# cold day for baby goats



## urbanweasel (Dec 9, 2004)

I was wondering how cold a baby goat can take
We had our first goats born saturday and it is supposed to drop into
the mid thirty's on tuesday night with a wind chill in the low 20's
How can I protect the baby's and there mom
I built a small 6x6 closed on 3 sides but Im not sure that is protection enough and we put infant clothes on them.
thanks
Jeff


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## JAS (Oct 15, 2003)

Hi Urbanweasel

I had my first set of triplets on Friday, facing the same problems as you, but it got to 9 degrees last night. I have read/heard that baby goats are tough and if you dry them off good and they are nursing they can handle down to 20 degrees fine as long as you have them out of the wind. 

I lost my littlest trip this morning. She was having more problems than the cold though, not nursing. The other two are starting to jump about. They spend a lot of time in the little dog porta-kennel that I set up for them--covered it with blankets.

I do not have electricity in my barn and it is too far to run a cord safely. Does any one have hints on keeping babies warm without power? I have another doe that is starting to look close. I think I will stack straw bales up to make a little house for the babies (more insulation). I've heard of using a wool sock for a little kid coat, does that work, or does that interfer with the mother bonding?


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## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

Hi Jeff, I would think that if you have plenty to hay down and it is dry in your building that your babies will be fine. I am in middle Al. and feel that other than kids being born with those temps. that they will be fine. Goats will sleep close to stay warm. Knowing Florida weather, you guys will probably be up into the 60's later on that day. We are supposed to get down in the upper teens that morning. Yep, winter is finally about to get here for at least a couple of days. The lows at night may be in the fifties in a couple a days though. Of corse then we will get more rain. :no: :no: What kids of babies do you have?


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## Tango (Aug 19, 2002)

urbanweasel said:


> I was wondering how cold a baby goat can take
> We had our first goats born saturday and it is supposed to drop into
> the mid thirty's on tuesday night with a wind chill in the low 20's
> How can I protect the baby's and there mom
> ...


We had twins born last Thursday and are looking at the weather closely too. In south central Florida it might get to the mid 30's tonight. We built a hay bale house which has only one entrance. the hay lets the doe's body warmth protect the babies. This morning they were both behind her. It was cheap to build with bermuda hay bales going for $5.00 each here and very quick to put up against the walls of the pen for support.


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## urbanweasel (Dec 9, 2004)

Al. Countryboy said:


> Hi Jeff, I would think that if you have plenty to hay down and it is dry in your building that your babies will be fine. I am in middle Al. and feel that other than kids being born with those temps. that they will be fine. Goats will sleep close to stay warm. Knowing Florida weather, you guys will probably be up into the 60's later on that day. We are supposed to get down in the upper teens that morning. Yep, winter is finally about to get here for at least a couple of days. The lows at night may be in the fifties in a couple a days though. Of corse then we will get more rain. :no: :no: What kids of babies do you have?


they are a pygmy nubian mix Had one billy and a doe


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## Tracy in Idaho (Dec 8, 2002)

They should be just fine. We kidded does out at -30 F one year. Yep, 30 below zero. We had one lost ear tip on a kid that was shoved out of the pen, but other than that they were fine.

Now that we snatch all the kids as they are born, we just bring them inside for the first day and then back out to the barn. If you have enough kids together, they all dog pile and keep warm.

The big thing is to keep them out of the wet and the wind.

Tracy


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## JAS (Oct 15, 2003)

Tracy

Do you have trouble with the mother bonding after you take the babies away for the first day? I do not want bottle babies unless I have to--my goats are meat goats.


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## Tracy in Idaho (Dec 8, 2002)

I don't allow my dams to raise any kids any longer -- but, here's a story for you from when I first started and was a bit indecisive <G>
I had a doe kid twin girls and I snagged them as I had planned to. But this particular doe seemed to really pine for them...so almost a week later I gave them back to her and she raised them just fine. A big plus to me was the kids were just as friendly as if they had been completely bottle raised.

But no, I wouldn't try this with meat goats -- if anything I would probably take out a towel and help get them dried off a bit. I have taken pillow cases filled with rice or beans and microwaved them to get it good and warm and taken those out to where the kids are laying on the coldest nights. 

