# How cold is too cold?



## Kate_29 (Aug 21, 2011)

Hello goat folks! I have another newbie question. How cold is too cold? The weather has been pretty nice here low 80s upper 70s in the day and mid/high 50s as night. It just recently started getting high thirties at night and I can hear my poor girls crying sometimes at night when they never used to cry at night. They have a shelter but I keep the door open so they can go in and out. Should I close them in? Or do you think they are ok. I worry about my girls!


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

Twenty-five'ish years ago I sat in my barn at 2am waiting to quickly dry the kids of a doe in labor. It was -21 deg here in IL! 
I never had any problems with my goats due to cold weather.


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## CAjerseychick (Aug 11, 2013)

How many goats, what size, how old? Is your shelter 3 sided, can you bed them down with an extra bale of rice straw for extra insulation? Can you give them extra hay in the evening so they can have full bellies to keep them warm?...
We have a baby buckling we have decided to keep inside at night, but thats b/c he is new to the herd and is scared of them, and it is just getting too cold for a little 9 week old mini all by himself (it was 28 degrees last night) and he is not eating that well....


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## Doug Hodges (Jul 22, 2013)

Windchill is going to be 10 here Saturday night. Low of 19. I'm not worried about my goats in the barn. I'm sure they will pile up for warmth.


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

As long as they acclimate to the cold they should be fine. Do not take them in & out of a heated area & then back into the cold. They are better off in the cold all the time. Bed them down with plenty of straw & make sure they have plenty of hay.


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## punchiepal (Oct 11, 2008)

Your temps are nothing close to Iowa right now. LOL and I have nigerian dwarfs. 
Ours LOVE dog igloos on cold nights. BTW the igloos are usually reserved for the bucks as they don't seem to cuddle as much.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

As Wendy stated size and number of goats matter- I we have temps that get to minus 42 normally just for a few days but we did have about two weeks like that last year. 

My goats have options they choose. A large enclosed space with a smaller wing that they can retreat to to keep closer. I do provide warm water and refill it often. I provide brome pellets ( typical feed up here esp this year due to hay shortage---note hay is 26 for 60 pounds of tim.) Bedding is wood pellets and peat (large local deposits) so composting does create heat too. 

I have dug a deep pit and I compost in I cover it with a strong grate and put the water buckets on it. It prevents water that spills from creating ice and dampness and the composting that happens aids in keepting the water liquid longer. Warning a post hole digger is needed to remove the compost --it is work but work is a good four letter word.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Agree with everyone else here. With plenty of warm bedding & hay 24/7 they should stay warm all winter. Our temp's get pretty low in the winter & hay & deep bedding works for us.


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

Freezing temps are not your ememy. It is damp or wet bedding.


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## Snowfan (Nov 6, 2011)

You'd be surprised what animals can thrive in given ample amounts of clean, dry bedding, shelter from the wind and clean water. It's us people that don't tolerate weather extremes very well.


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## Hollowdweller (Jul 13, 2011)

One year it was abnormally cold and I had kids in Jan and one lost the ear tips.

Otherwise sub zero no problem.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

Babies born at under 30 degrees I bring in and put them on the fluff cycle beside the wood stove...in a tote for an hour or so.

I've had kids born at -20 and just lost ear tips. My barn door is open year round...in Maine.


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## Helena (May 10, 2002)

I think the wind is the worst..cold or wet pens would be cold for your goats. Have had goats for over 30 years and it does get mighty cold here in the mountins. I will lock my goats inside their pens in the barn during the winter with hay and dry bedding. I also will put a heat lamp or 2 hanging securely from the lower part of the roof for them. They pile up together and have even seen the guienea hens sleeping with them too. Our barn is certainly not insulated. Just barn boards and open window in the front but the vet told me one time that letting the air blow through keeps germs from causing health problems during the winter. Even though they are locked inside and no wind blowing on them it is not air tight in the least. If the does kid during the very cold weather they are always pu in separate pens with heat lamps and sometimes little children's sweaters on kids to keep warm. But, also..I have been know to take a "kid" to bed with me when it wasn't doing well in cold weather. But..after a while you do silly things to help your animals. :sing:


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## dozedotz (Dec 12, 2012)

Excellent advice all around. We bring the little ones inside...but that makes it easier on us (!) in the early days with feeding round the clock. Groups of babies can keep each other very toasty in a dog igloo stuffed with straw. Very important to get the kids DRY as quickly as possible and the rubbing with towels helps get their circulation racing. Adults who a slowly introduced to the cold usually adapt very nicely so long as they have dry, out of the wind, covered areas with other big bodies to create heat.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

calves will loose ears too, and is why i now kid in late march. it can still hit mighty low temps tho., so if it does, i make sure kids are dried off, and to keep ears from freezing, cut a tube sock top off, and put it on their head, it holds the ears onto the body and keeps them warm enough to not freeze off.


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