How Cold is Too Cold...

[Patchesnposies]

for baby goats to be outside?

One of our doe's kidded Saturday night and had three babies. Two little bucklings, who are very lively and healthy and one little doeling, who is teeny and half their size. Mom has rejected her of course. So I brought her in and am raising her on the bottle (milking mom to feed her).

My question is about the two little bucklings. Here in southern NM we rarely get incredibly low temps but we are expecting a cold front through overnight that will give us single digit temps and a wind chill making it -7.

They are in a pen with their mom that has a small house and we have put a heat lamp securely in the corner, we leave the door open right now so mom can come and go as she needs to.

Do we need to bring these babies in overnight? Or, are they hardier than I think they are?

I am grateful that flurries and cold temps are ALL we have to deal with. It is nothing compared to what some folks are dealing with right now.

TIA,

Deb

 

[glenolam]

They are very hardy - here in "SnowIceLand" we leave the kids with their mothers unless it's absolutely necessary to bring them in. I have a friend who's goats just had 3 kids total, the earliest was a week ago and they are all doing just fine out in the barn.

Are you keeping the doeling with her brothers and mom when you are not feeding her? If not, that may be an idea you want to try out just so she gets used to living outside. As long as you have a draft free area (which you do) and some way for the kids to hide from the adults you'll be fine. The heat lamp is a great idea - I have one in my barn too.

 

[Patchesnposies]

They are very hardy - here in "SnowIceLand" we leave the kids with their mothers unless it's absolutely necessary to bring them in. I have a friend who's goats just had 3 kids total, the earliest was a week ago and they are all doing just fine out in the barn.

Are you keeping the doeling with her brothers and mom when you are not feeding her? If not, that may be an idea you want to try out just so she gets used to living outside. As long as you have a draft free area (which you do) and some way for the kids to hide from the adults you'll be fine. The heat lamp is a great idea - I have one in my barn too.

The wee girl was so cold and limp, when we went out at 3:00 am to check on the doe and found that she had already kidded, that we brought her inside to warm her up and try to save her. She was so weak and limp that I was afraid she wouldn't make it at all.

A few hours later (after sunrise) we took her back out to mama and after head butting her a few times the doe actually bit her and tried to fling her away! So I don't know that we will be able to put her back into the pen with them. I made sure she got plenty of colostrum, I fed it to her with an eye dropper until she was strong enough to drink from the bottle.

She is, as of today, trying to frolic and dance the baby goat dance and is no longer so unsteady on her feet. She is eating really well now, too. I think she will do just fine. When she is bigger I can put her in a pen right next to her siblings and mama, but where the doe cannot hurt her.

Our two anatolian shepherds are keeping her safe from the vile and evil kitties who live in the house and who are very interested in this squeeky little critter.

Thanks for easing my mind about the boys, now I won't fret so much.

 

[ksalvagno]

As long as they are out of drafts and have a warm place to sleep, the boys should be ok. Sounds like the little doe will be better inside. Sometimes you just have to make those choices.

 

[julieq]

As long as they are out of drafts and have a warm place to sleep, the boys should be ok. Sounds like the little doe will be better inside. Sometimes you just have to make those choices.

Totally agree here. It gets below freezing inside our barn during the winter, with temps in the minus category quite often. As long as the kids are healthy and there aren't any issues, they're fine. Sounds like the doeling will need more care though for the time being. Just be sure you acclimate her slowly when you do put her outside.

 

[Patchesnposies]

Sounds like the doeling will need more care though for the time being. Just be sure you acclimate her slowly when you do put her outside.

Thanks for the advice, I will do that. It's kind of nice to have a baby in the house again. The human kids are all really enjoying her.

 

[Patchesnposies]

As long as they are out of drafts and have a warm place to sleep, the boys should be ok. Sounds like the little doe will be better inside. Sometimes you just have to make those choices.

Thanks, Karen, we plan to keep a close watch on them throughout the cold spell and won't hesitate to bring them in if necessary.

 

[AlaskanShepherdess]

Any ideas about for extreme cold, such as -40 below? We have had a cold front move in and my girls are already 6 days overdue. It will be warmer by Thursday, but what if they kid sooner now that I am home?

 

[glenolam]

You might want to build one of those heating barrels like jodie pictured in another thread. If you can find a nice big water or oil barrel (or I suggested a really big garbage can in one post), you can try rigging up a heat lamp that way. Maybe something big enough the big girls can get into if they need to.

Other than that, draft free and heat lamp galore....