Tracy


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## Tracy in Idaho (Dec 8, 2002)

I don't allow my dams to raise any kids any longer -- but, here's a story for you from when I first started and was a bit indecisive <G>
I had a doe kid twin girls and I snagged them as I had planned to. But this particular doe seemed to really pine for them...so almost a week later I gave them back to her and she raised them just fine. A big plus to me was the kids were just as friendly as if they had been completely bottle raised.

But no, I wouldn't try this with meat goats -- if anything I would probably take out a towel and help get them dried off a bit. I have taken pillow cases filled with rice or beans and microwaved them to get it good and warm and taken those out to where the kids are laying on the coldest nights. 

Forgot to add -- there is a gal up the road from me that kids out her Boer goats in Jan/Feb and does nothing at all with the kids. The mothers seem to clean them up and they do just fine in the cold. 

Tracy


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

I'll tell you the temperatures even dried off baby goats *can't* take -- fifty to seventy degrees below zero! When we lived in the Interior of Alaska, we had a doe kid in January (bought her bred, I would NEVER have done that on purpose!), and when the kids were a week or two old the temps got really cold and we lost both of them. Lost our buck, too -- peeing all over yourself and getting your whole front half wet is NOT smart in that kind of weather. (I should add, we didn't have electricity, so no way to supply extra heat to the barn, and the buck had a little hay-filled kennel he could crawl into. It was just too cold.)

Here, I'm planning breedings for weather where I shouldn't have to worry about the kids staying warm -- April for spring kiddings, and I hope to have a couple of does kid in October, which is still pretty nice here most of the time. 

Kathleen


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

I remember one time we had freezing rain,my wife was getting ready for work.Came in with 5 kids put them in bed with me  Says here take care of them  :haha: 

We tried to put the Does in the Barn before they kid,soon as the baby is good and dry,sun shinning they were out.

big rockpile


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## Hank - Narita (Aug 12, 2002)

Definitely breed your does to kid late. Ours are due mid March and mid May. Much easier than running heat lamps, etc. We do put our does inside at night. One doe has kids at 10 a.m. and the other at 1 p.m. when she knows I will be there. Very convenient.


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## Stacy Adams (Jan 23, 2003)

big rockpile said:


> I remember one time we had freezing rain,my wife was getting ready for work.Came in with 5 kids put them in bed with me  Says here take care of them  :haha: big rockpile


 :haha: :haha: :worship: :haha: :haha: 

I could _NOT_ imagine what my DH would have done!! :no: 

I'm sure they would have been taken care of, but I'm sure I'd have also found a note saying "SEE YA!" :haha:


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## JAS (Oct 15, 2003)

Well my girls didn't cooperate with me, since they are Boer type mostly I put the buck in with them for September/October/November babies but apparently they didn't take. I ran the whole herd together this summer thinking they were bred. I was really trying to avoid the colder months! I am new at this and we have limited space.

I did have spring babies this year. Still got cold plus all the rain and mud, I was thinking fall babies would be nice. Also the market for meat goats is hot around Easter time.

Just to let you know, it got down to 5 degrees last night. I checked on the babies during the night and they were laying beside Mom instead of their little box. They look good this morning, sucking on mom and then hopping around  Makes it worth all the work watching little ones learn how to play.


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## gccrook (Nov 21, 2003)

We just had Nubian kids. 2 a week ago Sunday, and 2 this past sunday. These last two were not nursing good, and it got real cold (25) and they just about did not make it. My wife took them to the vet who put them in a warm water bath, and told us to keep them inside, warm and fed for a couple of days or until they were walking about strongly. That was yesterday, and today they are doing much better. The mother was really bawling for them, so we brought her in to the back porch and brought her kids to her. She took right to them, and they began nursing. Hopefully they can go out tommorrow or the next day. She is a first time mother, and I think she will do great. The 2 kids born a week ago, have had no problem with the temperatures. Down to 19 last night.


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## JAS (Oct 15, 2003)

Well, I had a doe give birth last night in -6 temperature. I didn't think she would deliver yet as her bag was not filling out. I wonder if something else is wrong with her. She was not penned up and went outside, gave birth and went inside--left the babies out. She was a very good mother last year? I found them soon after but one was frozen already and I am trying to save the other one :waa: If he makes it he will be looking similar to a lamacha--his ears were frozen. I tried milking the mother and could not get anything? We checked her again this morning and still nothing? I got some Closterum (sp) from a friend this morning, hopefully we can nurse him back. The temperatures are going to hang around 5 til Christmas, ugh. The other kids seem to be doing well--come out to nurse and then climb back into their holes.


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