# My little doeling is so cold!



## dianneS (Oct 12, 2009)

I have a 14 week old pygmy doeling.  I don't think the previous owner took the best care of her goats.  This little girl is healthy, but she's not growing as fast as the wethers that I have who are only 10 weeks old and the same size as she is!

She's also cold all the time and stands and shivers when the temperature drops.  She still has her baby fuzz and isn't getting as much of a winter coat.  My little wethers are really thick and furry and not bothered by the cold at all.

Should I put a sweater on her??  I'm thinking of worming her again, giving her goat grower and adding some corn oil to her feed.  Also feeding her separately so she gets all the nutrition she needs.


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## Roll farms (Oct 12, 2009)

Just a suggestion...have a cocci fecal ran.  
Or just go ahead and treat her for it w/ DiMethox.  If her immune system is compromised and she's not growing well, any little bug could make her take a fast down turn.


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## cmjust0 (Oct 12, 2009)

Cold will push a goat over the edge quickly if they're already teetering a bit -- especially if they decide they don't wanna eat..  

Your primary mission here should be to look for the root cause of her ill thrift..  Keeping her warm and providing other supportive care is "nursing," which is equally important as it will help keep her alive long enough for you to figure things out and implement an actual treatment plan.

As Roll said, coccidiosis is a really good starting point.


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## dianneS (Oct 12, 2009)

Gave her some Panacur today for worms.  Will treat for cocci tomorrow (I don't like to overwhelm little ones with too many meds at once).  She had some probios last week.

She's better now that its warmed up a bit, grazing with the rest and very active.  I put a sweater on her, I think she likes it!  I put her down and she went skipping off to climb on some tires!  I'll have to get a pic of that one!

She gets cold during the night and in the early morning but warms up as the day goes on.  We had a very windy day a few days ago and she was the first one to be bothered by it and went in the barn and hid under my horse sleigh all by herself.  Then the others joined her, they couldn't tolerate the wind any longer either.

I'll be feeding her separately so I'm sure she gets the nutrition she needs.  Maybe I'll supplement her with some  Calf Manna?  That's good stuff, perked up my little rescued/starvation case mini horse!


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## dianneS (Oct 14, 2009)

Her previous owner said that this little one had to be delivered by her, the mom needed help for some reason.  Then she had trouble getting her to nurse.  She said this one was very tiny at birth and had always been much smaller than the rest even though she was older.

Apparently mom and baby were kept in the house at first becaue it was cold out when she was born.  I'm hoping this is the reason that she is small.  She seems healthy otherwise but not getting much of a winter coat yet.

She's out head butting her brothers and she loves to push them around even though they are getting bigger than she is!  She is growing, she's definitely heavier now than she was when I first got her.  Its just concerning since her younger brothers are bigger, and she's been standing around shivering every morning.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 14, 2009)

What about putting a coat on her at night and taking it off in the morning? Some type of dog coat that is easy to put on like the ones with the velcro around the chest and a strap under the belly with velcro. 

Also, do you feed her separately to make sure she is getting her full share of grain? I actually stand between my 2 goats until they are done eating to make sure each only eats what they are supposed to.


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## dianneS (Oct 15, 2009)

Yeah, I feed her separately.  I did put a sweater on her at night and took it off in the morning.  

Today it is raining and only 40 degrees, she's really miserable today.  I'm afraid to put her sweater on her today that she might go out in the rain and get it wet, then she'd be even colder yet wearing a wet sweater!  Now she needs a rain coat.

I gave her some higher protein feed this morning to warm her up a little.  I'll check on her later to see if that worked.  

I forgot to mention that I found out from her previous owner that she was one week premature and they almost lost her at birth.  She's healthy now, I just worry about these cold days.


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## mossyStone (Oct 15, 2009)

If it were me i'd have her in my house, in a dog crate, just so she'd be warm and not chill off and on... Of course im sure my husband would have much to say if i did that...


