One of my girls got accidently pregnant, and is going to have her kids in January instead of the planned April. Are ther any special considerations for a winter birth?? I'm so worried about the cold. The other girls are just getting bred now, and then we want to sell our billy, any ideas on how to de-stink and clean him up? :wink:
well I would get some heat pads for one. I would make sure she has a place to kid and can stay with the kid/s for at least a week. A draft free place to keep it warm. Heat lamps are not a recomendation of mine but if secured properly some people do use them. Have plenty of towels ready to dry off the kid/s so they don't get chilled. That is all that comes to mind for now
Wel, I have 5 out of my 7 that are pregnant, all due in Jan, starting on the 1st. Around here in CO, we can have milder wether then we do in April. All I do is TRY to be there when the are born, (if possibel), and we try to hold dry them off, and I always give several pumps on Nutra Drench, and we have LOTS of clean straw for them. I DO use a heat lamp on them IF it is really cold, and ONLY for the first couple days. NEVER after the third day. I have to sayI have better luck having healthy goats when they are dorn in this colder times. They seem to be able to fight things better. I have never had a SICK goat. I have had one bloat (Broke down the grain ben whil we were gone), but Never had to treat for a cold, rattle in the lungs, or ANYTHING, and I lalways kid early in the year. IF it is REALLY cold (LIKE NOW), 15 degrees, then I also have a heat lamp in the roof light socket. It will not keep the barn warm, but it kind of helps take a real chill off the wether (OK, maybe not, but it makes me feel better). You will be fine.
Like Stacey said, draft free area and if possible, be there to dry them off and make sure they nurse. They should be fine, I too have kids due in January...others in February..I've gotten them dry and in clean bedding and I have never had a problem. Coldest that I 've had kids born was February at 11 degrees and they did fine. Congrats on the impending births!!
Your barn is nice enough that you shouldn't have to worry too much about drafts, etc. You might want to consider keeping that doe and her kids in a smaller pen inside the barn for the first month so that they are together and can share body heat. And you might also try putting sweaters on the babies for the first couple of months until they get some body fat of their own built up. Back on GW there were some good designs for sweaters made out of sweat shirts. Since the time for garage/yard sales is long over this year you can't get sweatshirts that way, but Wally World should have plain kid-sized sweatshirts for a decent price. Get two or three per kid so you can change them and wash the soiled ones on a regular basis.
Something else you might think about. depending on the size of the baby. Take a old pair of sweat pants and use a leg, put holes in it and you have a coat. or the same thing with a sweat shirt.
