Care of newborn lambs and goat kids

It may be a relatively simple task to successfully get rams to mate and for females to give birth, but the first couple of weeks of the life of a lamb or kid is a crucial period in livestock farming.

- Shane Brody

My previous article was primarily about preparing goat ewes for birth and the monitoring of these animals during the birth process. During my years of project management in communal farming areas I noted high conception (pregnancy) rates, but lamb and goat weaning rates were often very low (offspring reaching adulthood).

Remember, if you have a number of ewes that lose offspring, these animals are essentially bringing in little or no yearly income for you (barring wool sheep that earn you some money via wool). Basically, these animals have utilised resources such as labour time, medication, added feeding, and so forth, so they actually constitute a loss for you as the farmer. In my experience, generally, sheep seem to be better mothers to newborn lambs than what goats are to their kids, although there are exceptions to the rule within the greater goat population.