Breeding goats at home for beginners. Domestic goat: recommendations for grazing in winter Keeping goats at home in winter

Features of caring for goats during the winter stall period

What to feed a goat in winter

In winter, for proper nutrition, the goat should receive at least 1 kg of roughage per day, and preferably 2.5-3 kg. Hay is the type of food that goats should constantly have in their diet during the cold season. Goats eat best meadow or forest hay made from young plants.

Grain feed and any other treats should be mixed with portions of hay. This will allow your goats to continually maintain proper rumen function and create a favorable environment for their digestive system. As you know, healthy digestion is the key to success when keeping ruminants.

In addition, good rumen function will provide the goats with an additional portion of heat, which is also of great importance in winter.

Half of the daily requirement of hay can be replaced with brooms made from birch, poplar or willow. In winter, a goat can eat 3-5 brooms a day.

The best succulent food for goats during the stall period is fodder beets, potatoes, cabbage and vegetable waste. Root vegetables are crushed and given raw, 2-4 kg per day, potatoes are boiled and given 1-2 kg.

Beet and carrot tops and cabbage leaves will also be used. This food can be given 3-4 kg per day per adult goat.

In this case, for every kilogram of beet tops you need to add one gram of ground chalk to neutralize the acids present in it.

Be sure to provide goats with access to salt licks. Also, regular table salt (not extra) is suitable as an alternative for goats. It should be given to animals at the following rate: dry goat 7-8g, dry goat 10g. in a day.

To keep your animals active and vigorous all winter, hay alone is, of course, not enough. During periods of particularly severe cold, the amount of concentrated feed in the goats’ diet should be increased.

Attention!

Remember that goats and sheep, if given large amounts of concentrates, are susceptible to urolithiasis. Therefore, you should purchase feed that takes into account the needs of this particular type of animal and is balanced in composition. As a rule, manufacturers add ammonium chloride to the feed.

Prevention of urolithiasis consists of following the feeding and maintenance regime of animals. When symptoms of the disease appear, concentrates rich in phosphorus are reduced or completely removed from the diet, and the supply of green vitamin feed is increased, microelements are introduced (copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese), and water is provided.

And in the video you can watch wild mountain goats - ibex - in their natural habitat

Always hot water

It's amazing how hot water goats can drink! Sometimes the breeder may even think that the goat will burn its tongue, but it should be remembered that the body temperature of these animals is higher than that of humans (39-40 degrees).

If you have the opportunity to install heated drinking bowls for goats, the animals will certainly appreciate it.

It is especially important that goats always have access to water, since due to their anatomical features they are prone to urolithiasis and must drink a lot.

Goat barn

In fact, goats are not considered very heat-loving animals and are excellent at regulating their body temperature even in severe frost. If you are the happy owner of wool or downy breeds, you practically don’t have to worry about protection from low temperatures.

It is more likely that the owners will freeze faster in their houses than the Agrog goat in its beautiful fur coat will feel that it is really cold outside.

However, goats still need to be protected from wind and dampness.

These animals are susceptible to pneumonia, which is most often contracted from a strong draft or high humidity. Therefore, owners should take care of shelter for goats from snow and wind.

Although, you should also not get carried away with excessive sealing; do not forget that the air in the livestock building must be fresh and regularly updated.

As a rule, special heating in a goat shed is not required. The only exceptions are during lambing periods, when newborn kids need to be protected from sudden temperature changes. A slightly higher temperature, as well as increased attention, is also required during this period for sick or weakened goats.

The air temperature in winter must be maintained at +6...+7. Goats can create this temperature on their own. If there are also kids with the goat, then the temperature in the room should be +8..+10.

The floor in the goat house is best made of planks. For each goat, a separate pen is made with a manger for bulk feed and feeders for concentrates and root crops. Water is also poured into a drinking bowl or bucket, which is hung so that the goat does not turn it over.

Place to stay overnight

Goats are very clean animals and prefer to sleep not on bare ground, but on a bedding or on a wooden pedestal specially prepared for this. You can make a platform along one of the walls of the barn. The elevation above the floor is about 40 cm high and 50-60 cm wide. Goats simply love to sleep on such elevations. In addition, things will always be warmer on the platform.

In winter, it is especially important to pay attention to the cleanliness of the goat house and disinfect the pallets and bedding on which the animals sleep once a week.

Fight against worms

Regular walks

Even in winter, goats need to move, because the animals are curious and very active. Daily walks and physical activity in the form of jumping and running will help improve the tone of the animals and their excellent mood.

Even snow and ice are not an obstacle for goats to frolic. Just remember an important rule - snow and pieces of ice can get stuck between the hooves, causing them pain and even serious injury.

For this reason, the condition of the hooves must be monitored throughout the winter, and the area of the barnyard intended for walking must be cleared of snow and ice.

Prevention of frostbite

Goats that are outside in winter can get frostbite on particularly sensitive areas of the body. As a rule, the udder is at risk.

To protect it, before letting the animals go for their daily walk, smear the udder of dairy goats with a special anti-frostbite ointment or Vaseline.

For breeds with long ears, such as the Nubian goat, it would be useful to treat the inner surface of the ear with ointment, since even it can be caught in severe frost. Find out how to choose the right dairy goat here

Source: https://www.AgroXXI.ru/zhivotnovodstvo/tehnologi/soderzhanie-koz-zimoi.html

Goat farming: growing, breeding and keeping goats

Among all types of livestock, goats are perhaps the most unpretentious.

