How to Care for Newborn Goat Kids in Extreme Cold
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It never fails that when I have a doe due in January, that ole polar vortex rears its ugly head. The coldest weather always brings some baby goats to my yard!
And while it may be tempting to panic and set up heat lamps and warming barrels and heating pads and all the things, I figured I would write a blog post on this to ease your mind and add some simplicity to your homestead from a very well seasoned goat farmer. It’s currently fresh in my mind as I just had two beautiful little boer doelings born to my sweet girl, Liza Jo, on the coldest day in January yet. And I just got back in from checking on them and they’re thriving. And it’s currently a real feel below -10F right now, but should warm up some with the sun rising.
Again, like sourdough, people have taken hold of livestock and made them severely overcomplicated to the point that we have ALL THE THINGS and we still don’t know what to do. I’ve seen it. And I’m here to tell you that being smart, level headed, and having an ounce of preparedness goes miles above having alllllll the equipment people tell you they think you need.
This blog post is meant for educational and entertainment only. Do NOT take any of this as medical advice, but rather, use it to gain knowledge and have a conversation with your veterinarian about preparedness and what to do on your farm and ask educated questions.
Essentials for Caring for Livestock in Colder Weather
- Free-flowing water: break the ice on top frequently and make sure they have fluid water multiple times a day. Water is needed to digest hay and feed which will help their bodies warm them.
- Hay: digesting food = warmth
- Shelter: access to an area that is covered and a break from the wind. Drafty shelters are not ideal or good for your animals.
That’s all you need for winter preparation. The rest are comforts that are nice to have, but entirely unnecessary. Don’t be tempted to start feeding grain you never have before or change the type of hay you’re feeding in an attempt to keep them warm. Rapid feed input changes are more dangerous than the cold. Trust your healthy livestock know what to do and give them the tools to do it with. They can acclimate to even the most extreme weather, and I know this, because just this morning where it was -10F, our cattle were standing outside chewing their cud. Willingly. Outside. And my goats happily greeted me this morning like my toes weren’t about to freeze off. We are wimpy because we have heated homes and snuggy coats… our animals are strong because their bodies are made for this and acclimated. Their coats were made for heat retention! They do not need to be in your house. PROMISE. Trust your animals can survive and go with your gut. You’ll know if they’re not managing well.
Stock Your Kidding Kit
I wrote a blog post on kidding kit essentials that I personally have on hand (and VERY RARELY even use) that you should read and review. Build your own kidding kit and medical stock now instead of when you need it. Preparedness pays off. Because I’m going to tell you right now, there aren’t many large animal vets, and there’s even less that know much about the complex animal a goat is. Not a slant at vets, but a reminder to you to learn all you can and be prepared and willing to give treatments yourself (under veterinary direction of course) instead of waiting on a vet that could take 2-3 days to even get to you, whether it be due to scheduling or even inclement weather.
Anyway.
I live in north central Ohio where we get very cold weather, and also very hot weather. It also snaps back and forth, sometimes violently, between freezing cold and above freezing warm. It can be a wild ride to live in the midwest with significant temperature fluctuations! Dealing with very cold temperatures isn’t for the faint of heart, but it isn’t hard either. You have to remember that God designed our animals to do well and acclimate to the weather. You have to trust that they can handle it, and if they’re not, you’ll notice quickly because you spend time with your livestock. Right?! (If not, you should be, because just a few minutes every day makes it easy to tell when someone is off and not managing well). I currently have a barn with no electricity, meaning no heat lamps, heating pads, ambient warmers, or the likes. It’s a lot of work, but again, it really hasn’t changed how I do things from when I did have electricity before I moved outside of having some lightbulbs and heated water buckets (BOY do I miss those now that I am constantly beating ice out of frozen buckets).
Heat Lamps
Number one, goats are goofy and jump on things and could very easily knock these down and possibly cause a barn fire. We’ve all seen the news articles about fires. I can’t sleep knowing there’s a giant fire hazard known as a heat lamp on in my barn. No ma’am. While it may be tempting to have heat lamps on, providing artificial heat can make the newborn kids pretty weak and wimpy. If they go outside the range of the heat lamp, they’re going to get cold and shiver because their bodies have not acclimated to the real weather. Not to mention, mama is gonna want to lay under that, too. Who wouldn’t. The same goes for the warming barrels I see, too.
