We’ve come to a place where we can control almost anything in our world. That’s kind of a scary thing…but it’s also a good thing if what we’re doing is helpful and used correctly. One of those things we can use is Lutalyse. You can lutalyse your goats and it can be a very helpful tool for several reasons.
But to utilize something like this we need to understand it first.
What is Lutalyse?
Lutalyse is a prostaglandin dinoprost tromethamine. In terms that I can understand: Lutalyse is something that is naturally produced in the female uterus during estros, which is the reproductive cycle.
When conception does not occur, the function of Lutalyse is to “lyse” or dissolve a mass of cells that forms in the ovary to produce the hormone progesterone. Progesterone thickens the uterine lining to maintain pregnancy. So when Lutalyse dissolves the lining, it signals the body to not build up that lining and to begin the cycle again.
When you give Lutalyse to goats, you are telling their body to start their reproductive cycle again.
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You can watch this on YouTube here: Lutalyse for Goats
Or watch the video located on this page.
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Important things to know about Lutalyse
There are some really, really important things to consider though:
- Women should be very careful when using this substance. Any contact with your skin can cause a miscarriage.
- It’s really important to understand how Lutalyse works (read this entire article) so that you do not cause more problems than you want to deal with.
- There are people who believe that “Lut” is used too much and that the natural order of things should be observed.
- You need to document everything in My Goat Binder (currently over 3500 people already are!) including breeding dates, pregnancy due dates and things like when you give lutalyse to your goats!
Why would you want to Lutalyse your goats? Ways to use this properly
Sync goat herd’s cycle
There may be several reasons that you want to sync your goat’s herd cycle. Sometimes, a buck is only available for a short period of time. Or maybe your vet only has a small window of opportunity to administer artificial insemination (AI). If you lutalyse your goat or goats, they will come into heat and you’ll be able to put them with the buck and he’ll do his very important job. And you’ll know the exact breeding date, which will allow you to calculate their due date very easily.
And if you are AI-ing your goat, they will come into heat and your vet will be able to do his job! Again, you’ll know the exact date and can calculate the due date quite easily!
You can also bring your doe into heat during the off season. If you do this, you will want to wait several cycles to ensure that her egg is viable.
You may want to refresh your memory about Goat Heat Signs here.
“Reset” a doe
There really are a lot of reasons that a doe may be having fertility issues. But under the guidance of a qualified vet, lutalyse can be used to “reset” a doe hormonally and resolve some of these issues.
Trigger an absorption of embryo
There are some situations where you may want to give this to a doe that has had a wrong breeding. This wrong breeding may be that the buck got out and bred a doe too young, or a too large buck bred a too small doe, or there may a health risk that you don’t want to complicate.
When given at the appropriate time, this will cause the doe to absorb the embryo and therefore, stop the pregnancy.
Induce goat’s labor
If your doe has been in a long, hard labor and is not progressing or is very, very much overdue, lutalyse can be used under the careful guidance of a qualified vet.
Please use this with caution. 99% of the time we need to trust our animals. If we make any mistakes or errors in their breeding date, or miscalculate which buck or just simply don’t realize that a doe can go over her “due date” by 5 or more days, very awful results can happen.
You don’t want to give this and kill your beautiful baby kids by mistake.
You will want to know all of the labor signs so you don’t miss any detail of your goats deliver: Goat Labor Signs
Dosage of Lutalyse
You will give 2 cc to your goats. Andy will give it on the 7th day after breeding if you are giving after an accidental breeding.
Conclusion of using Lutalyse for goats
As you can see, there’s a lot of things to know and think about when using this. And it can be overused. There have been many heartbreaking stories of it being use wrongly.
And know that there are very large producers who rarely use this and are very successful.
This is something that you’ll have to decide for yourself. Do we need to control every aspect of our goats pregnancy? Or not? Because truly, it’s impossible to have absolute control over your goats or any of your livestock and the natural cycles of life and birth.
Let all of this information give you what you need to use this safely and understand how to use it correctly and what it’s doing to your goat’s body.
You will want to check out all of this raising goats information here.