They provide not only milk and meat, but also fluff, wool, skins and manure, which is a valuable fertilizer. Based on this, goat farming is a rather attractive type of small and medium-sized private business.

In terms of quality, goat meat (goat meat) is not inferior to the more common lamb. Goat's milk is a valuable dietary and healing product, and is superior to cow's milk in many respects.

Goat fluff is an excellent raw material for making down shawls, hats, scarves, jackets and mittens, and the wool of these animals makes excellent knitted clothes, blankets, carpets and other household items. The skins of young goats are used to sew sheepskin coats and coats.

Goat manure is an excellent organic fertilizer. With the same area of land, it is needed two or even three times less than cow manure.

Breeding and keeping goats

Goats are not picky about their living conditions.

There is no need to build any special buildings for them, since they tolerate cold and other unfavorable climate conditions well.

The omnivorous nature of these animals allows them to be successfully kept on pastures.

These animals are grazed both freely (if there is a shepherd) and on a leash. Their diet can include many types of natural vegetation, as well as almost all types of roughage, including tree bark, leaves and branches, as well as garden weeds. Goats willingly eat chopped root vegetables and mixed feed.

Breeding

For successful reproduction of a herd, it is necessary to have one mature goat for every 25-50 females.

The main thing is that the breeding goat is not in any relationship with the queens it covers, and also has high productive qualities (inherited from the parents). Therefore, it is best to purchase males from special breeding farms, where you can trace his pedigree.

Immediately before mating, the feeding ration of both males and females should be improved, since for it to be successful, the animals must have an average degree of fatness. Milking of downy breed queens should be stopped during this period.

In one day, an adult goat is capable of mating two or three females with a break of four to five hours.

In the dairy direction of goat farming, when keeping goats is not economically profitable, the most developed young goats of seven to eight months of age are used for covering.

Uncastrated males should be slaughtered as early as possible, since the meat of adult goats is not suitable for food.

The fertilization period usually occurs in autumn - from early September to early December. Pregnancy lasts approximately 5 months (150 days), so the birth period falls between February and April.

Although goats mature sexually by five to seven months, the first mating is best done at the age of one and a half years.

If the mating is unsuccessful, the female repeats the hunt after 15–20 days.

10-15 days before the birth of the kids, the room must be cleared of manure, whitened with lime milk, dry and clean bedding must be placed, and doors and windows must be insulated to avoid drafts. Before goating, it is worth observing the queen so that if something happens, you have time to help her or call a veterinarian.

The approach of childbirth is determined simply: the animal behaves restlessly, then lies down, then gets up again and bleats pitifully. The udder and birth canal swell.

If the uterus is healthy and sufficiently nourished, then it does not require outside help during childbirth.

The birth itself lasts from 20 to 40 minutes. If after the birth of the first baby the queen continues to worry, you should wait for another kid, which is usually born after 10 -15 minutes.

An hour, maximum two after the end of labor, the placenta comes out.

If its separation does not occur within four to five hours, call the veterinarian immediately.

The wet litter along with the afterbirth should be immediately picked up and buried. A newborn baby needs to free the nostrils, mouth and eyes from mucus. If the umbilical cord itself has not broken, it should be carefully cut approximately seven to ten centimeters from the abdomen.

In any case, the umbilical cord must be disinfected with tincture of iodine or with a solution of potassium permanganate.

After this, it is necessary that the mother lick the cub (this is how she remembers its smell), and then it must be wiped with a clean and dry cloth and placed in a warm and dry place.

Raising goat kids works best when feeding them with mother's milk.

Conditions of detention

Windows must be at a height of at least one and a half meters from the floor level. If the windows are lower, they must be protected with wire mesh, otherwise the goats may break them and injure themselves.

The floor can be made of planks, earthen or adobe, but it is necessary to provide a slope for urine drainage.

The area of the room required by one female is from two to two and a half square meters, and one young individual needs at least one square meter of space. In winter, the temperature should not fall below 10 degrees, and in a room with newborns - not lower than twelve.

A walking area (in other words, a base) should be equipped next to the goat's coop. There, animals are walked in winter or, in the absence of pasture land, kept in summer. Goats love freedom of movement, so it is better not to keep them on a leash in the goat shed.

Pregnant and already given birth females with cubs must be kept separately from the main herd, for which purpose special cages with separate feeders and drinkers are equipped in the room.

Along the walls you need to make benches or shelves half a meter high and 60-70 centimeters wide so that the goats have a place to rest dry and clean.

Uncastrated goats should be kept in a separate room, since their specific “aroma” is transferred to the goats, and from them to the milk.

If it gets cold in the goat shed in winter, the manure is not removed from it. As it accumulates, it, together with the bedding, creates a thick layer that provides biological heating of the room.

Conclusion

Modern goat breeding in our country is concentrated in personal subsidiary plots and peasant farms. Industrial goat farming is just beginning to take shape. However, the value of the products these animals provide allows us to hope for the rapid development of this livestock industry.

“Professional goat breeding” How to raise goats

Source: https://GoFerma.ru/zhivotnovodstvo/kozy/kozovodstvo.html

Wintering goats

It is possible to obtain “large” milk and maintain the health of goats in winter only if several mandatory conditions are met when preparing feed in the summer. First of all, make sure that as many vitamins as possible are preserved in the prepared feed. The food itself should be as varied as possible.

