# What Do You Do For Your Goats During Winter?



## stano40 (Nov 7, 2010)

Winter is fast approaching and here in New England it's supposed to be a cold Winter.

What do you do for your goats for shelter, feed or other precautions during the Winter months?

bob


----------



## freemotion (Nov 7, 2010)

Door facing south gets braced open one-goat's-width and secured.

Bedding build up has already begun.  I put shavings, fall leaves, and a bale of straw so far.  Wasted hay will pile up and I will put more straw as needed.  It will be very thick by spring and a pain to clean but they will be toasty!

Hay, hay, and more hay.

A bucket within a bucket for water, filled with warm water twice a day.

Extra nutrition now with lots of gleaned pumpkins and garden plants such as beet greens and mangels.

Lots of extra hugs and kisses now because I'll be doing chores on the run a lot when it gets really, really cold!


----------



## Emmetts Dairy (Nov 7, 2010)

freemotion said:
			
		

> Door facing south gets braced open one-goat's-width and secured.
> 
> Bedding build up has already begun.  I put shavings, fall leaves, and a bale of straw so far.  Wasted hay will pile up and I will put more straw as needed.  It will be very thick by spring and a pain to clean but they will be toasty!
> 
> ...


Im here in NH doing the same!  Just dropped a bale of staw a couple of weeks ago!    Build up their beds! I however have a heated water bucket...sooo worth it..30 bucks at tractor supply...and yes..I closed up the barn door too and have a door that is cut in half on the south side and leave the bottom open for them to come and go and escape in emg!  Fire etc..I always give them a place to escape and let some air in..need ventilation too.  Feed, Feed, Feed...the fuller their rumens are the better. When their rumens are good and full of bacteria that bacteria will act like a little furnace.  So never miss a meal and keep hay always full!  Thats what I do!  Good Luck!!


----------



## stano40 (Nov 7, 2010)

freemotion said:
			
		

> Extra nutrition now with lots of gleaned pumpkins and garden plants such as beet greens and mangels.


Tried growing pumpkins this year but nothing grew.  The only crop that grew was corn stalks which they ate every bit.

I wanted to know about mangels and read up about them on Johnny's Seed's online site.  They have a mammoth mangels that grows up to 20 lbs and 2' long.  What type do you grow and how well do they eat the mangels.  Are they easy to plant?

bob


----------



## BetterHensandGardens (Nov 7, 2010)

Are corn stalks recommended?  I'm cleaning up the garden and if it's good for the goats, they should get it.  I know that the nightshade crops (tomato, pepper, eggplant, and potatoes) should not be fed.


----------



## ThornyRidge (Nov 7, 2010)

I am in NE Ohio and last year was the mother of all winters around here.. we had feet of snow!  the goats were stuck in the barn for weeks at atime.. when it is bitterly cold I will keep them in barn.. they don't go out anyway so why open doors and have more cold enter barn.. when it is not that bad I don't open the doors all the way ( I have big double 4 ft sliding doors and only open one half way)  I let bedding build up over winter and put fresh down accordingly.. this helps with some heat from decomposing poop and bedding deep down.. I also invested in electric heated water buckets so they have water access at all times.. in the morning and night I use water heaters to heat up and give them warm water.. they enjoy this and I know they are drinking too!  Like a nice hot tea on a bitterly cold day!  I tend to give them the same amount of grain (not much) and thow in some BOSS and beef up the hay ( and throw in some stemmier stuff to definately get the rumen going ) which is their internal heat generator!  I also have some fleece coats available for any that seem to not be tolerating extreme cold!


----------



## freemotion (Nov 7, 2010)

stano40 said:
			
		

> freemotion said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I first became interested in mangels after Beekissed led me to this article:  http://www.sheepmagazine.com/issues/25/25-3/Nathan_Griffith.html  This is my third attempt at growing them, and my first successful attempt.  All of my root crops failed two and three summers ago because of the rain.  This year, my mangels are quite lush and large and would be even bigger if we'd had more rain.  I watered once a week or so.  I seeded directly into the garden, then transplanted some into another double row (I use wide-bed planting for many of my garden crops to save on space, I planted two rows of mangels in each wide bed) using the instructions in the above article.

Right now the leaves are still healthy and I know the growing days are limited, so I have started to strip off the outer leaves and feed them a few a day while the mangels are still in the garden.  I did pull one gigantic root and have been chopping and feeding it.  I hand-chop the mangels and the pumpkins, but I will probably switch to a food processor for the mangels as they are quite hard to cut.  Or I will experiment with a machete.  A big grinder would be useful.  I read somewhere once that someone who ground raw chicken with the bone and veggies for their many dogs used a garbage disposal mounted to a wooden frame over a removable bucket.  Something like this might be rigged up to handle mangels, maybe.  I'd have to have a few more years of success, though.  