Now consider losing power. Are you going to run a generator to solely power that heat lamp? Do you have the ability for that? I sure don’t. And I also don’t want to. But if you get your animals used to that, you could have very bad things happen by shutting that heat off unexpectedly (and the same goes for your chicken coops by the way). By starting the kids out right and having them regulate their own body temperature without outside input, you’re creating stronger and more resilient kids from the get-go. Healthy kids do not need an extra heat source. Now, there will be outliers that would create cause for needing it, but then that becomes an all encompassing issue including the does health and mineral status and so on. (Ask me how I know as I had the WORST kidding season of my entire life last year).
I’m also aware they make ambient heaters, which are nice, but again, what are we doing? We’re creating wimpy livestock that won’t survive if the electricity goes out. They don’t need heaters and they don’t need to live in your laundry room because it’s cold outside.
Supporting Newborn Goat Kids Born in Extreme Cold
I do know a thing or two about this since I always have boer goats kidding in January. It isn’t ideal, but for 4H animals, they have to be born at this time so they make weight for the fair. Otherwise, most of them would be born in the early spring when the weather isn’t as harsh… even though Ohio can be snowing til May… it’s not normally -30F.
During the cold winter months, you do want to check your doe that is due to kid as frequently as possible, or invest in a barn camera. While she is probably more than capable of kidding on her own, sometimes it helps to have an extra set of hands to help her dry kids off before they freeze. When it’s extremely cold, that can happen a bit quickly. I normally separate my doe due to kid a couple days before her due date into a separate pen that is heavily bedded with clean straw so she can get it nested and comfortable to her liking. I make sure she’s sheltered inside the barn with all 4 sides enclosed so no drafts are present, or if they are, I have doors I can close to mitigate that.
When your doe is in labor, make sure she has adequate shelter and a deeply bedded pen and have dry bedding ready to go when she’s done laboring. I choose to not disturb her with adding more bedding while she’s in labor and pushing, because that would have hacked me right off when I was in labor. There’s a mindset there and you don’t want to disturb it. I aim to be the best dang midwife I never had and leave mama alone because she’s got this.
When the baby is born, if my doe doesn’t get up right away, I do make sure the nose is cleared and the baby is moving and will move that baby up to her head. I want that doe cleaning that kiddo off ASAP. The temptation here for a lot of people would be to start drying the kid off with towels immediately. STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND DON’T DO THAT. Allowing the doe to clean her kid off not only helps with bonding, but they dry quicker if mama does most of the work! I promise. Now, if the doe is struggling and having and abnormal labor or something, obviously you may have to intervene, but for the sake of this post it’s for NORMAL deliveries. Also, for goodness sake, wash those towels with an unscented soap. All those crazy fragranced laundry detergents and softeners nowadays can make the kid smell so wrong to the dam, and especially for a first-timer could end up in rejection and that’s just not cool.
Once the doe has mostly cleaned off the kid, I do give her a hand with a dry towel. I will normally lay the kid on a clean, dry towel and then use another to wipe the kid off the rest of the way, paying attention to ears and legs where they usually don’t get as well cleaned off. In my boers, those big floppy ears really like to get frost bitten, so get them dry! If the doe is still laboring and has more kids coming, I will leave that kid covered in the towel I was cleaning it with just the hold in some body heat. Once the kid is mostly dry, I made a little coat out of scrap fleece fabric I put over them for the first couple of days to help hold that heat in. Goats in coats ONLY happens if it’s severely cold and it makes me smile so much :)
​After the Kids are Dry
Once they’re mostly dry and warm, I start working on getting colostrum in them. When it’s this extremely cold, I don’t play around. I tube them around 1/2 ounce of colostrum directly to their stomachs. I’m a nurse, so putting tubes in places in second nature. There are YouTube videos available that take you through tubing step-by-step and I tried to film doing it but it was so cold, my phone didn’t capture very good footage, so I’ll have to try with my GoPro next time. I use a TRUSTI TUBER which has, by far, been the best investment for my kidding kit. It makes it easy to tube as a one man show and the esophageal tube has lines to know when you’re deep enough to confidently tube them and is rigid enough to make getting to the stomach and not the long incredibly easy. By getting colostrum into kids, and quick, you’re getting goodness in their bellies quickly to start the warming from the inside. It buys you time to let the kids get it together and start standing so you can then start working on getting them nursing from your doe. Early colostrum is vital to thriving which is why I don’t chance it when it’s cold. A kid should have colostrum within the first hour of its life IMO, but when it’s this cold, I don’t wait that long.
When tubing, first make sure the kids are warm. Hypothermia can set in pretty fast, so a quick way to check this is to place your finger in their mouth. If it’s warm, go on ahead, but if it’s cold, you’re going to need to warm those kids first. NEVER ever ever ever ever put milk in a cold kids stomach. That causes more harm than good because hypothermia slows everything down, including complex digestion, and you’ll have milk just sitting there doing nothing, which could become toxic. Bad idea. Warm, then tube (more on this later in the section on hypothermia).