We specially sow the area near the house with oats for our goats. In the phase of emerging into the tube, we mow down the plants. We get good nutritious hay, leafy from top to bottom. After the first mowing, normal regrowth grows (though a little lower). In winter, our goats eagerly await the distribution of their favorite dish and happily eat it without any leftovers.

In our garden, perennials (urchin and timothy) grow under mature apple trees. Excellent vitamin food for animals! We also try to mow the hedgehog in the phase of eruption.

On our farm we use the following technology for drying hay. At first, we periodically rake it. Then, when the hay is almost dry, we put it in stacks and let it rest for 3-5 days (in the humidity of the stack). It is during this time that the fermentation of the hay occurs.

After the fermentation process is complete, we spread the hay again for final drying and then store it in a hay storage facility. When hay is aged in stacks, it is necessary to ensure that it does not overheat, since in the middle of the stack the temperature can be significantly higher than normal.

Fermented hay has an exceptionally pleasant aroma. Animals eat it with great appetite. If you dry hay without intermediate storage for 3-5 days, then its unique taste and aroma will disappear; such hay will subsequently be little different from straw.

We try to dry all types of herbs only in this way.

From succulent feed we grow fodder beets, zucchini, pumpkin, Jerusalem artichoke, and carrots for goats. We harvest fodder beets just before frost, and not before. We clear it of tops and soil and put it in the cellar.

The walls of the cellar are made of stone, so the preservation of root crops is excellent.

Carrots can be left in the ground for the winter, but only after the first prolonged thaw they still need to be dug up, otherwise, having started to grow, they will be frozen during the next cold snap.

I would especially like to say about Jerusalem artichoke. Firstly, this is an excellent milk feed. Secondly, Jerusalem artichoke can be dug up in early spring or even in winter, during the thaw, and fed to animals. But this is an irreplaceable storehouse of fresh vitamins! In the summer I harvest the leaves and tops of Jerusalem artichoke.

In winter and spring - tubers. We also collect Jerusalem artichoke leaves for ourselves; they make excellent tea with a full range of vitamins. To achieve maximum quality of the drink, we cut, wither, ferment, cut, and dry Jerusalem artichoke leaves.

Jerusalem artichoke tubers are one of the tasty dishes on our table.

In the fall, first of all, we feed the goats apples, pumpkins, and zucchini. All this is offered to animals in the form of a thick mash 1-2 times a day (depending on their appetite).

The leaves of many shrubs are also necessarily included in the diet of our pets. In summer, you can easily prepare the required amount of leaves of willow, small birch, and aspen. The foliage dries very quickly on sunny days. We don’t prepare brooms for the winter. We believe that this is not necessary. The fact is that.

In winter, goats walk in the fresh air every day and have the opportunity to eat branches directly from the bushes without restrictions. The brooms are only half eaten, since animals prefer to pinch off only leaves and thin branches from them. The remains of brooms have to be simply thrown away.

Therefore, we decided not to cause further damage to nature. .

Before the onset of frost, we set up a goat shed for winter housing of animals. It must be said that with dry air in the barn, frost is not terrible for goats.

But in any case, excess ventilation holes must be sealed and the windows (partially) insulated. The door to the coop should close tightly. It is mandatory to disinfect cages where animals are kept with lye. We prepare it as follows.

We take 2 kg of ash from the stove and boil for 10 minutes in a bucket of water. The next day we process the cages.

Moreover, winter is the most important time for all amateur goat breeders, as mass lambing begins.

And it will be simply a shame to receive newborn babies in unsanitary conditions! We must remember that caring about improving the lives of our pets will pay off in the future with their good health and high productivity, which, of course, will please every livestock breeder.

Source: http://podxoz.ru/domashnie-zhivotnye/sovety-zhivotnovoda/zimoa-koz.html

goats in winter: temperature, room, food

When thinking about keeping goats in winter, there is a lot to consider. First of all, stock up on food for a complete, balanced diet. To prevent your pets from suffering from hunger, you need to prepare (per 1 animal):

roughage – 400 - 500 kg;
root vegetables – 400 - 500 kg;
about 40 kg of concentrate.

In winter, a balanced diet, including root vegetables, is especially important

One adult pet will need about 3 kg of table salt and a kilogram of chalk in winter. It is desirable to have bone meal in the diet of animals.

Now about how much hay a goat needs for the winter. As a rule, one individual requires from 400 to 600 kg of hay for the entire stall period. Dairy and pregnant queens need about 2 kg per feeding. The stock is thus calculated based on the number of livestock.

It is advisable to continue grazing goats until the snow thickness reaches 10 - 15 cm. Staying on pasture in winter helps improve immunity. In addition, the grass on winter pastures is rich in beneficial carotene, which increases lactation. Small forests and water meadows are suitable for winter grazing (in summer, animals cannot graze on them, as this is fraught with intestinal infections).

Grazing pastures covered with light snow is good for goats' health

When the snow has fallen deep enough, they move on to housing the livestock in stalls and walking ranges.

Microclimate in the goat's rue

Goats can hardly be called finicky animals, but there are certain requirements for the microclimate.

