# Preparing your goats for winter.



## churchx3 (Aug 25, 2010)

This will be my first winter owning goats. I currently have a  Pygmy and a Nigi.  Need suggestions on what I need to do to prepare my girls for cold weather.  I live in GA so our winters are not too bad compared to the North.  My girls home is a large wooden 4x4x6 oversized dog house without a floor.  I have straw down for their floor which I can change out as needed.  Please share your words of wisdom with those of us who are new to raising goats.


----------



## ksalvagno (Aug 25, 2010)

I would think as long as they can get out of any type of weather such as wind, rain or snow they should be fine. Maybe put down a thicker bedding of straw if it gets cold.


----------



## freemotion (Aug 25, 2010)

Here in New England we have long, snowy, and cold winters, and I leave the door to the communal stall open all year 'round.  I also just add new bedding when needed (the hay they waste is often enough) on top of the old, dirty bedding and let it build up all winter.  This keeps them warm and dry and well off the frozen ground.  I suppose that composting might create some warmth, but I don't think it ever gets deep enough to actually compost.  Cleaning this out in the spring is a big job, but it is very easy all winter.  I occasionally will spot clean it where it gets very wet, like in front of the door.  They tend to go pee there a lot, too.  So that area gets cleaned and re-bedded with shavings, then straw, several times throughout the winter.


----------



## cmjust0 (Aug 25, 2010)

churchx3 said:
			
		

> This will be my first winter owning goats. I currently have a  Pygmy and a Nigi.  Need suggestions on what I need to do to prepare my girls for cold weather.  I live in GA so our winters are not too bad compared to the North.  My girls home is a large wooden 4x4x6 oversized dog house without a floor.  I have straw down for their floor which I can change out as needed.  Please share your words of wisdom with those of us who are new to raising goats.


How do you keep the floor dry?

Might not be such a problem now, but mud and muck tends to start hanging around a little longer when the sun isn't out for quite so long at a stretch...


----------



## churchx3 (Aug 26, 2010)

How do I keep the floor dry??  First I pick a higher spot then I lay down 1x1 concrete pavers leaving some space in between each one.  Then I put an entire bale of straw on top of the pavers to make it thick and comfy.  Pee is able to percolate down to the concrete pavers and into the ground...this way they are never in contact with the ground. I also sprinkle DE on top of the pavers when I replace the straw as well as sprinkle DE into the straw.  And with all this said, usually they prefer to sleep out in the open under the stars on their benches.  Their house is mainly used by them when it rains. Of course I did notice some of my chickens hanging out in there earlier this week....and NO my goats do not have access to chicken food but my chickens do like the goat food!


----------



## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2010)

churchx3 said:
			
		

> How do I keep the floor dry??  First I pick a higher spot then I lay down 1x1 concrete pavers leaving some space in between each one.  Then I put an entire bale of straw on top of the pavers to make it thick and comfy.  Pee is able to percolate down to the concrete pavers and into the ground...this way they are never in contact with the ground. I also sprinkle DE on top of the pavers when I replace the straw as well as sprinkle DE into the straw.  And with all this said, usually they prefer to sleep out in the open under the stars on their benches.  Their house is mainly used by them when it rains. Of course I did notice some of my chickens hanging out in there earlier this week....and NO my goats do not have access to chicken food but my chickens do like the goat food!


That sounds really familiar for some reason...I think we've already had this conversation.  Or am I crazy?

On second thought, don't answer that...  

That's usually my concern with small housing, though...keeping the floor day.  A goat without a dry place to lay down is going to have trouble.  So long as you can provide them with a dry place to lay down out of the wind and weather over the coming winter, they should be fine.


----------



## ()relics (Aug 26, 2010)

How do I prepare my goat for winter?  I go out to the pasture and tell them, " Girls its going to be getting a little cold in a month or 2"  ....They stare at me with obvious disbelief as I close the gate headed back to the house....but it really doesn't get that cold here anyway....


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Aug 26, 2010)

()relics said:
			
		

> How do I prepare my goat for winter?  I go out to the pasture and tell them, " Girls its going to be getting a little cold in a month or 2"  ....They stare at me with obvious disbelief as I close the gate headed back to the house....but it really doesn't get that cold here anyway....





And about bedding....I keep bedding on top of the old bedding and form a pack.  Many do this up north, and the bedding stays warm and keeps the animals warm.  Come spring, clean out the pack and add it to the compost pile!


----------



## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2010)

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> And about bedding....I keep bedding on top of the old bedding and form a pack.  Many do this up north, and the bedding stays warm and keeps the animals warm.  Come spring, clean out the pack and add it to the compost pile!


We do that, too.

Except the "Come spring" part, anyway.  Here, it's more like the "come whenever we have a chance, which hasn't happened for a really long time" part.



(  )


----------



## churchx3 (Aug 26, 2010)

cmjust0, 

That sounds really familiar for some reason...I think we've already had this conversation.  Or am I crazy?

Give yourself some credit!  Actually when I was preparing to get my first goats I had conversation with you about this very subject.  You gave me good tips which I integrated in the design/build of their goat house.


----------



## savingdogs (Aug 26, 2010)

Last winter was our first with goats. We also used the method described by Freemotion already and it worked well for us. 

You don't describe what you already have in place. It is very important that they have a place to go where their hooves can dry out. We created that with a lean-to next to a building, dirt floor, with just lots of their fallen hay that had accumulated over time. Whatever they think is too stemmy to eat they drop and we just leave it, kinda like the deep litter method with chickens but they tend to it themselves! The lean-to is small enough that it is covered completely with their waste hay. The footing outside the doorway and walkways to feed them is all gravel.

