To shave or not to shave, that is the question.

[goatn00b]

As some of you know, I just got my first goat on Sunday. She is an African Pygmy and she is four months pregnant. She is also infested with lice (poor thing). I am going to be deworming her tomorrow for internal and external parasites so that should help with the lice. But....I was wondering if I shouldn't go ahead and give her a buzz cut. I live in Central Florida and it is hot as Hades down here already and I have noticed that she is really reluctant to leave the shade during the day, which cuts down on her browsing time since we don't have any trees to provide shade out in the yard. So I have 2 questions about the pros and cons of shaving her.

1. Are goats susceptible to sunburn? Because it is sunburn central down here in FL.

2. It is also mosquito central down here, too. Will her lack of hair make the mosquitoes more bothersome to her? Is her coat protecting her at all from them?

Thanks in advance for any advice you gurus may have for me! :happy0035:

[julieq]

What color is she? Light skinned goats tend to burn easier than darker skinned. Having said that, she should have shade from the sun. We even add fans to our barn in the July/Aug/Sept heat here in Southern Idaho. We've bought a couple of goats in the past that came to us infested with lice. Beyond treating, we went ahead and did full body clips as soon as the weather allowed. Then they grew back really healthy, beautiful hair coats in the fall, plus they were much more comfortable during the summer heat.

[KimM]

Try using a rake made for long-haired dogs and rake out the undercoat to help keep them cool. Even when I "shave" I only use a #5 blade to leave enough coat on for protection from sun and some bugs.