To verify the tube is in the right place, make sure the kid is still breathing and making noise. They usually will gag pretty good when you hit the back of their throat; that’s normal. Once you have verified they’re breathing normally, you can raise the trusti tuber to gravity feed the milk. If they have super thick colostrum it takes a while and if you’re a bit impatient like me, I seal it with my face and mouth and blow it through the tube a bit faster or you can thin it slightly with goat milk :D Just don’t blow a bunch of air in their stomach…
The second thing to remember when tubing, is to err on the side of too little. You can very easily over feed a goat kid, which is detrimental. Always keep them on the hungry side. Their bellies should feel no fuller than a water balloon would, but for the initial colostrum feed that I do during extreme cold, I don’t even want it that full. I’m just trying to get them going faster so they’re ready to nurse and don’t get cold (in better weather, I don’t tube them preventatively). For my boer goats, they get no more than 1 fluid ounce, normally 1/2 an ounce. I milk it directly from the doe and tube one kid, milk more and tube the other, and so on and so on. After tubing, I make sure the kids are laying on a new, dry towel and leaning against a bucket of hot molasses water I made for the doe. Molasses is a good source of calcium for the doe and I have just found it does a lot of good after kidding and tastes good, encouraging water intake. They always appreciate a warm drink after labor. Plus, bringing that warm water out kills two birds with one stone; a bit of heat for the kids while they digest their first meal and nutrition for the doe. I give the kids about 2 hours before I go back out and start fiddling :D This helps keep me from stressing the doe out and helps with bonding. The doe can continue to clean and talk to her babies and also rehydrate and catch a snack after all that hard work.
The Next Meal
About 2 hours after I have tubed the kids colostrum, I go back out and start working with them to get latched onto the doe and learn to find the teat. Sometimes they’ve already done it themselves, and you can tell by feeling their bellies. Water balloon = fed, deflated or not even present balloon = hungry. Now. If the kids aren’t super excited to eat, check their mouths again to make sure they’re not hypothermic. I just stick my thumb right in there. You can also check core temp with a rectal thermometer, but finger in the mouth is much easier and quicker. If the doe isn’t happy to let you work with them, tie her up. This isn’t time to play when it’s cold. I’m thankful my doe, Liza Jo, that kidded yesterday is super mom and let’s me help. She’s very patient.
If the kids aren’t super interested in eating, try adding a blob of honey on your finger into their mouths. The sugar usually gets them going and wanting to eat. I will give them honey, go do something else in the barn, and then come back and they’re usually ready to party. Get enough milk in each kids belly to make them feel like a squishy water balloon. I do this once before bed time and then leave them alone over night if everyone is acting normally and doing well. Obviously, if we’re having issues with thriving and hypothermia, that changes things. Go out early in the morning and make sure everyone is warm and fed. I normally do a final check around 7pm and go back out around 5am to check them. That’s a long as I’m willing to leave them unchecked during the first day of life, and ONLY if they’re thriving and normal.
A word of advice. If you have a new doe you’ve never had kid before, just be careful. While goats are smaller and probably won’t kill you, some does can be aggressive and protective of their newborns. Don’t get racked in the head by horns or knocked out trying to help newborns. Tie that doe up and keep yourself safe and always be aware of your surrounding and your doe’s behavior and body language. I had a boer doe that was aggressive like this and she was miserable and SUCH a bad mom. Needless to say, her genetics are no longer shareable. My Mom also has an Alpine doe that is grumpy and hates everyone but my Mom and she literally scalped me when trying to help her kid. She ripped a mouthful of my hair straight outta my head, the brat!
Hypothermia
Unfortunately, there is always risk of hypothermia. If your goat kids are listless, laying on their sides, not very conscious, it very likely could be hypothermia. Check this by sticking your finger in their mouth. If it feels cold, they’re cold. If you’re not confident in that, take a rectal temperature. Normal goat body temperatures are 101.5-103.5F (38.6-39.7C if you have a celcius digital thermometer like meeeeeeee). If the kid is acting weird and is borderline on the low end of normal, I will treat preventatively for hypothermia. Anything below 100F is considered critical and an emergency.