You need to keep their food and hay completely dry too, not sure how much rain you get in Georgia but here it is a big deal in the Pacific Northwest. It cannot be in their enclosure or they will just play on it and ruin it all or eat what they like and trample the rest and goats are very good about getting into things.

They seem to tolerate cold pretty well and grow fluffy coats, or at least mine do and they are half nigy. They also huddle together at night to sleep and romp around on cold mornings to warm up. We did not choose to turn on a heat lamp or anything because they get into so much mischief, I would be afraid they would start a fire messing around. 

The other thing not already mentioned is plan to have more food than you are currently feeding them. Ours eat so much forage in the summer they don't need much hay, but overall they seem to need more food to keep warm in winter, over and above the forage issue. They seemed to consume more minerals then, too. So stock up your supplies!
I'm new at goats but hope my perspective still helped.


----------



## Shiloh Acres (Aug 26, 2010)

()relics said:
			
		

> How do I prepare my goat for winter?  I go out to the pasture and tell them, " Girls its going to be getting a little cold in a month or 2"  ....They stare at me with obvious disbelief as I close the gate headed back to the house....but it really doesn't get that cold here anyway....




LOL Relics, that was funny!  

I've been telling my goats/llamas/rabbits/chickens for about three weeks now "they say it's going to get cooler in two more days!" which of course was just a ploy by the weather sites to prevent local rioting with our 105 temps for almost six weeks. It finally DID cool off by ten degrees yesterday and isn't supposed to go back over 100. 

Seriously, everyone, good to read. It's not that cold here, but it IS often wet. The barn appears to be prone to wet, mucky floors if it rains too much. I think the roof is reasonably good and the walls not bad. I'll have to look for holes to plug up. 

I have one good-sized area for the goats, but I'm planning to section part off for a kidding stall. I guess I need to start thinking about the floor out there. I can afford to put down a deep layer of hay and let it sit till spring (and HOPE I have time to muck it out then!). I also thought of building them benches but when I tried in the past, they don't usually sleep on them. I have found them on poo and pee covered concrete, lying NEXT TO their wood benches. So I kinda doubt they'd use them on a hay-covered dirt floor in the barn.


----------



## jodief100 (Aug 26, 2010)

I pretty much do the put new straw on top of old and clean it out in the spring/summer/whenever I get to it.  It doesn't get too cold here but we did have snow on the ground for 5 weeks straight last winter.  Normally it only sticks around a few days.  I have large, three sided barn stalls and they are deep enough that it stays dry inside.  I do have to be carful about condensation dripping and keep those spots dry.  

I do put in a warming barrel for little ones.  I have a 55 gallon plastic drum with the bottom cut off and a little baby goat door in it.  There is a lamp hung in the top and the whole barrel is tired to the wall securely.  The door is small enough that only the babies can get in.  The little ones will hang out in it when it is cold.  I have found 8 babies in it at one time, all piled up like a litter of puppies.  There were two barrels available but they all wanted to hang out in one.


----------



## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2010)

churchx3 said:
			
		

> cmjust0,
> 
> That sounds really familiar for some reason...I think we've already had this conversation.  Or am I crazy?
> 
> Give yourself some credit!  Actually when I was preparing to get my first goats I had conversation with you about this very subject.  You gave me good tips which I integrated in the design/build of their goat house.


YAY!  I'M NOT CRAZY!


----------



## PJisaMom (Aug 26, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> YAY!  I'M NOT CRAZY!


Uh.... ya sure about that?


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Aug 26, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> aggieterpkatie said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well, yeah.   I just wanted to convey that it didn't have to be cleaned out in a rush.


----------



## churchx3 (Aug 26, 2010)

Can someone tell me how you copy another persons question/comment in your box when you respond to them...


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Aug 26, 2010)

churchx3 said:
			
		

> Can someone tell me how you copy another persons question/comment in your box when you respond to them...


Instead of hitting "post reply", just click "quote" in the bottom of the text box of the person you want to quote.  

If you want to quote multiples, it's a little more work.  You have to do the html [ q u o t e = the person's name here ] Then put the text here [ / q u o t e ]  with no spaces.  

Clear as mud?


----------



## churchx3 (Aug 26, 2010)

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> churchx3 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks so much!  I feel like a "big girl" now.


----------



## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2010)

You can also put the word "quote" within square brackets, then copy whatever text you want quoted, then type "/quote" within square brackets.

That way, you can make people say whatever you want..  For instance.



			
				churchx3 said:
			
		

> My goats are better than everyone else's goats.


----------



## churchx3 (Aug 26, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> You can also put the word "quote" within square brackets, then copy whatever text you want quoted, then type "/quote" within square brackets.
> 
> That way, you can make people say whatever you want..  For instance.
> 
> ...


----------



## BetterHensandGardens (Aug 26, 2010)

churchx3 said:
			
		

> cmjust0 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Roll farms (Aug 27, 2010)

()Relics must live in the 'subtropic' part of Indiana....because it gets pretty darn cold in the chunk where I live.

Ours have a 10 x 25' loafing area, we usually just let the bedding build up all winter.....We really need to get rid of the 'old' pack from last winter before we get started w/ this winter, or else the goats are going to be able to walk right over the stall walls....Thanks for the reminder.

Other than drag out stock tank de icer and a couple heated buckets, we really don't do much to prepare.


----------