Mossy Stone Farm


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## kimmyh (Oct 15, 2009)

Can you mount a heat lamp over some deep straw in the barn for her?


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## dianneS (Oct 15, 2009)

I thought about a heat lamp.  I may give that a try.  I'm so paranoid about a potential fire hazard though!  :/

She doesn't seem to be coming outside at all now, so I put her sweater back on her, she seems happier.  

Its supposed to be in the 40's and raining here for the next four days.  None of us are happy about that, the horses hate it too.

I'd love to have her in the house, but she's so attached to the rest of the herd, I'm sure she would really be distressed if I tried to take her away and keep her by herself.

Luckily her "brothers" do cuddle up to her and keep her warm.  They even come running when she cries!


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## cmjust0 (Oct 15, 2009)

A buddy of mine has a good setup for cold kids..  He takes old 55gal steel drums, stood on end, cuts a 'door' in the side at the bottom and a hole in the top just smaller than the diameter of the shield on a heat lamp.  He puts either a 250w or a 100w (depending on the ambient temp, of course) bulb in the heat lamp, screws the shield to the drum, and voila...a quick, cheap, heated hutch..

You gotta take care to secure the drum to something solid to prevent it from falling over, of course, but it seems like it would be very safe and a super nice place for a chilly kid to hang out..


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## freemotion (Oct 15, 2009)

I love that idea, Chad!  

Last winter my rescued doe gave birth when we still had subzero nights, to a single buckling.  I mounted a scrap of plywood diagonally across one corner of the stall and ran a heat lamp, the one I used for my chicks, behind it....the kind with a reflector and a wire guard over the bulb, that takes 250 watt bulbs in white or red.  I used red so as not to mess up anyone's rhythm and start them shedding too early, as extending daylight can do.

I hung the lamp behind the plywood from a rafter, so the cord and lamp were protected from mama's teeth and horns, and no one could get too close to it.  I mounted the plywood high enough from the ground that the kid could get underneath it when needed.  I made a nice cushy bed with hay, and used plastic blocks (horse jumps/cavelletti) to create a cozy nest and block potential drafts.  I would check the temp and raise or lower the lamp according to the temp.  Don't make it too warm, just take the chill off, or she won't develop a winter coat.  In the house would be too warm, likely, at least here in New England, and she would not be prepared to go back outside.

This arrangement worked so well that I left the plywood in place so that the heatlamp can go back up quickly if needed.


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## lilhill (Oct 15, 2009)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> A buddy of mine has a good setup for cold kids..  He takes old 55gal steel drums, stood on end, cuts a 'door' in the side at the bottom and a hole in the top just smaller than the diameter of the shield on a heat lamp.  He puts either a 250w or a 100w (depending on the ambient temp, of course) bulb in the heat lamp, screws the shield to the drum, and voila...a quick, cheap, heated hutch..
> 
> You gotta take care to secure the drum to something solid to prevent it from falling over, of course, but it seems like it would be very safe and a super nice place for a chilly kid to hang out..


These work great.  I have one in each of my kidding stalls and the babies love to crawl inside on cold days.  Mine aren't quite as big as the 55 gal. drums and are made of hard plastic.  Don't know what was in them before they were recycled to use as kid warmers.


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## freemotion (Oct 15, 2009)

What do you think about mounting the lightbulb inside a cookie tin, and mounting that inside a wooden box?  I know some people make warmers for their chicken waterers by mounting a bulb in a tin and setting the waterer on top.  

For a kid warmer, this would make it very safe and eliminate the problem (to me, anyways) of extending the hours of light in the winter.  When I managed a breeding and show horse farm, we would put lights on a timer in the mare's stalls to bring them into heat in the winter.  They would also often shed, but it was no problem in a heated barn with plenty of warm blankets for turn-out.

Opinions on this idea?


