# Is it too cold outside for single baby?



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

DH and I bought a buckling last Sunday (12/28) that was 2 weeks old. DH being a softy said he could sleep at night in my Rat Terrier's crate because it was cold outside. I planned on putting him in a small pen near my big girls in the barn...yeah its cold outside, but slightly warmer and not windy in the barn. Well DH won, Luke spends his nights in the house and during the day when nobody is home (to many loose dogs) I built him a good size pen in the backyard (where none of my adult goats have been, that was my concern with the pen in the barn) on nice days he spends all day out there, even if I have to make a short errand I left him out, but I start back to work today (2pm - 7pm) and don't know about leaving him outside with all the dogs.....

Anyway after my long rambling my question is, when and how do I transition him to being outside all the time??? 

Sarah


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Not to be rude, but seriously, how cold can it possibly get in Texas?

And no, do not leave him with your non LGD's. That is asking for trouble.

Is he the only kid you have at this time?

Sara


----------



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

Its cold to me!! lol I know y'all have the real cold, but my concern was having him in the 70 degree house and moving him out to the 40 degree outside.
He is the only kid we have.


----------



## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Well it is just 32 here now with sleet or freezing rain. No way would I leave him out when this cold. Now if he had a spot in the bard with nice bedding etc. then yes. Doesn't sound like you have that.


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

32 degrees a serious heatwave here.

If you have an area what is well bedded away from the elements and draft free then I would transition him to the outside.

My kids are in the barn when it is below zero and suffer no ill effects. As long as they well fed in a draft free area they do fine. A 2 week old kid here would never be inside at 30 degrees.

Before you ask about a heatlamp... they are completely unnecessary and can be extremely dangerous. I know this first hand as one of our caused a terrible barn fire many years ago. I will _never_ use one again. The temps here rarely get above zero this time of year. By the time my does start kidding it won't be much warmer. They grow and thrive in our temps so I don't see why they wouldn't in Texas considering you are more than 50 degrees warmer than we are today!

When will you have more babies born?

Sara


----------



## Theresa (Oct 26, 2007)

Yep, not so nice here in TX today, won't be out of the 30s. And although it does not get near as cold as up north, it is not unusual for it to be in the 30s and 40s with lows in the 20s. So I would be a little concerned about a 2 week old kid. But tomorrow will be better, that is the best part of living in TX.

I have put them out when they are a few weeks old and the temps are in the 40s. I just have a shelter for them with a heat lamp. That ways the babies can go in and out and stay warm. You could even put a little sweeter on him. My concern would be that he might get chilled because he is by himself with no one to snuggle with. But a heat lamp would keep him nice and tosty.
Theresa


----------



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

I wouldn't use a heat lamp....if I move him to the barn it would be in a roughly 12X12 spot and I would need to switch from worming with valbazen to Cydectin (I assume, as the girls have had access to the area of the barn I would move him to) I would put his pen next to the doe "stall" in the barn, he wouldn't have access to outside, he would be in the barn only. I would be able to put down hay for him and he would have a shared fence with the does, but nobody to keep him company. there would be lots of hay around him...the barn is actually the hay barn w/ a 12 by 24 stall for the does with a small section next to them that I keep the feed and minerals stored in. I could move those and put him a pen there.....My concern is how to transition from 70 and up house to wet cold outside???


----------



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

Thanks for all the answers, but I am hoping Vicki, LeeAnne or some of the others that are closer to my area will answer.....

No offense, figure they know this area a little better than the rest!


----------



## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

It is a matter of what you are acclimated to. To a goat used to 70 on Saturday,, drops into the 40s by Sunday might be hard. To us down here (and our goats used to warmer temperatures) we hear some of y'all up North complain about heat in the summer that, to us, sound like a balmy Spring day, but the truth is that your goats would have a hard time acclimating to 100 degrees plus, in addition to our humidity. All a matter of what you are used to.

Sarah I'd not go against dh, with protection from the rain your little guy should be fine. Leave the crate outside, well bedded down with hay, maybe even a bale on either side to block wind coming in from the slats on the side.


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Soooo true LeAnne!

If I had to wait to acclimate my kids to our spring temps it would be the end of May before they moved outside. I move my babies to the house for the first few days of their lives due to convenience - I don't want to get all dressed up for the cold and then trudge down to the barn for 4-6 feedings a day. 

I routinely move my kids that are inside my house in 65-70 degree temps to the barn that is about 10 degrees above outside temps WITH NO ILL EFFECTS.  

That being said, I stand firm on the fact that 30 degree and lower temps will not harm a kid if they are well bedded in a draft free area with a full belly. The growth rates and success of my herd speaks for itself. 

To each their own however. 

Sara


----------



## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

"I routinely move my kids that are inside my house in 65-70 degree temps to the barn that is about 10 degrees above outside temps WITH NO ILL EFFECTS."

That is good to know, that change is what would make me the most concerned, it helps me to hear that you dont have issues.

I will tell you, when I am feeling for the goats I routinely run through my head "well, Tracy's goats, Sara's goats are out in the SNOW...: :lol


----------



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

It isn't so much going against DH (he wants him out now too....he was just worried about taking him from momma on a cool night and putting him outside alone! The big Softy!) I think if tomorrow is supposed to be warmer I may dismantle his pen in my backyard and move him to the barn....he has some climbing toys and a plastic crate with openings in it, that worry me about the breeze and if it rains, so would feel better having him in the barn instead of the backyard.....


