One of the largest challenges with kidding goats in the winter is managing newborn kids in freezing temperatures. We have experimented with kidding during different months and find that late November and December work best for us. This is a time that Lee is more available after crop harvest and tends to have more mild winter weather than January and February. We also only started breeding does for winter kidding when we moved the herd from a lean-to shelter to the main barn after repairs.
Some favorite items we like to have ready during the winter kidding season include a warming box with a heat lamp, a hair dryer, and lots of towels. Security cameras are installed in the barn to allow Lee and I to check for goats in labor throughout the day and night. The cameras have saved us many trips to check the herd and lets us know when we need to head out to the barn in the middle of the night.
A common result of kidding in the winter is frostbite. The boer breed have long pendulous ears that are prone to freezing after birth. We do our best to avoid frostbite on ears, however it is not uncommon to occur. The loss of ear tips due to frostbite is aesthetical and should not impact the animal’s health or local showing abilities.
Frostbite Prevention
If we are able to attend the birth, we introduce any new kids to the dam and assist in drying with towels. A hair dryer is used to gently dry the fur and specifically dry the ears and tail. I like to wait until the second kid is born before blow drying the first. This gives time for the mom to bond and clean the first kids for some time and give her a distraction (the second kid) when we take the first to be dried. We also prefer to blow dry them in multiple small sessions to prevent any temperature shock.
After the kids are dry, we will either move the dam and kids to a kidding pen with a heat lamp or allow them to stay with the main herd. The kidding pen is used for extremely cold temperatures, weak kids, and first time dams. Each kid will receive a brightly colored sock to wear around their necks. We use a fuzzy sock (the ones we all have a bunch of from the holiday season) with the toe cut off. The sock keeps the ears close to the goat’s body heat. Within a day or two, the kids find ways to get their ears out of the socks and we take them off.
If the ears do freeze, the ear ends will fall off. In the days following birth, the ends will swell and feel warm to the touch. Then the swelling will recede and the ear tips will appear to be shrinking. We find that in approximately 4-6 weeks the ear tips will fall off. The kids are not irritated by the process. In mild freezing cases, we have had the ears remain but the hair has grown back white.
Don’t we all wish we could control the weather? We do our best to prevent frostbite and enjoy our ‘stubbies’ just the same as any other goat kid.
