Newbie!!! With a goat HELP!

[Ains15]

I have a question about my goats. The temp. here has been reaching record breaking lows, with wind chills down to -45. I have 2 nubian goats one is 2 and the other is 7 months. They are in an inside pen, with 4 bales of straw, bi t its still freezing in there. My parents wanted me to bring them inside the house, which is extremely tempting, since they're my babies; but isn't it worse to bring them in then take them back out? I want my babies to be warm, but I dont want them to get sick. So, my question is, should I bring them in for these frigid nights? Or keep them out?
Im sorry to just butt in on here, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Lollys]

Yea, goats actually have a single stomach divided into four separate chambers...

There is so much to cover in a post, so I truly would suggest check out Back Yard Herds. If I weren't working on a research paper for microbiology (bad enough that I am wasting time on here, hah!) I'd definitely make a huge post that covers all the bases correctly. Much more experienced folks are on BYH, who know everything goats, including how many stomachs they actually have

Will do stacykins thanx

 

[Lollys]

 

[goats rule 101]

Ains15,
I would recommend not bringing them inside as that is hard on them to change temps like that so sudden. Just give them lots of straw and make sure they have clean and some what warm water at all times. Be sure that they are also eating. I live in Minnesota and in temps like these I block off their door to the outside and sometimes even give them a heat lamp. Right now my babes are in their house with a heat lamp and I put some old sweaters on them. its kinda a funny sight but I think its helping. I was just outside with them and I gave them warmish water and more hay and helped them make a cozy nest out of straw. Hope this helps and good luck keeping your babies warm.

 

[Ains15]

Thank you so much goats rule 101!!! That is extremely helpful and now I definitely will not be risking their health by bringing them in! They have plenty of fresh straw and I give them hay, some grain, and warm water every evening

 

[Corny Caleb]

Lol. shows I shouldn't be so stubborn, I was told they had 4 diff chambers but I wasn't sure that was true. But know I know it is lol. I'm only 16 so still learning

. There's the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum chambers. Since grass and hay has little nutrients, And since goats are not very good at leaching all the nutrients in one digestive cycle they throw up, then re-chew what they had previously eaten

They do it I thought 2 lol, but four times, to get all they need out of it.

 

[Corny Caleb]

Yeah, your right, It's a lot of bases too cover. I've owned goats for 10 years and I'm still learning lolol.

 

[goats rule 101]

Thank you so much goats rule 101!!! That is extremely helpful and now I definitely will not be risking their health by bringing them in! They have plenty of fresh straw and I give them hay, some grain, and warm water every evening

Sounds good. Glad I could help!

 

[H Diamond]

I know this is a few days old, but goats are kind of "my thing" and I want you to get started right enjoying these fun animals!
A couple other pointers... Please don't feed powdered milk replacer unless it's a last resort. Please! Even those labeled as "kid replacer" Raw goat milk from a clean herd is of course ideal. I recommend to all my customers that if they have to feed something else, just get plain old vitamin D milk from the grocery store. It's much better than replacer, and you will have less issues. Do you know how much to feed and how often?
Before worming your goat, have a fecal run at the vet (or do it yourself if you can). You'll go to the farm store and find safeguard marked as a goat wormer. That wormer is about worthless. Get a fecal done so you know which wormer to use, so you're not over worming or worming just for fun.
I would suggest getting a goat pellet of some sort to put out for her to learn to nibble on, as well as putting out hay for her as soon as you can. They will start nibbling as well.
Also, you will need to remind your husband that goat are browsers not grazers. Meaning they will eat all y our shrubs, bushes, flowers, and trees well before they hit the grass.
I'm not exactly sure as to how many days old your baby is, but if it's not too late I would highly recommend getting her disbudded (dehorned) if you plan to keep her as a pet. At this point, ask the vet to do it. If you have any other questions, please let me know!