Kidding_Statistics_Difficulties

Only approximately 2.6% of all kids were positioned in such a way that kidding was difficult or not possible without assistance.

However, kidding difficulties can also have other reasons than the kid's presentation at birth, and assistance can be required despite a normal (uncritical) presentation of the kid.

At our farm, 578 (91.0%) of all kiddings did not require any assistance. In 51 instances (8.0%) we assisted the doe with kidding. However, in many cases our assistance would probably not have been required, but we helped the doe to progress somewhat faster with kidding.

The percentage of kiddings where assistance was required was somewhat higher in maiden does than in does that kidded for the second or later time. However, these differences are probably not significant, since we normally observe maiden does that are due to kidding more closely than older does. Furthermore, because kidding in maiden does is often slower than in older does, we assist maiden does more likely than older does.