Kids that are still reactive to stimulus (move when you touch them, calling out for mom, that kinda thing), can be heated with a heating pad and a blow dryer blowing warm air. I will create a little cocoon in a laundry basket with a heating pad on the bottom, cover them in a towel and put a hair dryer running underneath the towel while rubbing and stimulating the kid. Give sugar. Hypothermia burns glucose stores, so give sugar. NOT MILK, sugar. I will give honey mixed with a dash of cayenne rubbed right on their gums and under their tongue. Give multiple times while you warm to keep them going. SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR when cold.
If the kid is over 4-5 hours old, has become hypothermic and unresponsive, and cannot stand it is very likely hypoglycemic as well, meaning dangerously low blood sugar. This is when having D50 (IV dextrose solution) comes in clutch. Pull out 5mL of this solution and mix with 5mL warm water and give via stomach tube. I prefer orally because for liquid, the body will most readily absorb them in the gut; goats and humans alike. If you don’t have D50, make a sugar water solution weakly with molasses and warm water and tube no more than 10-15 mLs at a time. When body temperatures are cold and sub-normal, their bodies can use this sugar and digest it easily where they cannot with milk. Do not be tempted to tube colostrum to a cold kid as they cannot digest it! You also need to be prepared to stomach tube because the kid likely will not be able to swallow something syringed in its mouth and risk aspiration instead, meaning liquid going to the lungs, ending with pneumonia and death. This is why I constantly preach PREPAREDNESS in all aspects of your life.
To warm a dangerously hypothermic kid, after giving sugar, place it in a bag and then into a sink or bath tub of warm water. I know you’ve all seen the content of people getting into their hot tubs with cold calves. You can do that with a goat too, if you want. But a sink of hot water will do since they’re so itty bitty. Once the kid starts coming around, I move them to the laundry basket-heating pad-hair dryer combo and give honey and cayenne on the gums. Once the kids body temperature is steadily above 101.5, tube them some LIFE SAVING colostrum, around 1 ounce, and continue to keep them in the warming area. If the kid starts panting, you can shut off the hair dryer and keep them covered. In a couple of hours, you can tube more colostrum or see if they can stand and have a suck reflex. If they do, you can then return the back to the doe and attempt to get them to nurse as long as they can stand and have a strong sucking reflex. This is the only time I would consider a heat lamp for newborn goats. Once they’re warm and eating good and with the dam, they are usually fine. But, check frequently, because they do like to relapse because of the low blood sugar. I will normally get them a belly full of colostrum, make sure they’re standing, and then check back in an hour with some more sugar, whether it be tubed, bottle fed, or just placed on the gums, depending on my assessment of their behavior (remember they’re newborns and newborns are tired too! Being born is hard). Just because they’ve come to and are acting normal again, doesn’t mean their blood sugar isn’t going to crash. Hypothermia is hard on a tiny just born body, so don’t be afraid to give that baby some sugar!
​Thiamine & Selenium
Sometimes a weak kid may be floppy and just not thriving, but with a normal body temperature. It could be from some underlying deficiencies which would have started in the dam and been passed to the kids. This is why I stress making sure your parent stock are in good health, condition, and mineral status before even breeding. Because so many kidding problems and newborn kid issues are caused by mineral imbalances, which goats are so prone to, know your area and your deficiencies and what to look for the pin point what it is.
In my area, we are very deficient in copper and selenium. Copper really doesn’t affect the kids in a detrimental way first off, but selenium can. Kids that are floppy with weak legs get a small bean of selenium paste pretty early on. My boers specifically are very sensitive to selenium deficiencies, so I have paste on hand to treat. Yes, there’s injectable BoSe which is nice, but it’s very easy to overdose and makes me nervous as it can cause cardiac issues and death if given incorrectly. I only use that for major emergencies. Everything else can be fixed with paste and by dosing the dam. Talk with your vet about dosing your goats.
Thiamine could be one for weak and floppy kids too. Kids that are premature, meaning they’re born with no erupted or only partially erupted teeth, may need a boost of thiamine to get them going. I’ve been told this “wakes the brain up” and gets it firing on all cylinders. Goats are pretty sensitive to thiamine deficiencies and it can cause a whole host of crazy neurological symptoms if they’re deficient. Having injectable thiamine on hand could literally mean life or death, so again, talk to your vet and get some of that on hand with their guidance. B complex isn’t high enough in thiamine to treat major deficiencies very quickly.
I hope this blog post sheds some light on how to take care of goat kids during extreme cold and not get you caught up thinking you need things you don’t actually need. As long as you have healthy goats free from deficiencies and any major health problems, your kidding season should go smoothly. It helps staying calm and being prepared. The good news is it doesn’t have to be as complicated as everyone likes to make it.
Be confident in your skills; you’re doing a great job.