It is necessary to ensure that the room is not subject to drafts and is insulated so that the temperature does not fall below 7 degrees for adults and below 10 degrees for young animals. For ventilation, an exhaust pipe with a damper is used.

Thanks to the cleanliness and dryness of the goat's home and well-organized nutrition, the animals do not get sick, milk yield increases, and the young animals grow healthy and hardy.

It is necessary that there is natural light in the room where the goats are located. It is advisable to place windows on the south side at a height of about one and a half meters from the floor. If you make them lower, jumping pets can knock out the glass with their hooves.

Provide natural light in the barn during wintering

The walls of the goat house need to be whitewashed with lime mortar.

Animals will feel comfortable if wooden beds 700 - 800 mm long and 500 - 600 mm wide are placed along the walls.

Goats love to rest on them, plus the risk of colds is reduced, and the wool gets dirty less. Sunbeds also need to be whitewashed with lime. The frequency of whitewash renewal is twice a year.

The floor in the goat shed should rise above the ground by 200 - 250 mm. A floor made of wood, clay or ordinary earthen is suitable for its inhabitants. The best option is plank, it is easier to clean from dirt. It is necessary to make a slope at the rate of 2 cm per meter of room length to ensure the drainage of slurry. The space standard for one individual is as follows:

breeding male – 2 m2;
Barn goat – 2 m2;
female with cubs – 3.5 m2;
kid from 0.5 to one year – 1.2 m2.

Bedding for goats can be made of straw, sawdust, peat or dry moss. Moss is hygroscopic and destroys unpleasant odors. Sawdust does not absorb moisture so well, so winter wheat straw is also used. Before entering the room, well-lit “entries” are needed so that the goat’s house does not cool down when opening and closing the doors.

The floor of the barn should be covered with hay or sawdust.

An important aspect of keeping animals during the cold season is the possibility of walking. To do this, you need a fairly spacious yard, at the rate of 5 “squares” per individual. Being in the fresh air, goats “work up” their appetite and feel better. If the weather permits, feeding is also carried out in the courtyard.

In winter frost and bad weather, animals are fed in the goat shed. For roughage, nurseries are set up, for concentrated and vegetable feeds - special feeders. The height of the feeders above the floor is from 400 to 500 mm.

Many people ask the question: is it possible to keep animals in winter without heating? Livestock farmers respond positively to it. If we are talking about long-haired or downy goats, the lack of heating in the goat house is not a problem at all. The main thing for these unpretentious pets is a covered, dry room without drafts.

Goats should be kept in a separate, well-heated room

You just need to make sure that the livestock is protected from precipitation and sleeping on damp ground. Only newborn goats will need a heated room (they are kept separately).

Ways to increase milk yield

In order for a goat to produce more milk, it is necessary to correctly formulate its diet so that the animal receives the entire range of necessary substances all year round. The diet of a dairy goat should include:

branch food In the summer, these are branches of trees and bushes, and for the winter you need to prepare brooms (birch brooms are best);
vegetables. Goats love them. Beets, carrots or cabbage are not only eaten with pleasure, but also provide an opportunity to increase milk yield. Washed vegetable peelings are also fed to the goats;
turnips Many experienced livestock breeders claim that this vegetable improves lactation;
grain feed, pre-soaked in water (wheat, barley, oats). It helps increase milk yield;
sufficient amount of water. Free access to clean water is the basis for good milk yield in a goat.

Adding probiotics to the goat diet increases the quantity and quality of milk (by 20%) and improves the digestibility of feed.

Source: https://kselu.ru/zhivotnye/kozy/soderzhanie-koz-zimoj.html

Winter goat keeping

An increasing number of livestock farmers are abandoning cows in favor of goats. There are good reasons for this, because goats are easy to care for, their maintenance does not cause trouble, and they tolerate winter well.

The last point is often of interest to owners of homestead farms who are just planning to start raising goats.

The wintering of farm animals, their comfortable existence in the cold season often causes concern on the part of the owners, and the winter keeping of goats, and completely unreasonably, is no exception.

Choosing a place for wintering

What is good about goats is their frost resistance. No, of course they cannot be kept in the cold, and even in the open air. You can simply place them in any room. They get along well with other animals or birds because they have a non-conflict and good-natured disposition. Suitable places for wintering:

canopy;
barn;
barn;
attic.

Yes, exactly the attic. Don't be confused by the distance from the ground to the attic, as agile goats will overcome it with graceful ease. The only thing you need here is a reliable and stable ladder.

If you live in a region with a mild climate, then you can organize a place for wintering, even in the yard under a canopy. For those living in northern latitudes, this type of wintering is not suitable. It’s better to find and arrange a barn or any other place where there will be a positive temperature favorable for animal life.

The temperature in the goat shed in winter must always be comfortable for adult animals and the younger generation, so it must be above zero around the clock. This is necessary primarily to ensure that the water in the drinking bowls does not freeze and the animal does not feel discomfort. Experienced livestock breeders advise adhering to the following temperature regime in the goat barn in winter:

for adult goats, optimal temperature in winter +6 -8°C
for small kids, the optimal temperature in winter is +10-15°C

In addition to the temperature regime, it is necessary to ensure that the room is dry, bright and free of a musty smell. Make sure there is good lighting and regularly ventilate the room.

It is best if there is natural sunlight in the goat room, as the sun's rays have a beneficial effect on goats.

