Tips to Help Prepare for Goat Kidding Season

As you get ready to welcome the new year, it is also a good time to prepare for kidding season at your farm.  Being prepared can help increase the survival rate of kids as well as reduce the stress level of the producer and animals. 

Here are a few tips to help prepare for kidding:

• Get your facilities cleaned and prepared.  Some items include cleaning the barn, disinfecting equipment, setting up kidding pens, and securing heat lamps.
  
  
• Put together a kidding kit using a bucket or toolbox.  The kit can include the following items:  latex gloves, OB gloves, iodine, towels, chlorhexidine scrub, OB lube, kid puller, colostrum, feeding tube and syringe, bottle and nipple, and emergency phone numbers.  Some other items to consider include paper towels, baby wipes, scissors, thermometer, needles & syringes, a bucket for warm, soapy water, dewormer, and penicillin.
  
  
• Vaccinate does with CD&T four weeks before kidding.  This is also a good time to check your does for parasites and deworm with a safe dewormer if necessary.  Make sure you use a product that is labeled safe for pregnant animals.
  
  
• Locate a veterinarian who will treat small ruminants.  Make sure you have their contact information available in case of an emergency.

Visit our webpage for more information on sheep and goat production in Arkansas..