I'd feed cornstalks if I had them.  It is not worthwhile for me to grow corn as so many farmers grow it around me.  Same with pumpkins.  I get as many as I can carry and store for free after Oct 31.

BTW, my goats got into my tomato garden mere hours before my first harvest (about 3 dozen mature plants, bearing heavily  ) and demolished it.  No one showed any signs of distress, although I did resent having to watch them for signs of digestive upset while I faced the prospect of NO salsa, spaghetti sauce, chili, ketchup, etc.   I later cleaned 80 gallons (not a typo) of bruised and broken tomatoes from that garden and gave them to the pigs.  At least I'll have bacon.


----------



## ohiofarmgirl (Nov 7, 2010)

my goaties dont like being out in the wet/cold so there is a lot of complaining. but on the sunny days i try and kick a path to their wooden platform so they can enjoy the sun. really, as long as they are out of the wind they should be ok, but make sure they have enough ventilation. 

we wrap a trap around some of their house but its not as tall as the building so there is about 2 ft of exposed area. the back wall is lumber and has spaces in between. this way the tarp keeps the wind off them at their level but provides ventilation. 

on the coldest/windiest spells we'll build straw bale walls to further insulate them. even in the worst of it they didnt need a heat lamp altho we had one for the babies when we got a late cold snap after spring kidding. 

you'll be surprised at home much water they will drink - and just like everyone else we give warmish (not hot) water at least 2x a day. 

we also give them a bit of corn (just a sprinkle) as some folks think its a "hot" feed and helps keep them warm. we keep feeding thru the day as opposed to one big feeding.

the best cold weather advice i got was from an old timer who said, 'feed little, and often" and also "give them what they need and leave them alone" - if you fuss with them too much it may stress them out even more. and unless the ice age is coming its worse for them to be warmed/cooled so resist the urge to move them to a different location (like a heated garage or whatever). 

Maine may be a different kettle of fish, but like ThornyRidge said, we had one heck of a cold winter and our gals did great.

you can also call/email local breeders or 4H club for recommendations. it might be worth it to find out what others are doing in your area.

good luck!


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Nov 7, 2010)

I make sure they have shelter from the wind, but it has to have good ventilation.  Feed them lots of hay and make sure they have a nice dry pack and they're good to go!


----------



## freemotion (Nov 7, 2010)

Bob, when I was a kid we had dairy goats up in The Valley, up in The County....you know where that is!  Brrrr!  And they did just fine.  No one ever shivered or suffered from the cold.  Well, we humans did, but the goats were fine.  Get that bedding built up and like OFG says, no drafts on the goats.

My dh got well-trained  when I had my crippled horse here...he'd snowblow a path for her so she could walk around a bit.  He does the same for the goats, chickens, and the dogs.  We never did this for the goats in Maine, but when it was -40 F and add the windchill to that, they didn't go outside much.  We all had a different perspective on what was considered to be cold.  When it finally gets up to -10 F during the day and there is no wind, everyone goes outside to get some sun!


----------



## PattySh (Nov 9, 2010)

My goats are in for the winter as near the barn gets really muddy this time of year. 9 goats(4 bred so far so # to soon increase !) inside the barn have the equivalent space of 3 box stalls. For bedding, all floor is rubber mats with wood shaving base and hay building up on top for the last month or so has got the bedding nice and thick. I spred the stuff under the hay feeders. Several hay feeders spred out always have hay and a couple of heated water buckets spaced keep them walking around and exercised. I have access to commercial kitchen prep trimmings so I spred produce scraps (lettuce, celery, cabbage, carrot, brocolli, squash, pineapple, melon etc) on top of their beddings so they can browse happily and it's extra nutrition. They all get grain once a day. We closed off with plywood any unnecessary doors (have plenty of exits as each stall is open front and back, closed of back doors in goat areas for winter). Plenty of ventilation as horses back doors remain open but the draft isn't on the goats. Still milking 2 goats getting 1/2 gallon milking once a day, hope that comtinues til Dec when I have to stop as babies are starting to arrive in Feb. Crappy weather but our barn is easy to work in so I can't complain, water spicot is in my milking/feed/tack room which stays warmer than the rest of the barn. Do put a heat tape on the spicot tho in the  coldest of weather or it will freeze. Our buck and a wether are in a run in shed attached to the barn and it has a doorway always open and is rubber matted and full of hay for them to lay in. This is the first year with this setup and I am watching to see if they stay warm enough (prefer not to have goat tasting milk!)  They have an outside heated water bucket right now. Stay warm everyone.


----------

