# Eating Habits When It's Cold



## themorethemerrier (Dec 15, 2015)

Do goats eat as well when it is cold as when the temperatures are more moderate?  I've read in several places that goats will eat to keep warm but mine tend to eat less when it is cold.  Is this normal?  Do other folks see the same thing with their goats?

And just for perspective, it is 17 degrees here today, with 35 mile an hour winds, making it feel like -2 degrees.  My five goats are all in the barn where the temperature is more like 28 degrees, well ventilated and no drafts.  I fed them fresh hay yesterday afternoon, before the storm hit last night, and it looks like it has hardly been touched.  They did this with the last storm too.  They are all acting normal but it concerns me that they seem to go days without eating much when it turns cold.


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## Hens and Roos (Dec 15, 2015)

not sure, from what we have observed with our goats(ND breed) they seem to go through hay faster when the temps start getting colder.  I figure about 20 bales a month 

maybe others can give you feedback

@Southern by choice , @OneFineAcre, @babsbag, @BlessedWithGoats


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## Fullhousefarm (Dec 15, 2015)

Mine are always pigs. (Well except Tootsie, but I'd imagine that will change eventually). I've found no correlation to hot/cold at all, though "cold" here is 40' or lower and my goats have never seen below 28'.


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## BlessedWithGoats (Dec 15, 2015)

My goats still usually go for the hay, even though it's colder out. They love their food! 
Are your goats eating anything at all? Can you take their temperature?


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## themorethemerrier (Dec 15, 2015)

I just went out to check on them and not much had been eaten since this morning.  So, I took a flake of hay and sat down in the middle of them, put it in my lap and they all ate like crazy.  All of that was eaten and even more from the hay feeder.  So, they are eating, especially if I'm around.  And they eat leaves (raked up a bunch and bagged them for winter treats) and pellets whenever given.


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## BlessedWithGoats (Dec 15, 2015)

That's encouraging that they were eating!  They just want you to hand feed them!  Silly girls!

@Goat Whisperer @goatgurl ? Tagging some more people that will hopefully have an idea on why they're acting like this.


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## OneFineAcre (Dec 15, 2015)

In general, mine tend to eat more hay when it's colder.

However, they tend to eat less when they are cooped up inside because of bad weather outside.  Here that is usually rain.


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## themorethemerrier (Dec 15, 2015)

Maybe that's what it is...and by me coming out to the barn for a visit, their "moods" improved and they decided eating was a good idea after all.  Yeah, don't have problems with them eating when the barn is opened up and they can come and go.  Hard to do that with such cold temps and horizontal snow!  OneFineAcre, you may have hit on something there!!  Perhaps I just need to visit more often when the weather is crummy and the kids are confined to make the barn less boring.  I will try that...plus, makes my work day better too!


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## OneFineAcre (Dec 15, 2015)

themorethemerrier said:


> Maybe that's what it is...and by me coming out to the barn for a visit, their "moods" improved and they decided eating was a good idea after all.  Yeah, don't have problems with them eating when the barn is opened up and they can come and go.  Hard to do that with such cold temps and horizontal snow!  OneFineAcre, you may have hit on something there!!  Perhaps I just need to visit more often when the weather is crummy and the kids are confined to make the barn less boring.  I will try that...plus, makes my work day better too!



I bet thats it.


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## themorethemerrier (Dec 15, 2015)

Thanks, all!!  I love knowing that if I have a question/concern, you all are so good to respond quickly and wisely!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 15, 2015)

Interesting. Ours eat more when it is cold ... they eat the same in or out but it could be that our barn has a loafing area that is like being "out"... very possible being locked in caused the disinterest.

Then again Sunday it was 74 degrees here and they ate MORE than usual. 

Goats!


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## Mini Horses (Dec 15, 2015)

If their light is very low in the barn, it may make them think it's bedtime and they just snuggle & sleep!    I don't know how your barn is but, just a thought.   My barn is heavy with windows and my goats eat all the time EXCEPT when it starts getting dark.


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## goats&moregoats (Dec 15, 2015)

Thinking it is the darkness (bedtime). Mine did that in last years shed when I closed them in. This year they have an open doorway (small, directed away from cold winds) they go in and out as they choose and eat constantly it seems. I think I could fill their barn with hay and they would have it gone the next day!  exaggerating of course.  Now it has not gotten cold here in the part of Vermont I am in (as of yet), but last winter the only time they slowed down on eating was when they were closed in for coldest over nights. During the day their door was opened just enough for them to go in and out.


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