# Is there a way to tell if my goats are pregnant?



## Shannonmcmom (Jul 18, 2005)

Hello,

I have 6 does and 1 buck. They are some kind of meat cross. We got them in June and we were told that they should be having babies around August.... maybe... welllllll....... We were all excited and the goats were getting pretty big. I mean we were expecting some to maybe have triplets or something, but that haven't had anything... The buck tries to mount everything and boy is he stinky. He and the ram have peeing contests. But personally I think he wins. He pees on his face and then smears it on the rams face. I am going to assume this is normal. 

Anyways, I am in a downsizing mood. We would have to shell out money for hay this winter and we don't have any kids to be selling for money. We have 5 adult sheep and 3 lambs as well. I know for sure the one ram lamb is going to be in our freezer because he has some characteristics I definitely do not want passed on. I think that we are going to butcher one of the ewes as well.

If my goats are pregnant I don't really want to butcher them. That would be kindof gross and probably freak me out for the rest of my life. Since we would kill and butcher ourselves.... first time. ( I am a pretty tough bird though).

So is there some kind of pregnancy test I can get to check if they are pregnant? even the one ewe how can I check her? The males are with them all the time, as we don't have a good enough area to separate them.

What would be a sufficient size flock for self-sufficiency?

Thank you for any input.

Shannon


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## Goat Freak (Jul 6, 2005)

O.K, listen carefully. You could always do the "bounce" method, that is where you face the does butt, grab her around the middle as if you are hugging her make sure your hands are clasped together, pull her stomach up, and then let it fall down. If you feel nothing but mushy stuff she is probly not pregnant, but if you feel a hard bump she is pregnant. Hope this helps, we have two does that are giving us the same problem, and we have felt the bumps, so here's hopeing. Hope his helps and hope ya get some babies soon. Bye.


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## mammawof3 (Jan 31, 2004)

I have heard from several breeders, that human pregnancy tests do work on goats!  We will be finding out, e-bay has lots of 20, for only 4.99,then 3.50 shipping-46 cents a piece-we have 40 coming, the only trick will be-catching the does"peeing"! :baby04: I agree-butchering something pregnant would be very upsetting..this is the "normal" breeding season, and i would say, your does and ewes are likely getting bred-if not already!!Off season breedings are not that reliable-we thought we would be having lots of babies this month-buck running with them since April-only ended up w one kidding and another bagging up-all rest started coming in season last month-instead of kidding-they can get quite "fat" without being pregnant-look for udder development-quite a bit later in the pregnancy with older-fairly early with younger. Might want to try the tests-i will be! :baby04: :baby04:


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## Sondra Peterson (Dec 5, 2002)

have you watched them?? do they come into heat every 19 to 21 days??
yes there are pg test biolabs I believe and it is $15 per goat.


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## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

Ok gross question can your does reach their butts? O worner if you could tape a hankie back there and get enough urine to the the pg test. Mabe even an old wash cloth? you'd have to hang around the barn or shck on them alot . But it is an Idea. Also out dollar shop in town sells PG tests.

Caren


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## Sondra Peterson (Dec 5, 2002)

Well if and that is a big IF human pg test would work, wish I don't think they do, it would be a simple matter to just get a drop of urnine on the test strip. Goats are rather like clock work./ you go out they get up from laying down/they urninate and you go catch the last drip.


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## Goat Freak (Jul 6, 2005)

Sondra, my goats pee as soon as they see me. Of course we know our buck does his job, it would be an absolute miracle if he did not, lol. But really our goats do pee as soon as they see a human, I kinda took offense at that at first.


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## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

My father always said that it was the polite goats that "evacuated" before coming over to us to be worked with.


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## Sondra Peterson (Dec 5, 2002)

I didn't mean to offend what I was trying to say is that you don't necessarily need to try hanging a cloth on there to catch it.


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## moosemaniac (Mar 7, 2003)

mammawof3 said:


> I have heard from several breeders, that human pregnancy tests do work on goats!


Okay, I'm game. Is there a way I can contact these breeders via email? Do they have websites? I'd love to find out from them if they really work and, if so, are there specific brands that do or do not work. I've already bred two of my does and would like to find an inexpensive way to test them at home.
Ruth


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## Nature_Lover (Feb 6, 2005)

Catch that urine with a long-handled ladle that has a large bowl, clean it well between collections...


