How to Kid, By Herron Hill CB Clover
Clover is a champion kidder, by any standard. And every time she kids I say to myself, I really should get this on film. And every year I forget, because she’s kidding, and I’m standing by with the towels and the gatorade and the snacks and all the help she doesn’t need. And then she kids out another textbook kidding and I say to myself, I really should get this on film.
This year, I did. Sort of. After the first kid I knew I would have just enough time to run to the house for my phone. Here’s the second kid, a beautiful blue-eyed doeling.
Clover is a 9-year-old purebred Nigerian Dwarf, Promisedland on top and Herron Hill on bottom. Here are her pro Kidding Tips —
First of all you have to take a deep breath, then give one big push to get the head out, scream a little if you have to, nothing histrionic just a workmanlike scream, then give another push and the body will flop out. And if that’s the last one you’re done, time for some gatorade and vanilla wafers.
Goes without saying or maybe not for all the FFs out there, pick a good spot where you can stretch out properly, leave some room BEHIND you, get the first kid out of the way.
But anyway that’s how to kid out a beautiful baby goat on a beautiful spring day in the Puget Sound in the Seattle (ish) area. Two good pushes and they’re out.
Watch and learn.
The Beginner's Guide to Goat Kidding
The best thing to do is to have healthy, happy, well-bred and well-conformed does who are not too fat (too fat is very bad for kidding) and to then sit on a stool and take pictures when the kids pop out on their own. But that isn’t always the way it goes, for one reason or another, so here are some links to tips and tricks for a successful kidding.
From The Thrifty Homesteader – lots of tips and tricks, photos, due date calendar, what to watch for and when to intervene
Many very specific tips on how to prepare at Tennessee Meat Goats