Building our Goat Farm one day at a time!
Watch our family build our goat farm as we make a lifelong dream come true!
What is in our emergency goat birthing kit?
How do you know if it's kidding season at Cotton Bean Goat farm?
Our wood floors are dirty, we have a emergency goat birthing kit, old beach towels and lube by the front door just in case!
We are prepared to help or assist during labor to save our goats,
Can you be over prepared?
Let me start by saying their is no such thing as over prepared when you own goats. Things get bad fast and they can die quickly. You will not have time to go get supplies from a farm store when the emergency happens.
For the LOVE of Goats be prepared!
Disclaimer: I am an emergency prepper when it comes to our goats. My laundry room doubles as a goat medical supply room, notice I didn't say closet! A closet would not hold all of our goat supplies!
What is in our Emergency Goat Birthing kit?
-
Goat / livestock birthing gloves that cover up to your elbow.
-
A gallon of OB Lube - We ordered ours off Amazon.
-
Human Baby Nasal Aspirator doubles as a baby goat Aspirator. We use this often to help clear a baby goats airway. If the birthing bad breaks before the Doe can push the baby out you may need this. What if the bag doesn't break and the baby tries to breathe?
-
Regular medical gloves in large and extra large for Farmer Jason.
-
Print out or download goat birthing positions and what to do if the baby goat is not presenting in the correct position for birthing. You don't want to waste time googling this. We have a print out because we do not have cell service on the farm and I don't have time to run inside to google it.
-
Medical scissors - In case we need to trim a umbilical cord.
-
Molasses - We like to give Molasses water to our Does while in labor or right after birth to give them a energy boost. If you have a baby goat that is born and unresponsive wipe molasses on their tongue or gum. Mix with Cayenne pepper if needed. If we have a baby goat that isn't trying to suck I will use Molasses to stimulate them.
-
Iodine - We dip our baby goats umbilical cords in this after birth.
-
Tums - Just in case the Doe needs Calcium.
-
Thermometer - We have several of these on hand just in case we loose one or it breaks.
Other goat supplies we keep on hand!
-
Over the counter goat antibiotics. We keep Penicillin, LA 200, etc in our goat medical supply closet. When we have to go in and assist a doe during delivery we always consider giving a antibiotic booster shot. Hint: I recommend writing you dosages on the bottles with a sharpie!
-
Various Needles and Syringes: For instance, LA 200 is very thick and you need to use a bigger gauge / size needle to give a goat s shot. If you need to treat a newborn, 3 lb baby goat, you are going to need some insulin syringes, under 1 cc, to give the correct amount.
-
Multiple Wormers:: Don't worm your Mini Nubian, Boer or Nigerian Dwarf goat on a schedule. Do not worm unless you have confirmed via fecal that they have worms and what you are treating. Goat Worms become resistant to common wormers and you will not have anything that will work when you need it. Some people use natural wormers. Use whatever works for your farm.
-
Coccidia Prevention and treatment: If you have a stress out goat and diarrhea look for this. When a baby goat is sold and relocates to it's new home this doeling or buckling goat is stressed out!
-
Multiple treatments for lice, mites, fleas etc: Yes, Boer goats get lice and mites.
-
Fortified B Complex: Used to treat Anemia when your goats famacha score is low and you are battling a worm load.
-
Red Cell and Injectable Iron - These are used to provide supportive care when your Nigerian dwarf is anemic.
-
Apple Cider Vinegar - This is also supportive care for a anemic Boer Goat.
-
Copper Bolus and goat minerals: We stick our goat copper bolus pills in a fig newton and our herd gobbles them up. Look for goat specific minerals due to copper content.
-
Aspirin, Benadryl, Milk of Magnesium for humans. We stock up on this at the Dollar Tree,
-
Goat wound care and hoof trimming supplies. We stock up on some of these supplies for our goats at the Dollar Tree.
-
Bottles and nipples: You never know when you are going to need to bottle feed a baby Mini Nubian goat.
-
Tube feeding supplies: You may need to tube feed your Baby Boer goat to save it. We had to do this for almost a week but she survived and is thriving.
-
Fig newtons and animal crackers: These are like a waving a magic wand in our goat herd.
-
Jump start, goat probios and goat electrolytes..
-
Frozen Colostrum and gel colostrum for our newborn goats.
-
Baby wipes are handy if you have a newborn goat and the Moma goat isn't keeping it's butt clean.
-
Heat Lamps, extra heat lamp bulbs, various size dog crates and puppy pads just in case we need to bring a baby goat inside or if we have a cold snap and newborn baby goats.
Reading this makes me think I need to start a Goat Anonymous program here at Cotton Bean Goat Farm!