We have had our first snow and it's early this year(Nova Scotia, Canada) and makes me wonder if it's going to be a harsh one too. Anyway, I haven't kept goats through the winter before. Any good tips or advice to make them as comfy as possible? They have indoor access at all times, good hay, and I have been bringing them warm water in morning and at night. I noticed that Hoeggers sell goat coats, anyone else use these? BTW, there are only two goats. Thanks for advice. Terri, Nova Scotia

-- Terri (Terri@tallships.ca), November 24, 2000

Answers

Terri, it sounds like your goats will be fine. They are very hardy animals, and as long as the don't get wet they should be OK, just make sure they can get out of the rain and snow when they need to and that they have dry bedding. The warm water is nice. They will need plenty of hay as that(not the grain) is what keeps them warm, the digestion of the hay in the rumen. I have never used a goat coat before, I think they are for does that have been clipped for shows in cool weather so they don't have their natural insulation. my goats kid in February and even the kids do just fine. We are in northern Idaho, it gets 30 below here.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 24, 2000.

I have had goats for a lot of years and only used goat coats in the early spring after clipping for show. Good hay, dry shelter and they do amazingly well. I do the warm water also twice a day. They like it and it keeps the milk production up also. Two goats will snuggle up and keep each other warm as long as they are out of a draft. I do tend to bed quite heavy in the winter. Diane in Michigan

-- Diane Green (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 24, 2000.

All great answers. We use goat coats for after show clips, and we use sweatshirts with the sleeves cut off for my older does, and on anyone feeling a little off. One way of knowing if your shelter is adequate is to kneel down in the pen, are your knees wet? Than add more bedding. Does it smell like ammonia? Than put down lime under the bedding, or perhaps switch to a bedding that is more absorbant. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), November 24, 2000.

I have had goats for a number of years and the biggest thing they need is a place to get out of the drafts with plenty of bedding. Goats don't like wet weather or drafts.

This year this group of goats has a really good winter coat - finally. I bought registered nubians and they were not as hardy as I thought they should be. It has taken 3 winters to get them as hardy as I like.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), November 25, 2000.

I suppose this is a given, but I don't clean out the goat stall in the winter, just keep adding bedding. The layers of manure and urine seem to keep the stall much warmer. But make sure that there is fresh air coming in, or problems will occur. And of course, the warm water and hay in front of them all the time.

-- Dianne (willow@config.com), November 25, 2000.

Hi,

Before we moved here to balmy VA., we used to live in western NYS, the armpit of the world and maybe the snow capitol, ! We raised Nubians many yrs ago up there and they did fairly well. One thing we did was to breed for late spring kids, after March as the weather is so cold. We usually bred for May/June kids. But... we also had some born in the dead of winter, in fact w ehad one doe kid during a blizzard. Our barn was draft free, well ventilated and we packed our bedding. A old practice that many farmers up north do. When we did it we used a horse pen product to cut down on the smell and bacteria. The only trouble was come spring it was a heavy load, good fertilizer though! And as mentioned lots of warm water. I used to add about 1/4 cup molasses to keep the water from freezing. Make sure you give lots of good hay and feed as thats so important. I also knew some folks who feed a little more fat content in their feed too. i have not tried that as yet. Hope this helps. I think everyone else pretty much covered it.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), November 25, 2000.

Howdy from the Southwest, Terri. I'm a fairly new goat owner of 5 years or so; I have 11, three dairy breeds and 8 Angoras (sheared in October). I was very worried about them because it turns cold here in NM in Oct/Nov and we usually get our first snow then, too (I live at 7,000' above sea level). My goat housing is only an old 3-sided horse barn facing south, and various small pallet & plywood shelters around the pens so everyone will have a place to go if there is too much bullying. Sure 'nuff, I got 8" of snow on election day and another 8" on Thanksgiving, but I had no need to worry about the girls because they were happy in their little shanty town shelters. I will say that in the future I'm going to build them some raised platforms in their sheds to get off the ground if they feel like it. The ground can get pretty damp with all that melting snow. This is where all that wasted hay comes in handy, though! They are constantly creating a renewed supply of dry bedding. dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), November 27, 2000.

We live in the north central mountains of Pa and it gets very cold at times. We have raised goats for all of 20 years and our little barn is far from draft free and have never lost an animal because of sickness due to the cold. In fact, we leave the front and back doors open to let the air pass through. A vet told us it keeps the animals healthy by not letting "stale, germy air" stay in the barn during the winter. I do put up a heat lamp in the corner of the goats pen for the very cold nights and for the "old lady" does to get under. I have used coats at times. Nothing that you would actually buy but are old sweaters and sweatshirts and put them on the older does and if I happen to have an early kidding, we also try to bred for April and May, I put little baby sweaters on the new kids if they are unlucky to be born in freezing weather. I have also given them warm water daily but now just fill the buckets up and they drink what they need before it freezes. Guess I'm getting lazy or smarter in my old age ?! Hope this helps !! Good Luck !!!

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), November 27, 2000.

About breeding for late spring...we used to do that too,but consider this.In late spring we would generally put the new babies out on a nice day to catch some fresh air the ground is beginning to thaw here (in Canada)and with that there is a worm and parasite revival.If you can run a heat lite in your kidding stalls I think frozen winter ground and a good start before spring is better,for us anyway.Great answers! ter

-- teri (mrs_smurf2000@yahoo.ca), November 29, 2000.