Preparing Goats for Extreme Cold

Here in Northern Colorado, we’re about to get hammered by extremely cold temperatures and even worse wind chills. With the weather just a few days out, it’s important to prepare to ensure your goats are safe, healthy and comfortable. The weather can pose even more of a threat for those who have new kids hitting the ground.

Here are four tips in preparing your goats for extreme cold.

Feed Plenty of Roughage

Roughage equals heat for ruminant animals, including goats. This means that hay intake is one of the most important factors for keeping goats safe and healthy during artic cold.

“The critical temperature for a goat with a dry winter hair coat is 32 degrees,” Katie Sinclair of Sinclair Livestock said. “Our temperature will be around -18 degrees at night, which means that our does would have to eat 150% of their current ration just to maintain their weight.”

Katie added that they will feed each doe approximately six pounds of alfalfa hay a day and provide free-choice grass hay in hopes of increasing roughage intake.

“We provide free-choice corn stalks for our does, which also helps with increasing roughage intake,” Ryan Throckmorton of Throckmorton Show Goats said.

Provide Space to Escape Wind

Every doe needs to have access to some sort of shelter to keep dry and out of the wind.

“Ensuring our does all have access to structures that keep them out of the elements is a key piece of our winter preparation,” Ryan Throckmorton said. “And it doesn’t have to be any fancy, insulated barn—in fact, many of our pens have old chemical tanks that have been retrofitted to be used as wind breaks and a dry place for our animals to ride out the weather.”

Increased roughage intake combined with dry shelter is often all that’s needed to keep mature animals safe, healthy and comfortable.

Check & Install Tank Heaters

When the air temperature gets bitterly cold like is predicted, it only takes a few minutes before unheated water tanks ice over. And after a whole night of those extreme temperatures, ice will be too thick for the animals to access water. Even in the cold, access to fresh water is vital to overall animal health.

“Heated water tanks not only make life much easier for us in the extreme cold, but they also guarantee our animals have access to fresh water at all times,” Ryan Throckmorton said. “Even in our insulated barns, water will freeze overnight with these extreme temperatures.”

As you install tank heaters, make sure to secure your cords in a way that the goats cannot chew on them. Not only is this important for animal safety, but it will also ensure the tank heaters do not accidentally come unplugged.

Prepare Warm Areas for Kids

The most vulnerable population on anybody’s goat operation is the kids. They can be more susceptible to disease as well as weather extremes. Just like their mature counterparts, paramount is keeping them dry and out of the wind with some sort of shelter.

For this week’s extreme cold, we will lay down plenty of bedding in a crepe area and turn on a few heat lamps. This ensures all kids have a dry and warm area to spend the night.

The cold much of us across the country will experience this week will likely be miserable, but with proper planning, all of your goats (and yourself) can make it out the other side without a hitch.