# How much hay bedding for goats in the winter?



## TXMissy (Jan 7, 2022)

Hi! 
I have a small herd of 3 goats and an 8x8 goat shed. How much hay do you normally put down for winter? I am in Texas and where I am it will get down in the 20s at night. I put down what I thought was enough but I always worry it isnt enough.  So, how muc do YOU use? 
Thanks!


----------



## Dandy Hill Farm (Jan 7, 2022)

I put down enough straw (or wasted hay) to make sure that the top is always clean and dry (a few inches).  So really, I have to keep adding some every once in awhile.  As long as the top is clean, and dry, you should be good though.  You could also figure out where their favorite sleeping place(s) is (are) and just add more to that area.


----------



## Mini Horses (Jan 7, 2022)

Agree.  They will mash it down...and when they stand, they poop!🙄 So dry means, add every few days.


----------



## TXMissy (Jan 8, 2022)

Dandy Hill Farm said:


> I put down enough straw (or wasted hay) to make sure that the top is always clean and dry (a few inches).  So really, I have to keep adding some every once in awhile.  As long as the top is clean, and dry, you should be good though.  You could also figure out where their favorite sleeping place(s) is (are) and just add more to that area.


Thank you!


----------



## TXMissy (Jan 8, 2022)

Mini Horses said:


> Agree.  They will mash it down...and when they stand, they poop!🙄 So dry means, add every few days.


Thank you!


----------



## farmerjan (Jan 8, 2022)

With only 3 goats the bedding is not going to break you.  More is better.  They don't want to be laying on too thin a layer so the cold from the ground seeps up.  Think of it as future garden fertilizer and mulch..... add some every couple of days as @Mini Horses  says... they will thank you for it by looking comfortable and happy laying around in there when it is cold.
Here we put down a layer of shavings/sawdust or wood chips to absorb the wet more and then straw/old hay on top for the cows in the barn.


----------



## Alaskan (Jan 8, 2022)

Mine... no matter how careful we were... would pull some hay out of the feeder..  once the hay was out of the feeder, they wouldn't eat it..

So...  they made their own bedding.... Daily.   

If you have a perfectly clean building to start with...  if the floor is dirt, I don't think you need much down, as in barely any..  if moisture wicks up I would make a sleeping platform for them.

if the floor is concrete I think you probably want enough bedding to fully hide and insulate the concrete.


----------



## Mini Horses (Jan 8, 2022)

Mine are self- rebedding right now!   Cold/ wind for a few days and I fed inside.  I love that they're helping me but, geesh, this is way too expensive hay for bedding!!!  😳.  Fortunately they love it and eat ravenously in the cold, so not bad.  Oh well....I still love 'em.  🤗


----------



## Legamin (Jan 11, 2022)

TXMissy said:


> Hi!
> I have a small herd of 3 goats and an 8x8 goat shed. How much hay do you normally put down for winter? I am in Texas and where I am it will get down in the 20s at night. I put down what I thought was enough but I always worry it isnt enough.  So, how muc do YOU use?
> Thanks!


Hi,
I found that starting with about 3” of strewn out hay or straw is ample.  Just keep going in and covering the wet and poop spots with a bit of straw/hay Every few days. You will end up with 6-8” of heavy wet bedding for Spring cleaning.  I use straw because the dearies will not eat it as long they have hay and that means NO WORMS!  I only worm when I see symptoms to avoid building resistance…unless they are for meat then after the first worming, I do not medicate EVER because my customers demand it for their meat.  Bedding is about health more than for the animal comfort.  If you can keep them on pasture through the Winter they are much healthier.


----------



## JimLad (Jan 12, 2022)

Mine add some every day, all by themselves.
They eat in the same shed that they sleep in so the floor keeps getting higher. It's great insulation, produces its own warmth and can be cleaned up when the ground outside is dry.


----------



## Ridgetop (Jan 12, 2022)

Just keep adding dry on top of the bedding you have.  Since you said that they don't like the Coastal you are getting you can use it.

Here we use straw if we use it at all.  We don't get as cold here.  One El Nino year it rained for months straight through, and the barn pens did not drain properly.  We have heavy clay soil.  Those are the pens we used them for kidding our dairy does and raising the bottle kids.  After the second week of non-stop rain, we started cleaning the stalls and hit 1" of standing water near the bottom.  After that we just added straw on top for 3 months.  It was a real job to muck out in the spring - our barn is all by hand since it is 4' below the driveway and you can't get a tractor in it!  But it kept the goats up out of the water and mud all winter and the decomposing straw on the bottom warmed up the stalls for the babies.


----------