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## debitaber (Jun 6, 2003)

human pg tests, don't work on goats, sorry. but if they did every goat owner in the world would be usingthem. No they don't work . some one was feeding you a line, and I am sorry for that. 
the best way to tell is to seperate your does, and bucks, now just watch, your girls will cycle every 28 days. and you will be able to tell when they are in standing heat. believe me. 
and then take them to the buck for service, if they come into heat again, they didn't take, so take them back to buck. mark the date on your calender, in 5 months [145 to 155 days, ] you will have babies.


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## Shannonmcmom (Jul 18, 2005)

Well I am guessing that my goats weren't pregnant but after this weekend til now probably will be. The buck has been a very busy boy and the does have been acting like they must be in heat (? I know that's not what it is called but I am a cat person). I marked it on my calendar and hopefully in 5 months we will have babies. I probably won't end up butchering any of them. I am such a loser, I am too soft for my own good. I did butcher a chicken on Sunday though. My husband killed it but I did the rest of the work.

I have a question about hay though. We went and looked at some that was still baled but in the pasture. The west side of the bale was nice and green and dry, but the east side was damp and blacker looking. My husband stuck his hand in past his wrist and it was all like that on the east side of the bale. He tried different spots and different bales. I am going to assume that we should probably not buy this hay? I am going to phone around and try and find different suppliers. I don't want to pay that much for feed that is not good.


Shannon


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## GoldenWood Farm (May 31, 2003)

Goodness no! (On the hay I mean).

It should never look like that for feeding..that is just disgusting to think somebody would feed that to their animals..plus it could be dangerous to them to eat it.

I would keep looking...make sure the hay is nice and green and DRY. Also watch out for moldy hay (dry mold not wet mold). As that can happen also.

MotherClucker


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## caprine gal21 (Sep 26, 2005)

That is what I call it when my does cycle; which I know is every 21 days and not 28 like someone else said. I have also had a doe go into a false heat when she was bred, but it doesn't last as long as a true heat. Really, when you get right down it there is no set way for telling right off if your does are bred. It is experience, knowing your does mannurisms and prayer.


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## Goat Freak (Jul 6, 2005)

I always call it heat, and personlly I did not know there was another name for it.


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## moosemaniac (Mar 7, 2003)

I found this from a link on goatweb.

http://www.happytailzfarm.com/pooch_test_2.htm

I checked the two does I (hopefully) bred already. They look very different from my other nine does. Maybe it works. :shrug: 

Ruth


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## debitaber (Jun 6, 2003)

I have found that , to be true, each time.


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## moosemaniac (Mar 7, 2003)

debitaber said:


> I have found that , to be true, each time.


Cool, then I have a January and a February kidding scheduled! Yee Haw! :rock: 

Ruth


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

Oh well I'll be tail looking here in a few! Try explaining that one to the neighbors!! HAHA!!


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## Goat Freak (Jul 6, 2005)

Woohooo, that means that at least one of the two does we thought were bred already were, don't know about the other one I'll look tomorrow. Thanks moosemaniac.


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## Shannonmcmom (Jul 18, 2005)

Good then I will stick to calling it being in heat. I was corrected by someone before who said that was what you called cats, not livestock. I hope I didn't offend anyone. Honestly didn't mean to.

I will try that pooch test on one doe who I think was bred a couple of months ago. I thought it was weird that he was being really friendly with her since she was going to have babies. lol, I guess I was wrong. 

.


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## Goat Freak (Jul 6, 2005)

Well Shannon I heard that since a pregnant goats urine smells like one that is in heat the bucks will be friendly with them, that is what is happening with one of our does. They sure are weird, you would think that they do not know if they did the job or not and are trying to make sure. Well Bye for now.


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

Ok it all looked the same to me but one looked a LITTLE diff but I just couldn't tell??


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## moonspinner (Jul 2, 2002)

How far along do does have to be before you can get a good indication from the the bounce test?


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## Goat Freak (Jul 6, 2005)

Moonspiner, I do not know for sure, I just know that the baby has to be developed enough so that you can actually feel the hard lump, which is the baby. However I would say 2.5-3 months would be about right. Hope it works for ya, it has with us so far, however it does not indicate how far along he doe is, so it kinda makes ya anxous for the baby to come out, but the bigger the baby the sooner. Well bye.


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