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How do goats fare with cold weather? I’d build them a shelter, of course, since we get 5 or more feet of snowpack, but I’m worried about the cold for goats, chickens, and maybe rabbits.<<<

I see a nice solar barn in your future.

I pinged J.D. and Cal, as I have not had goats in the really cold country.

A few inches and 2 or 3 days are all that I know about.

And for that one year, a nanny was ready to kid and we finally had to bring her indoors, as the storm brought her labor on, and was cross wise, so we lost it, we had to pull all 3 of the kids.

So with the 2 kids and Mama, we lived in the house with her.

Quite an experience, we have 2 old mobiles, with an extra room in the middle, at that time, we had a couple kids and slept in one, but the other was the kitchen and living room, etc.

The middle room was not finished at the time, Bill was laying a flagstone floor and was at the half way point, so no problem, we kept her on the dirt portion.....

Blocked the open archway to the kitchen.

If I was in the kitchen, her head was over the blocker, talking to me and asking what I was doing, what I was fixing and telling me she was damn tired of goat feed.

Mama put her kids to bed about the same time as we put ours down, and kept an eye on us.

Once we went to bed and turned the lights out, that was it, she had all her kids in bed, now she could sleep.

And if one of us got up in the night and turned a light on, we were in trouble......she made it clear “I told you it was bedtime and what are you doing up?”, “Do you want to wake up all the babies?”

She watched every step the offender of her rules took and sent them back to bed.

When she went back to the goat shed/pen, I missed her.

And for years when it rained hard, the smell would come from under the flagstone for a day or less/more.

But it was sure handy having her in the middle room, as all the soiled hay/manure was easy to fork into the greenhouse, which the middle room had been a part of.

I loved the middle room, as a part of the greenhouse, and was upset, the day I came home from work and discovered that Bill had replaced the roof with a metal one.

I could like living in a greenhouse.

Yes, all poultry, hogs, cats,dogs and calves will eat /drink milk.

Your calves will not get the scours and die, if you raise them on goat milk and humans who are on goat milk, do not have the stomach problems and allergies that those on cow milk have.

Just do not run to the vet for all the shots they have invented to SELL you.

I was reading a goat thread a few years ago on the internet and am still in shock, at all the trips to the vet the owners made.

Just remember, that if you give the goat a shot or pills, it will be in the milk and meat that you eat.

My son takes his old dog to the vet, several times a year, she is hugely overweight and almost 20 years old, and the vet tells him she must go on a diet, but it does not happen and he really cannot afford the trips, but someone convinced him that the Vet needs to see the dog.

Goats are a healthy, loving animal.

If they need a Vets attention, then get rid of them, as they will not give good or plentiful milk or healthy kids.

Sure there are one time accidents/illness that you might want a Vet for.

For Mama’s cross wise baby, I called Bertha, a friend who also loved goats and she knew exactly what to do and did it.

Bill was at work and I had watched him pull pigs and read the book, but not attempted it all alone.

To watch someone like Bertha or Bill handle babies that won’t come out, is to watch God at work.

So Bertha and I sat at the table in the middle room, with our coffee and she got acquainted with Mama and then helped deliver the babies.

>>>Chickens drink milk? That’s a new one on me!<<<

Oh yeah - they love it. When they are growing as well as when they are laying. I froze extra milk in gallon zip-lock bags and when it is really hot, just put a gallon of frozen in a tray and they will go crazy eating it.

The laying hens benefit from not only the nutrients but the calcium is essential (along with oyster shell) for them to have good shells on the eggs.

>>>How do goats fare with cold weather?<<<

They handle cold weather better than you would think. What they do need is a place that is out of the wind or drafts to bed down. Same with chickens and rabbits - drafts in their sleeping quarters are what get them down.

>>>I didn’t know goats give that much milk<<<

Depends on the breed. Of course pygmy goats don’t give that much milk, but Toggenburgs, Saanans, Nubians and some others are very good milk producers. Personally I prefer the richer Nubian milk - LOL but if you are the type who buys skim milk, they are not for you. We had one milking for quite a while, and she kept 4 of us in all the milk we could drink, made ice cream almost every day and enough to make cheese too.

>>>Or were so loving<<<

They very definitely have personalities. Each one is different, but they almost all love human attention. If you ever bottle feed an orphan goat, you will have a shadow for life... They will do whatever they have to do to be right with you all the time - and if you fence them in, they will spend hours bleating and walking along the fence looking for you.

>>>we get 5 or more feet of snowpack<<<

They will probably venture out and frolic in the snow, but won’t spend a lot of time outside with that much snow.

In another post there are comments on their health needs -

They are extremely robust and healthy animals. Some routine things to keep them that way are:

Clean dry bedding.

Draft free area to bed down in.

Hoof trim about every 4 months.

Mix a little Diatomaceous Earth (go to a pool supply- they use it in pool polishers and filters - cheaper and bigger bags) in their feed every 3 months (better than some of the worming medicines and does not affect the milk - also works in garden for many insects without having to use poisons).

Clip their udder about 3 times a year.

Wash the udder well before milking.

Strip a couple of squirts of first milk from each teat into a strainer - to check for thick stringy substance which could indicate mastitis or infection. (seldom a problem if they are well cared for.)

Be gentle when milking.

Dip teats in a good antiseptic sealer when done milking.

Treat them like the friends they try to be.

Since they are gregarious animals, more than one is advisable (Unless you are willing to be their pal full time)

Wow - hope I covered it all - you sure can ask a lot of questions in a really short post... But that’s good - you cover all the bases. LOL