The windows in the goat house should be made large and they are located mainly on the south, that is, the warmest side.

What is contraindicated for goats is dampness. Dealing with dampness is not difficult if you maintain a constant temperature and regularly ventilate the room. Bedding on the floor is desirable, but not required.

Make sure there are no drafts that will blow heat out of the shed and seal the cracks in a timely manner. Goats will happily sleep on shelves made of wood and visually similar to the beds that can be built along one of the walls of the goat house.

peat;
straw;
needles;
sawdust;
wood shavings.

When choosing sawdust to use as bedding, pay attention to its size. The fact is that too small sawdust often contains dust, and this, in turn, negatively affects the respiratory organs of any living creatures. The best sawdust for bedding in a barn is large sawdust or wood shavings.

Important! Never house goats in a structure with bare concrete floors. It is best if the floors are made of clay or raised earthen floors. Wooden flooring is also perfect.

A floor made using natural wooden planks is good for almost all animals, and even more so for goats, although it is short-lived.

It is very easy to clean and animals do not freeze on such a floor, and therefore do not catch colds.

A stall for keeping two goats should have a square shape and be at least 4x2 m in size. A narrow stall can cause a decrease in milk yield, and this is not very good for you. Goats, like people, have pugnacious individuals who, with their eccentric disposition, spoil the lives of those around them. Rebels are separated from civilians and kept on a leash.

Goat nutrition in winter

Based on this indicator, we can safely conclude that during the winter period one goat will eat up to 500 kg of hay.

The kid eats a little less than its parent and therefore will need about 250-300 kg of hay for the winter.

Hay is the main diet for a healthy and wholesome diet in winter. Goats eat meadow and forest hay made from young plants most appetizingly.

In addition to hay, branch food prepared ahead of time is a good help.

In addition, a goat’s daily menu should include succulent feed, as well as concentrates (meal, grain waste, crushed grain, etc.) at a rate of at least 250 grams per head. From succulent feed they give:

cabbage (heads and individual leaves withered during storage);
beets (can be given together with the tops or just the tops separately);
Boiled potatoes;
vegetable waste (peelings, trimmings), etc.

Root vegetables, if they are too large, are served to the goats in crushed form. There is no need to grate them; it is enough to chop them with a knife in any shape. All succulent feed is given raw, but potatoes must be boiled before serving them to the goat. On average, a goat can eat up to 3 kg of succulent food per day.

Salt licks are a mandatory attribute of the goat's rue. Goats should have unhindered access to licks around the clock. Salt licks can be successfully replaced with regular salt, which is added daily to the food in the amount of one pinch. In order to increase milk yield in winter, you can feed:

pea flour;
bran;
mixed feed.

Also, to increase milk yield, you can give ready-to-use special additives. It should also be remembered that chalk strengthens bones and should be given to goats at least a couple of times a week in the amount of 10-15 g. In total, the goat is fed three times a day. The most nutritious and satisfying is dinner.

A balanced diet creates favorable conditions in the animal’s digestive system and strengthens its immunity. Properly organized nutrition and a good diet ensure the proper functioning of the rumen, which is responsible for the release of heat by the animal’s body, and this is very important in the cold season.

The animal feeder is installed so that there is no need to enter the pen itself. A manger is hung on the wall into which hay is loaded. A box for leaves, stems, etc. is installed under the nursery. The drinking bowl can be placed next to the feeder or on another wall.

Particular attention is paid to the water in the drinking bowl. It is quite natural that it should be constantly fresh and change every day. In winter, the water in the drinking bowl should be warm. To make your life easier and to please your goats, you can buy a special heated drinking bowl.

Winter walks

Locking a goat in a stall for even a couple of days is a crime, and a very cruel crime against a living and intelligent creature! Even in winter, these animals need active movement.

Their playfulness and curiosity captivates with its spontaneity. Daily exercise is the key to good mood of animals and improvement of general tone.

Walks should include mandatory physical activity, and for this goats need space.

Watching goats while walking you will notice that they are fearless. Neither ice nor snow cause significant inconvenience to goats. Your task, as a loving and caring livestock breeder, is to monitor the condition of the hooves. Snow or ice fragments can get into the animal's hooves, causing pain or even injuring it.

The duration of the winter walk is approximately 2-3 hours. However, you should take into account the outside temperature and weather conditions in general. You should not walk goats for a long time if it is more than five degrees below zero or a strong wind is blowing.

A snowy winter is a joy for goats, but you shouldn’t walk them if the snow cover is more than 15 cm thick. What to do in this situation? A walking yard will come to the rescue. It is a must have if you decide to start raising goats. Agree that a small area is much easier to clear of snow than the entire yard.

A small yard for walking goats is being built near the goat shed. It should be located on the south side. Such a pen can be built from mesh or logs; in a word, all unnecessary building materials will do.

Beginning livestock breeders often think that winter grazing is not important for goats. This is a false misconception. Grazing goats in winter is very desirable and valuable, since the grasses consumed by goats during grazing are saturated with carotene.

Baby goats, just like their parents, can and should be taken for a walk. During winter grazing, young animals are hardened and develop better, acquiring immunity from colds and other diseases.