----------



## stacy adams (Oct 29, 2007)

like Sara, I only have mine up at the house a few days only 'cause I don't want to be trudging out in the weather, down to the barn, to take care of them! but then it get's old and out they go!. Ok, I personally wouldn't move him out today only because I'd have to go outside  and I'm freezing in this "heatwave"! Yes, I'm a weenie when it comes to the cold. but to get back to the subject, as long as they have a draft free area and a place to snuggle down into, they should be just fine.


----------



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

DH is the softy and I am the WUSS....60 has me shivering! lol


----------



## Bilrite Farms (Oct 26, 2007)

Another person not from Texas.. it is bright and sunny here to day and we're having a heatwave at 5 above!
Honestly though, your "winter" sounds a lot like our spring and fall weather. We often end up with a singleton (albeit ours is usually a doeling) at the beginning and end of our kidding season that end up in our kid room for a while by herself. If we only have a single kid - they are coddled and spoiled a bit until they have a buddy for the move .

With the cold and wet temps and we are usually wet, wet, wet we do have to work on transitioning them before bringing them outside. Our youngest babies born when it is very cold do get some extra heat and pampering but to get them outside is a step process here.

Once they are eating a bottle well we remove the supplemental heat but the room is still pretty "warm". Next we move them to a cooler area of the house with less heat. Then we turn the heat off. By that time they have adjusted to a feeding schedule and are regulating their own body temps pretty well. We move them outside on a warmish day (hoping for 20 degrees and sunny) right after breakfast when they have full tummies of warm milk. We watch them closely and check them fairly often that day to make sure they are playing well, sleeping well and don't miss any meals. Usually if they are doing OK they just stay outside and go to sleep with full tummies again. Occasionally we do have a kid that isn't quite ready for the transition and that kid will come back inside for a day or two more.

I should say, too, that our kid room and nursery pen are not in our house so we are trudging outside for the goats anyway. DH said no goats in the new house and so far I've only had to TLC a couple of kids there in the last four years. 

Having a draft free area has been mentioned and is probably the most important part, for us to move the kids outside. Good luck!


----------



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

Thanks for all the suggestions....I am liking the comments from all the people up north with actual cold weather! If y'alls can make it, this one surely can!! granted I have been told by people from places with real winters that our wet cold makes it feel worse here....something like 40 here and 40 there are two completely different feelings...I don't know, that was the main reason I was hoping for advice from the locals! lol


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Like Trisha said, we have very damp and wet, not to mention COLD winters. We don't have 'dry' winters.

Sorry, but you don't know what 'winter' it until you live here. Minus 30 degree temps with windchills approaching -70, wind 25+ MPR and snow! :crazy Our summers are not nearly as hot as you guys get in Texas but we can rival your humidity levels. I complain much more in the summer... winter I can handle. 

Oh, our damp comes from the freezing rain and snow when it it 25 degrees. That chills you to the bone... but the colds temps are much worse. Imagine walking outside and the air in your lungs freezes almost instantly, a brain freeze (like when you drink something cold too quickly) when the cold hits your exposted eyes/face... yeah, not fun!

Hey LeAnne, I actually have several goats who love the snow... Ruthie especially loves to eat huge mouthfuls of fresh snow. :rofl

Sara


----------



## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

So glad I live in Texas where we have 4 seasons, Christmas (we are in that) Almost Summer, Summer, and Almost Christmas! I am a WUSS and would not be able to handle y'alls winters! Would love your summers I bet! It is hard to believe I was born in Alaska as much of a weenie as I am to the cold!


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

No way could I handle the Texas heat and humidity. I actually don't mind dry heat like in Northern California, Arizona, etc. and could live with 100 degree temps in that area, but to have 100+ degrees and high humidity... I would die! 

Sara


----------



## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

"Sorry, but you don't know what 'winter' it until you live here. Minus 30 degree temps with windchills approaching -70, wind 25+ MPR and snow! "

Your winters are the reason my dh is down here...he grew up in the UP of Michigan, Wisconsin and W NY state.

We had one poor doe that we bought at 6 yrs old. She came down from Maine. When it was winter here when the other goats were huddled together in the barn when it would hit 20-something and get all frosty she would be out in the pasture sprawled out soaking up the cold like my goats normally soak up the sun! Besides that, though, she actually acclimated fine.


----------



## stacy adams (Oct 29, 2007)

Sara, you crack me up! I sure don't want my breath freezing in my lungs, heck, I don't like my tootsies going numb either! :rofl Sweat I can live with! :biggrin


----------



## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

We have cold winters here. When our bottle babies are big enough to jump out of their Rubbermaid tote, they move outside to their baby pen. Usually, by then, I have more than one baby. One winter, I had only one, as I'd adopted a little BoerX kid in January. What I did with her was to keep her inside until she was 2 weeks old, after which she went to live in the baby pen with a couple of my smaller coming yearlings for company and warmth. I've never lost a well fed kid to cold weather. Kathie


----------



## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Well Sara beig born and raised in the col north with -50 and not seing ground until May or Apil, is exactly why I now live in TX As for this single 2wk old if he is in a draft free area with lots of warm bedding then he will be ok.


----------



## Guest (Jan 6, 2009)

This time of year here in Kansas you can wake up to nearly 60 degrees and by nightfall it can be sub zero! My newborn babies do fine with the changes and a two week old is easily able to adapt  I think he will be fine in the barn!!

Christy


----------

