out the birth canal. She just called and said the mom seems to be going into shock and "blood and guts" were coming out. I think my mom is mostly just freaked out but I didn't bother getting more details. I gave her Vicki's number and hung up.

Our goat vet is not around right now.

There are others at the farm that I can communicate with while my mom (hopefully) talks with Vicki.

Is there another person we can call for an emergency if Vicki isn't around?

How do we support the doe in the meantime?


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

Holy moly, things are looking ok again already after just 5 minutes! How quickly can things turn around!?!

Second kid had elbow lock but once he presented, they were able to reposition. He's out and fine.

Doe is worn out but the "shock" was probably just immense pain and she is looking better.

Vet called back before my mom could even dial Vicki's number. Vet is on the way out since the doe does seem to be having some issues.

Whew. I swear...goats don't make it easy on you!


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## bknthesdle (Mar 27, 2011)

Wow! How scary! Glad the second kid was born ok and that your vet is heading! Hope the mama recovers quickly! Keep us posted!


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## Oat Bucket Farm (Jul 28, 2006)

Wow, glad the kid is out, momma seems to be looking better and the vet is on the way.

Emily (Ozark Jewels) is another you can call for help. Her phone number is on her website.


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## The Tin Mom (Dec 30, 2008)

Hope things are okay. Let us know. Glad your vet called back so quick!


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## NorCalChicks (Dec 7, 2007)

Wow - that's quite a morning! Sure hope all continues on the good side.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Whew! I hope everything is still ok!


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

Everybody seems to be doing just fine now. The does has perked up and the kids are acting just fine.

The vet didn't come. The office had said she was at a farm nearby. She would have had to practically drive by our place to get back to the office so that's what we thought was going to happen. But they called back and said she didn't have any equipment with her so we would just need to bring the goat in. Grr. We have not had the best of luck with this vet office. They are the only ones willing to look at goats and our vet in particular has done a great job of looking things up and learning with us. But it's nothing like an experienced goat vet who is willing to do house calls. They always want us to bring a sick/injured goat in and sometimes that's just not practical! When the vet has come out (for whole herd health, etc), we've paid the house call fee and are willing to do that in the future.

Does everybody bring their goats to a vet's office or are there more vets out there that do house calls? I get the feeling maybe we are expecting too much...


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

here in MD no one knows anything about goats, much less will come out. I have one I can call, and I usually end up telling HIM what I need :grump:. For as rural as this area is, if someone decided to go into a goat sub-specialty of large animal vet, they would make a killing.


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## RoyalValley (Apr 29, 2009)

Our vet charges a $55 farm call fee, but it's not too much to expect. Esp. if you are willing to pay it. 

We finally a found a good one, ended up having our kids on the same soccer team. The only thing I don't like about her is that she doesn't like disbudding and wants to do surgery on them to take out the horns. That's way to expensive for me, but otherwise she's great! (And her hubby's a vet also, in case she can't come!)


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

beccachow said:


> For as rural as this area is, if someone decided to go into a goat sub-specialty of large animal vet, they would make a killing.


We are thinking of "bribing" a new vet in the area to do just that. We've just started talking about getting all the dairy goat owners together in the area. There's a handful I know of and there has to be more that I haven't come across. We just wanted to set up a good support network. But now we have discovered there is a new mobile vet in the area. He is literally just a mobile vet and he's 2 years out of college. He did a 2 week internship at Texas A&M on goats, so very little experience. But if we could get all the dairy goat owners to band together and petition this guy to take classes/workshops/whatever to get more knowledge, he could really find a niche here.


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## Blue Run Farm (Feb 14, 2011)

I live in northern MD and I'm lucky enough to have a good horse vet who used to breed Saanens. He doesn't specialize in goats per se, but he is fairly knowledgeable and has done a good job with our goats. Since he is a horse vet, farm calls are his way of doing business, though he gives me the choice of bringing the goats to him if I want to save a farm call fee ($65). OTOH, I have had very bad luck with the so-called "goat" vet in the area. After several bad experiences and being told that my sick kid was probably just a "poor doer" (i.e. she didn't know what was wrong with him), I will never use her for anything more complicated than an u/s to check for pregnancy ever again.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

madness said:


> Everybody seems to be doing just fine now. The does has perked up and the kids are acting just fine.
> 
> The vet didn't come. The office had said she was at a farm nearby. She would have had to practically drive by our place to get back to the office so that's what we thought was going to happen. But they called back and said she didn't have any equipment with her so we would just need to bring the goat in. Grr. We have not had the best of luck with this vet office. They are the only ones willing to look at goats and our vet in particular has done a great job of looking things up and learning with us. But it's nothing like an experienced goat vet who is willing to do house calls. They always want us to bring a sick/injured goat in and sometimes that's just not practical! When the vet has come out (for whole herd health, etc), we've paid the house call fee and are willing to do that in the future.
> 
> Does everybody bring their goats to a vet's office or are there more vets out there that do house calls? I get the feeling maybe we are expecting too much...


The only vet close enough to us that takes care of goats wants us to bring them to her.


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## julieq (Oct 12, 2008)

Hope everything is OK with your doe and kids! This thread makes me feel real blessed as our vet comes out to the farm for 35.00 (half hour drive out here) and doesn't hesitate to do so if we have a problem with one of our goats. We recently had a buck dehorned (scurs) under general anesthesia at his office and his total charge was only 30.00. He will disbud our kids under general for less than that. He cares for our goats, horses, dog and cats and we just love him to pieces!


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## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

Thank God everything sounds okay - 

I expect my vet out - day or night - lol - so far, he has always come through.
$35 farm call - more after hours


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

What a relief...glad everyone is doing well.

We're lucky to have a wonderful goat vet in the area with years of experience. She does all small ruminants as well as camelids and cattle. The only issue is she's the only one, so she tends to be very busy. I can't imagine how many miles she puts on her truck. I trust her though, and can't imagine the day she retires.


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## prairiedog (Jan 18, 2007)

We have a great goat vet. He will let us have whatever meds we think we need and discuss the use of them at length with us to make sure we are on the same page. He would be glad to come out if we need him, however(knock on wood) we have not ever had to have him out


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

So glad momma & babies are doing well! What a scare they can give us!


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