Dairy goat breeds are most often bred. If the goal of care is to obtain valuable Angora down, you need to choose a meat-down breed for breeding. For breeding, you can buy a mated queen or grown kids. It is better to purchase an offspring or goat from a queen that has already confirmed its positive properties - the quality of milk or the beauty of the fleece. These properties are passed on to the offspring through the maternal line.

If you have chosen a future wet nurse, arrange a place for her to live. Keeping goats at home is easy for novice breeders to organize. Typically, goats are kept half-stall and free-range. The shed will need to be dry and draft-free. There should be a thick layer of bedding on the floor, a bench or a block for lying on in a clean, dry place. In a flock, a goat is kept without a leash.

Hay in the feeder and water in the basin are the minimum set. If the goat is pregnant, the owner must know the lambing time. If young animals are purchased, the females are kept separately and the first mating occurs at the age of one and a half years.

The milk yield of the offspring directly depends on the origin of the producer. If he was born from a dairy goat, the offspring will also have a lot of milk in the udder.

If a newborn is taken to a warm house immediately after lambing, the mother will not accept him. She must lick every lamb.

In summer, goats are grazed on paddocks or fed with freshly cut grass. But unlimited hoof growth will force you to walk the animal at least 4 hours a day or regularly grind the hooves. When there is no pasture, hay, compound feed and root crops are used. In winter, the lack of hay when feeding goats cannot be replaced with compound feed. The temperature in the flock should not fall below 10 0 C; for newborn kids, a minimum of 12 degrees.

The pen where the goat is placed must be strong. She will definitely explore all corners and try to leave. If the goat makes its further route through the fence to the neighbors, there will be a scandal. The animals are grazed in a herd under the supervision of a goat breeder, or tied to a peg. They talk to the animals affectionately, treating them to a crust of bread and salt.

The unpretentious animal eats:

weeds after weeding;
kitchen waste;
chopped root vegetables;
straw, hay, meadow grass.

Minimal information about raising goats at home gives an idea about goats for a beginner. In the future, you will need to acquire care skills and become familiar with the diet of feeding and raising kids.

Breeding, keeping, caring for goats at home

Good strong offspring are obtained from goats in early spring. To do this, mating should be carried out in early autumn. A goat in heat occurs with a non-related male. If mating does not occur, after 15-22 days the animal will become restless again. The offspring will appear in 147-150 days. Goat kids need to be adopted correctly. The baby is wiped, mucus is removed from the nose and mouth, licked by a goat, applied to the udder, or milked with colostrum in the first hour after birth. If the temperature in the maternity ward is less than 15 degrees, the kids are taken to a warm room and the umbilical cord is treated and disinfected with iodine. If the kids are suckling, they stay with their mother in a warm room and then the milk goes to feed the sucklings. When breeding goats, suckling specimens produce healthier and more numerous offspring. When creating a herd, milk in the first year can be sacrificed.

When bottle-fed, goat kids are not allowed near the mother's udder after birth and are fed from a nipple. To avoid mistakes in feeding goat kids from the first days of life, use the table.

At three months, the baby already becomes an adult and receives food according to a different diet. At five months, young goats are already in heat. To allow the young body to strengthen, mating is allowed after one and a half years.

The table shows what to feed kids at 2 months, how to gradually accustom babies to cereals, concentrates and root vegetables.

Three-month-old goats should receive feed and supplements:

green food from grass, bush branches;
coarse - hay, straw, dry birch brooms;
fermented green mass - silage;
compound feed;
crushed grain;
vitamins and minerals.

Adult animals should receive food that is balanced according to the seasons. Summer grass is irreplaceable in pastures. But you can’t graze animals in swampy areas; your hooves will hurt. However, except for goats, no one can cope with clearings overgrown with bushes, steep mountain slopes, and inconvenience. A goat will find food where large animals cannot get through. They happily eat the young crops after harvesting the fields. An adult animal eats 6-7 kg of grass per day, and kids eat 2-4 kg of grass. If there is little food in the fields, animals need to be fed in the evenings. There should always be a licker in the pen and a drink twice a day.

In winter, goats eat dry food, root vegetables and compound feed. But brooms prepared in the summer will be a delicacy and a vitamin supplement. Spruce and birch branches, oak and hazel - everything is suitable as food for the goat herd. Drinking and food during the stall period should be warm. A mixture of bone meal and salt is added to each feeding as a mineral supplement. Walking in the fresh air is a must.

Raising goats at home for novice breeders will be the first step in providing the family with natural healing products and fluff.

Homemade goat farm - video

An increasing number of villagers are refusing to keep cows in favor of goats, as they are unpretentious, their maintenance does not cause trouble and they tolerate the winter well.

What is good about goats is their frost resistance. Of course, they cannot be kept in the open air in the cold. You can simply place them in any room. They get along well with other animals or birds because they have a non-conflict and good-natured disposition.

Suitable places for wintering:

canopy;
barn;
barn;
attic.

Yes, the attic. Don't be confused by the distance from the ground to the attic, as goats can easily cover it. All you need is a reliable and stable ladder.

If you live in a region with a mild climate, then you can organize a place for wintering in the yard under a canopy. This type of wintering is not suitable for those living in northern latitudes.

The temperature in the goat shed in winter must always be comfortable for both adult animals and young animals, so it must be in the positive range around the clock. This is necessary so that the water in the drinking bowls does not freeze and the animal does not feel discomfort.

