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Pygora Triplets
By Lisa Roskopf
Hawks Mountain Ranch
Gaston, OR 4/30/01
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Amelia with her triplets
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I've
found out that Pygora does are able to raise triplets very
successfully. We
have had 10 sets of triplets this year.
Last fall I felt the does were a little under conditioned
after I took last years kid crop off them.
I put them on a little richer hay to build them up for
the breeding season and it got the back into condition very
nicely. I think
that additional protein must have also "flushed" them,
which caused the unusual large quantity of triplets this spring.
I've
heard sheep sometimes have difficulty raising more than twins.
That certainly wasn't the case with my does.
I have one instance where I helped the doe deliver as all
3 were trying to come out at the same time.
I went in and pushed two back and out they came.
There
is always a battle between the three to get to a teat.
They seem to knock each other off enough that they get
the required nourishment. I
keep an eye out to assure that one is not losing the battle for
the dinner teat. Inkie
had three bucklings this year.
One of them is much larger that the other two.
He is aggressive enough to get more than his fair share.
I will help the little bucks by holding Inkie and let
them nurse while I hold off the big brother.
I
keep an eye out for the signs of insufficient nourishment (droppy
head/ears, hunched back, listlessness or crying a lot).
If I see this, I'd do something to supplement. So far, however, I've not had to supplement any of the
triplets. That is a
very good thing. Once
you start supplementing, it increases the chance the mother will
decide you can take on that task full time.
Bottle babies, although very friendly, take a little more
time than I'd like to devote to a single animal.
Pygoras
have demonstrated an excellent success rate raising triplet kids
without human intervention.
My kids are only about 4 weeks old but so far…..so
good. Three is good
company!
Lisa
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