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## kimmyh (Oct 15, 2009)

I like to use double ended snaps to secure the heat lamp, or wire, because like you the chance of fire scares me. I figure it like this, if one of the goats, who shouldn't be able to reach the lamp, figure you how to undo a double ended snap or wire, then a fire was meant too be. So far, I have not had an issue, but like someone else said, I wire up the cords out of reach, which would keep the light from falling very far.


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## Griffin's Ark (Oct 15, 2009)

You also might try giving her warm water with a little molasses mixed in it.  It helps to warm them quick and give them some calories to make their own heat.  Don't give to much molasses though as it can make them scour a bit.  Her size could indicate that her dam did not make a lot of milk, you can also try to add Sav-a-Kid (dry) to her food.  

Chris


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## dianneS (Oct 15, 2009)

I gave everyone some hot oatmeal with some molasses this evening mixed with their usual grain.

We're having a lot of really crappy cold rainy weather right now, so the horses got a hot supper and so did the goats.  Well, the goats didn't like it one bit and just picked out their regular grain and wouldn't touch the oatmeal or molasses.  The younger ones picked at it a bit, but the older ones wanted nothing to do with it!  Even my tiny little girl didn't care for it!  Well, so much for that plan!

The little girl seemed cozy in her sweater tonight, just as long as she doesn't get herself wet, she'll be fine.  I hope this rain lets up a little tomorrow.  We're supposed to have four days of this weather!  

Will be working on the heat lamp scenario tomorrow!


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## kimmyh (Oct 15, 2009)

You might try plain warm water, the goats really seem to enjoy it on cold days.


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## dianneS (Oct 16, 2009)

That's a good idea, I'll try warm water.  I'm also going to be working on a heated hutch today too.

I just heard the weather report for the next few days and its been and going to continue to be 26 degrees below normal for this time of year in our area!!  

No wonder we're all so cold!!  I'm miserable too!


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## cmjust0 (Oct 16, 2009)

to warm water.

We used to bring warm water down to the barn when it was really cold out, just to keep it liquid longer...no power in the barn means no de-icers in the barn..  

Well, at some point we started bringing just straight-up HOT water down to the barn because the cold plastic waterers were still cooling off the warm water too quickly..  We keep our water heater cranked up pretty good in the house, so it's pretty daggone hot right out of the tap.  

We figured the goats would determine it to be too hot to drink and let the cold waterers cool it off a bit, but no....they dove right in, knocking one another out of the way to get at that hot water..  I was concerned at first that somebody was gonna get scalded, but apparently not...  We actually bring full-on HOT water pretty routinely now and they fricken LOVE it..


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## dianneS (Oct 17, 2009)

I gave everyone some warm water, that seemed to help.  

My little wethers are suddenly unphased by this cold and rain and are standing out in it grazing.   The bigger girls go out for a little bit and then right back in.

My little doeling is doing better without a heat lamp so far.  No more sweater either.  I set up some plywood in a few corners to give them space to curl up and hold in body heat.  That seems to be working, or else the little girl is just getting used to the cold.  She's not shivering at all anymore and was even out in the rain a while yesterday.  She's pretty active too.  Maybe she realizes that the more active she is, the warmer she is!  

I also got them a high protein, higher fat goat feed and have been supplementing them with some corn oil.  Perhaps that is doing something as well.  

This weather is supposed to let up after tomorrow.  Then its going to be pretty warm compared to this!


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## dianneS (Oct 18, 2009)

The sun is out, the weather is returning to normal for this time of year and my little goats are so much happier! They are outside playing and basking in the sun   No more rain for a while I hope, and no more cold snaps until the animals are better prepared for it!


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## cmjust0 (Oct 19, 2009)

Ya know, it's funny that there are two threads here about cold goats because I noticed yesterday that two of our youngest were shivering Saturday morning..  

The weather's different everywhere, of course, but I think what's happened around here this year is that their winter coats just aren't in well enough for it to be as cold as it's been so far..

With ours, I'm pretty confident that they'll catch up and be OK..  Just odd to see a 7-8mo goat shivering..


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