Ideal regime in winter in the goat's rue:

for adult goats, the optimal temperature in winter is +6...+8° C;
for small kids the optimal temperature in winter is +10...+15° C.

You also need to ensure that the room is dry, bright and free of musty smell. Make sure there is good lighting and regularly ventilate the room. The windows in the goat house should be large, preferably located on the south side.

Dampness is contraindicated for goats. It is not difficult to combat it if you maintain a constant temperature and regularly ventilate the room. Bedding on the floor is advisable. Make sure there are no drafts and seal the cracks in a timely manner. Goats will happily sleep on shelves made of wood and visually similar to deck chairs.

peat;
straw;
pine needles;
sawdust;
wood shavings.

When choosing sawdust for bedding, pay attention to its size. Sawdust that is too small often contains dust, which negatively affects the respiratory system of any living creature. The best sawdust is large sawdust or wood shavings.

Advice from the "Household"

Never house goats in a structure with bare concrete floors. It is good if the floors are made of clay or raised earthen. Wooden flooring is also perfect.

A stall for keeping two goats should be square and at least 4 x 2 m in size. A narrow stall can cause a decrease in milk yield, and this is not very good for you. Goats, like people, have pugnacious individuals who, with their eccentric disposition, spoil the lives of those around them. Rebels are separated from civilians and kept on a leash.

Goat nutrition in winter

In addition to hay, you need to prepare branch food. In addition, the goat’s menu should include succulent feed and concentrates (meal, grain waste, crushed grain, etc.) at a rate of at least 250 g per head.

From succulent feed they give:

cabbage (heads and individual leaves withered during storage);
beets (can be given together with the tops or just the tops separately);
Boiled potatoes;
vegetable waste (peelings, trimmings), etc.

All succulent food is given raw, but potatoes must be boiled. On average, a goat can eat up to 3 kg of succulent feed per day.

Salt licks are a mandatory attribute of the goat's rue. Goats should always have 24/7 access to them. Salt licks can be replaced with regular salt, which is added daily to the food in the amount of one pinch.

To increase milk yield in winter, you can feed the goat:

pea flour;
bran;
mixed feed.

Keep in mind that chalk strengthens bones and should be given to goats at least a couple of times a week for 10-15 g. In total, the goat is fed three times a day. The most nutritious and satisfying is dinner.

Pay special attention to the water in the drinking bowl. It should be fresh and change every day. In winter, the water in the drinking bowl should be warm. To make your life easier and your goats happy, you can buy a special heated drinking bowl.

Winter walks

Locking a goat in a stall even for a couple of days is a crime against a living and sentient being! Even in winter they need active movement. Their playfulness and curiosity captivates with its spontaneity. Walks should include mandatory physical activity, and for this goats need space.

As you watch goats while walking, you will notice that they are fearless. Neither ice nor snow causes any discomfort to goats. Your job as a caring owner is to monitor the condition of the hooves. Snow or ice shards can get into your animal's hooves, causing pain or injury.

The duration of the winter walk is approximately two to three hours. However, you should not walk goats for a long time if the street is below -5° C or a strong wind is blowing.

A snowy winter is a joy for goats, but you shouldn’t walk them if there is more than 15 cm of snow. What to do? Organize a yard for walking. It is a must have if you decide to start raising goats.

A small yard for walking goats is being built near the goat shed. Such a pen can be built from mesh or logs; in a word, all the building materials you don’t need will do.

Beginning livestock breeders sometimes think that winter grazing is not important for goats. This is a false misconception. Herding goats in winter is very desirable and valuable, since the herbs consumed by goats during grazing are saturated with carotene.

Baby goats, just like their parents, can and should be taken for a walk. During winter grazing, young animals harden and develop better, acquiring immunity from colds and other diseases.

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Previously, the owners kept mainly cows in their private farmstead. Today, more and more people are switching from cows to goats. And there are reasons for this. Goats, unlike cows, require less feed. They are much easier to care for. Another advantage of these animals is that they tolerate winter well and are unpretentious to the conditions. By creating minimal conditions for keeping goats in winter, you can count on good milk yield.

Speaking about goats, it should be noted that they are quite unpretentious animals. There are usually no special problems with their maintenance. These animals have a calm disposition and get along easily with other pets. You can keep goats not only in the barn, but also in the entryway. Even the attic can be a great place to keep them. These animals are quite dexterous, so they can get there without any problems. Goats tolerate cold well. In areas with mild climates, they can be kept under a canopy throughout the year. When raising goats in the northern territories, you need to think about housing for them. It should be warm enough. In winter, positive temperatures should prevail inside it. This is also important from the point of view that drinking water indoors should not freeze.

The recommended temperature in the barn should be at least +6 - 7 degrees Celsius. If, in addition to adult animals, there will also be kids in the room, then the optimal temperature is +8 - 10 degrees. In addition to temperature, it is extremely important to ensure that the room is always dry. It should be well ventilated and lit. You should know that sunlight has a beneficial effect on goats. They cannot tolerate dampness.

An equipped goat shed is the preferred option for keeping goats. A dry place on a hill must be chosen for the construction of a separate shed for goats. The south side is the best place to locate the entrance and walking yard. Daily walks are provided for keeping goats. Adobe, clay, boards or logs - these materials can be used to build the walls of the goat house. To prevent drafts, cracks should be caulked. A barn built from boards should be insulated. To do this, you can use available material: dry leaves, pine needles or sawdust. The height of the goat's rue should be at least 2 m. The windows are located on the south side of the building. This allows you to achieve good lighting indoors. Windows must be located at a certain height so that animals cannot break them.

