Anybody blanket there goats?

farm mom · #1 12/16/08, 10:13 PM

Just wondering if anyone blankets there goats during the winter? We don't normally but we went from 30 degree nights to 0 degree nights literally overnight. The girls have been shivering pretty bad. I was just wondering how other people's goats handle the extreme cold. Unfortunately we don't have a barn, just a run in shed with lots of straw.

Minelson · #2 12/16/08, 10:44 PM

They are really good at puffing themselves up and putting a coat on them would flatten their own coat thus taking away their natural insulation. We have had -12 with -35 windchill. Of course they are out of the wind. Lots of bedding and plenty of good quality grass hay. Fresh water, and I take a bucket of warm water out 3 times a day. They are doing just fine. If mine were shivering I would freak out and put them in the heated shed. The shivering would scare me. Do they have a full belly of hay? Are they dry? Is the bedding dry?

farm mom · #3 12/16/08, 10:56 PM

Yep, grass hay is out free choice. A water tank with stock heater for warm water and a dry shelter with lots of dry, deep straw. We live in the high desert here so the snow is even a very dry snow. Not wet at all. On Saturday our high was 54 and our low was mid 30's. Literally the next day it was 10 degrees during the day and -5 at night with snow falling all night. I think they just didn't have time to adjust because I don't remember them ever doing this last year, even during the cold of winter. I did blanket two of them that were shivering the most and they seemed much more comfortable. My neighbor blanketed some of hers too because they were shivering as well when they haven't in the past. I'm thinking the drastic change in weather was just a shock to the livestock?

sadie6447 · #4 12/16/08, 11:12 PM

I have a couple of nannies that are shivering. One is locked in the shed at night with a bottle baby and a 6 month pygmy buck. I lock these ones in because they are small and the boer nanny is the closest to delivery. She is one that is shivering. I think she is really close i noticed today her bag looks fuler and shiner so I am guessing within a week. The bottle baby was roming free with the other two but it is a new shed and when we blocked it up we did not put rocks around the bottom of it. I came home for lunch and he was stuck under the shed in 15 degree wether and I thought I was gonna loose him because he could not stand. I put a dog coat with a hood on him and wrapped him in a warm towel for about 6 hours and put a cage in the shed for him. You could not even tell that he was as bad as he was that day. Other than that I do nothing special for them with exception of straw bedding.

goatkid · #5 12/17/08, 01:31 AM

I've only put coats on goats when they were sick. We had a sudden drop in temps, too. A few of the girls were shivering when they first got up in the morning. I'm noticing them becoming more acclimated the past couple days. Mine live in a few sheds and a small log cabin bedded with straw. I make sure they get lots of hay. A full rumen helps them to keep warm.

Laverne · #6 12/17/08, 02:02 AM

I'm blanketing my milking doe. She has a coat like horses, no down, and she will shiver and shivering really bugs me bad, so she's snug as a bug in a rug and she gives more milk too.

hoofinitnorth · #7 12/17/08, 10:44 AM

We've been down to -35F before and not blanketed. Just lots of hay, warm water brought at least twice a day, a little extra grain for the calories on the milkers, pregnant girls, and growing babies, and that's it. For the little ones that are in a stall that doesn't heat up enough with their body heat, I am providing a 75-watt heat lamp this year. I have three bucklings that are small and even in a small stall with a low ceiling (about 4' wide x 6' deep x 4' high), they aren't generating enough heat to stay safely warm on their own at subzero temps. Spoiled, I know, but I'd like to see more weight on these guys and help them to grow a bit more so they get the heat lamp. No one else does, but they are in stalls with more warm bodies.

I would use a goat coat on a sick goat and maybe one with a poor coat if I couldn't get it to improve before dangerous temperatures set in.

Sweet Goats · #8 12/17/08, 12:38 PM

My goats are ALL blanketed every day and night. It is called CASHMERE

I do have several foal blankets I have purchased so I have them just in case but i have never used them. The only time i would blanket them is if they are sick or if we get a last storm like in March or April and they have lost all their cashmere.
Other wise just like most of you. Hay free choice, water water from the heater and LOTS of nice straw.

Cygnet · #9 12/17/08, 12:56 PM

If you have them in a shed or stall, you might try putting a LOT of loose straw in the shed -- like belly deep. They'll paw a hole in it and snuggle down into it, and it will keep them warm.

Also, extra hay wouldn't hurt. I'm in Arizona and we rarely get cold/wet weather -- so my goats don't have much of a coat. When we do get a nasty raw day (like today -- pouring rain and in the 40's, so not bitter cold, but miserable) they really shiver. I double the alfalfa ration. Their rumens generate heat, so the more they eat, the warmer they'll be.

(Also, if your goats are browsing for part of their feed, remember if it's miserable out, they're likely not going out to eat, which compounds the problem.)

powderhooves · #10 12/17/08, 04:34 PM

I put coats on mine after shearing and left coats on two little ones. I took them off last week. I didn't like the way it matted down their fleeces (plus they didn't have the growth the others had) ...but on the other hand I hate picking straw out of them after shearing. My neighbor has sheep and she blankets them all year.