Usually, the doe will lick the kid to remove mucous and to stimulate its breathing. With a weak kid or inattentive mother, you might want to make sure the kid is freed from the amniotic sac and the mouth and nose are free of mucous. It is not necessary to cut the umbilical cord, but if there is excessive bleeding from the umbilical cord of the kid, we tie it with dental floss. Within an hour of birth, we dip the umbilical cord in 7% iodine to prevent infections.
Usually within a half hour, the kids will attempt to stand and nurse. It is important that the kids nurse within the first few hours of birth to receive colostrum which provides immunoglobulins.
Before the kids reach ten days old, they are dehorned. Before dehorning, we administer tetanus antitoxin to provide temporary protection against tetanus. Often at the time of dehorning male kids are castrated (also known as wethered). At one month of age, we usually give tetanus toxiod (repeated one month later for newborns) and BoSe. The BoSe is repeated every six months and the tetanus toxiod is repeated yearly.
Page 9: Labor
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