I have heard it a million times from my husband.. “They will be fine!”
It is hard for me to imagine that my goats are ok outside when we have the heat turned up along with quilts, socks and fuzzy pajamas. How tempting to turn up the heat for them and put them in a comfy onesie! (Which I have done.) It is one thing to put newborn goat kids in onsesies and heat lamps. They are not able to autoregulate their temperature yet. Newborns do not have energy reserves or functioning rumens yet.
- Thermoregulatory Mechanisms:
- Coat Thickness: Goats naturally adjust their coat thickness to adapt to seasonal temperature changes, growing a thicker coat in winter for insulation. The undercoat is called cashmere and this provides insulation. The outer coat has “guard hairs” that keep dirty, snow and water off their undercoat.
- Water Intake: They increase water intake to compensate for cooling or heating rumen temperatures.
- Shivering: generates body heat but uses a lot of energy. Goats do not have much fat and are usually mostly muscle. This does make goats less tolerant of cool weather.
- Let the Rumen do the work
- Giving the rumen good adequate hay helps keep your goat warm.
- Warm water or cold water also changes the temperature of the rumen and helps decide if it will keep the goat warm or cold.
The barn full of hay with a heater that is costing money is such a risk for a fire. I still use electricity here and there but safety is upmost importance! According to Animal Welfare Institute In 2023 in the USA 486,240 Farmed Animals were killed from barn fires.
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