So We've had snow for months, BUT. I don't say it's winter until we break zero F. This morning, -18F! :shocked: It hit us all of a sudden, usually It will give us time to adjust, but nope straight into the 50-70 mph winds and subzero temps with a wind chill of -33F. LOL Good thing the goats are all tucked inside, going to add more straw and something to block the wind from their doors.
lol, it's really cold out, went out to start the truck BRRR, the leather seats and steering wheel were almost unbearable.
We often hit -20, -30 below with a little wind chill here in northern Minnesota but not normally in November & definately not with winds of 50-70 mph!
I like winter....for the first month then I can't wait to see spring arrive! It does get cold here, sometimes below 0 temps but not often....I've had kids born in the single digits and they thrived...it was me that was too cold! Weather forecast for this winter looks to be a mild one, above average temps with our main precip being rain and not snow.
Oh Liz.....I so pray we have a winter like they are predicting for you guys.....I would love a mild winter! I always get excited about the first snow, but then after a week of it on the ground it needs to go away!
Was 20 degrees here, but with windchill feels waaay worse. Those gusts are horrid! BTW Katrina, we enclosed our goat housing area but they are all shivering like crazy ever since the temps dipped below 40. They didn't do that last year, doesn't seem like their hair is growing fast enough... the babies especially seem pretty chilly. Should I make the little ones some goatie sweaters? I don't want to hinder their natural hair growth... Just keep shoveling the food to them?
Melanie- LOTS of good quality hay. hay = fiber = heat a cup or two of grain each wouldn't hurt, and lots of water (I take all of mine HOT HOT water from the tub and they go nuts guzzling away)
Agreed..... also make sure... they have good bedding..... if you have to put sweaters on the kids... it will help....also ...if you have heat lamps... you can set up a few of them ....so if they get cold ....they can go under them.... until they can get more winter hair... :wink: :thumb:
One thing you could do is to stack square bales around the interior walls of the shed or barn and then attach wire panels to the inside of that in order to keep the goats from eating away all of the insulation. Adjust the wire panels in closer as the goats eat at the hay. Also you could put some wooden pallets down on the floor and then get an old carpet to lay on top of that so that they can get up off of the cold and wet ground. In the spring you can put the carpet in a creek bed or shallow spot as landfill or erosion preventer and stack the pallets and have a bonfire.
Our weather has been weird... one morning I have to wear my carhartt coveralls and the next day I am in sweats with long sleeve tshirt. But the goats and horses are getting really fuzzy!! And fast! Our horse trainer says that when that happens they have winters like last year. I'm hoping thats not the case! Delaware isn't equipped to handle the snow. The kids were out for a week down here after the February blizzard when my folks in Maine were plowed out and the kids back in school within 2!
We had our first frost here in north central Alalbama. I am just glad summer is over. Still have broccoli, cabbage, peas, collards,etc in the garden. It never gets too cold down here, sometimes it hits the teens...not often. Stay warm in the Great White North. :shades: We are still in t-shirts in the afternoon.
