Barn conditions for babies - need advice asap

[mousebandit]

Hi everyone. Well, we are due to go pick up my two pregnant mamas tonight (Kiko-Boer cross, 1 yr old, first freshening, bred to a Nubian-Boer cross buck, due anytime). I am second-guessing myself about where to house them for the first couple of weeks. I'm hoping someone can give me some advice, quick!

I had planned to put them in a stall near our house, it's about 16' x 14', and dirt floor, but I can put down a pretty good bedding of straw (I have 6 bales, 3-strand each and two blocks of cedar shavings). There is an open gateway into the pasture at the back, but I've nailed a sheet of plywood across the bottom, leaving it open at the top (plywood goes up abt. 4' high). The front side has plywood across it up to about 4' also, and has a very large open storage room in front of that, so there's no draft or rain coming in there. The sides are solid to the roof. My concern with this is that it's suddenly raining like a monsoon and the wind is blowing like crazy. These girls aren't very tall, but there would be wind blowing through above their heads (from the pasture gate setup). And, now that it's raining, there are a lot of "drippy" spots on the roof. Not soaking anything, but drippy here, and drippy there. There's plenty of large, totally drip-free "zones" in the stall, but I have no way right now to partition it off or anything.

Does this sound like it will be okay for the girls and the kids? I don't imagine the temp will go below freezing in the next few weeks, certainly not far below if it does. The days have been in 50's but today is colder with this rain and wind. My brother told me it might snow tonight, but around here that means it's staying above freezing, just close, probably 34 deg. or so.

I have one other option, but it would entail moving the 8 bales of bedding and one bale of alfalfa hay to a totally separate part of the ranch, and I don't have any means of doing that besides bribing my already-hate-the-goats teenagers into carrying them by hand in the rain, which is frankly, just not likely today!! If I could get the stuff moved, it is the mud room to an old house on the property, cement floor, very dampish feeling, but no obvious drips, and no wind. Big bright windows. I also don't know what my hubby would say about that and I can't ask his thoughts on any of this for another hour-and-a-half.

I'm hoping to hear that they will be okay with the drips, and I'm heading out now to try and find some more scrap plywood to nail over the top half of the pasture gate to minimize or totally stop that wind blowing.

What do you all think?

THANK YOU!!!!!

Tracey Mouse

[frazzlehead]

Can you put a tarp or something over the door, to keep most of the wind out?

I don't have goats, but I can't see a few drips here and there being a big problem so long as the place is mostly warm, mostly draft free, and has plenty of dry bedding.

Good luck!

[DocM]

It's raining like a monsoon here and my dutch door on the barn is open. It's about 36" high, the top is open and the wind is blowing. The goats are all laying down and perfectly warm. Your goats will be fine, and the air circulating will actually make it nicer in there. A draft is air that blows directly on them.

[mousebandit]

Ah, bless you guys! I was feeling like a baby goat abuser, but I really couldn't face the PR and work to make that mud room work!!

Off to spread out the straw, and get everything ready!

THANK YOU!!!

PS doc - are you SW Oregon, or elsewhere?

Tracey

[DocM]

Draw a straight line between Portland and Astoria, and dead center is where Doc is.

[mousebandit]

Okay, update. No goaties tonight. I couldn't get the livestock trailer out of the south pasture - it's got flat tires and there's a raging creek cutting it off from the road. Other option was the suburban, but it's got a lift kit and 37" tires, so I don't think any of us felt confident enough to lift pregnant does up into that, LOL!

New plan, rent a small u-haul trailer ($20, local) and bring them out Friday night or saturday afternoon. tomorrow and thursday will be finishing up at the old house, getting the last of our stuff out and cleaning it.

But, at least their stall is looking good and I'm feeling MUCH better about it all. And my other critters are in their "stage 2" temporary set ups now. One step closer to having it all set up properly!!

THANK YOU all SOOOOOOO much!!

Tracey Mouse
PS doc - you live in a gorgeous part of the state!!

[DocM]

Don't lift them, just get a board and walk them up - they're goats! They love to walk up boards. I use my van to haul goats, unless I'm hauling more than 10 of them. Even pregnant, they hop up there. It's not that high though. Even a box - any goat likes to jump up on something (a wheelbarrow works) and then into the back of the van.