There are several important points when building a goat house. One of them is the arrangement of floors. Using concrete in this case is not the best solution. This material has high humidity. And besides, he is also cold. The cement screed must be covered with wooden flooring. Plank floors also have their drawbacks. It is short-lived, so after a few years of use it begins to rot. Holes appear on its surface, which cause great inconvenience to the goats. In addition, they can cause injury to animals. Raised earthen or adobe floors are the best option. They should be laid at a slight angle. This is done in order to ensure that the liquid drains into a special container, which will help maintain cleanliness in the room.

Wooden shelves are warmer and drier, which is why goats prefer to sleep on them. They can be installed along one of the walls of the barn. If they are present in the goat room, this will minimize the risk of colds in animals. 4 m2 is the optimal size of one stall designed for two animals. A stall that is too narrow can lead to a decrease in milk yield. If there are pugnacious individuals in the herd, they are separated from the rest of the animals. And besides that, they keep him on a leash.

Animals with a calm disposition are not tied. This makes them feel more alert. The goat is kept separately from the goats. Otherwise, the milk acquires a specific smell. A separate room is equipped for goat kids. They will be separated for several months. A stall can be used to isolate and treat sick animals the rest of the time.

The feeder for goats should be designed in such a way that it is not necessary to enter the lawn while feeding. The manger is placed on one of the walls. They are used for stacking hay. The feeding box is installed under them. Small stems and leaves will fall into this box. The drinking bowl can be placed on another wall. It is necessary to equip a yard for walking goats with a feed bunker. It must be protected from precipitation.

Procuring feed involves keeping goats in winter. A goat can eat up to 3 kg of hay per day. Thus, one adult animal requires 500 kg of hay for the winter. 320 kg of hay needs to be harvested for a kid. In addition to hay, the animal’s diet should include silage, and also undried branches with leaves.

In order for a goat to produce a good milk yield in winter, it is necessary to add supplements to the main feed: bran, pea flour, mixed feed. These additives can be added to kitchen waste from potato peelings. Root vegetables can be given to animals raw or cooked. Large vegetables also need to be chopped. A pinch of salt is added to the concentrated feed. And in addition to this supplement, also 10 -15 g of chalk up to two times a week. Ready-made mineral and vitamin supplements should be given to animals to obtain good milk yield in winter. Goats need to be fed three times a day. At night, the most concentrated and nutrient-rich composition is given.

Keeping goats is a profitable business. Moreover, it is accessible to everyone. These animals tolerate winter cold without problems. By fulfilling the minimum requirements for caring for goats, you will thereby protect the animals from various diseases and ensure good milk yield all year round.

Keeping goats in winter without heating, not a critical problem, if you approach it wisely, today in our article we will tell you in detail how to care for animals during the cold season, what to feed goats in winter, what a barn for goats should be like, as well as what kind of water they should be given to drink and much more another thing that everyone who keeps this animal on their farm should definitely know. And so, let's get started, because there are still many important questions ahead.

In order for the goat to receive all the nutrients it needs in winter, it should be fed at least about one kilogram of roughage per day, and ideally: 2-3 kilograms. It will not be possible to keep the animal on hay alone, but it must be in its diet. The best food would be meadow hay, or forest harvest from young plants. Be sure to feed the goat grain, it needs to be mixed with hay, then the animal will receive more useful substances and will be happy to absorb such a treat; among other things, this type of diet has a positive effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

For the winter, one animal will need about 500 kilograms of hay, young animals need half this amount of hay, sometimes replaced with birch brooms.

Of course, goats also require succulent feed in winter; the best of them are considered to be fodder beets, potatoes and cabbage. Potatoes need to be boiled, and root vegetables should simply be chopped and given raw. If you give beet tops as food to goats, then you need to add one gram of chalk dust per kilogram of tops to it, this way the acid contained in the roots will be neutralized.

Goats must be given feed salt for food, up to 10 grams per day.

Goats need hay in winter

What to feed goats:

Goats are very hot animals, in the truest sense of the word, the animal’s normal body temperature is about +40 degrees, so they need to be given hot water, and it is best to build heated drinking bowls. Access to water must be constant, goats especially need it.

Keeping goats in a barn without heating in winter:

It is impossible to say that goats necessarily need warm rooms. They have unique body properties and are able to survive even extreme cold by regulating their body temperature. In addition, if you have wool or down breeds of goats on your farm, then keeping them without heating is not a problem at all.

The only protection a goat needs in winter is a shelter that would sufficiently protect them from wind and precipitation. Therefore, a reliable shed will be a sufficient shelter for goats in winter. Also, goats do not like to sleep on damp ground, so take care to make floors in the barn, or lay bedding for them, or make a platform for sleeping.

Newly born kids need heating, but for this they can be kept in a separate insulated room, and keeping goats in winter usually happens no heating.

Result:

As you understand from the contents of the article, in winter goats can be completely placed in a barn, without heating, the main thing is to provide them with decent shelter, and keep them in good shape, with the help of proper nutrition for goats and, best of all, let them drink warm or hot water, make drinking bowls heated. If you follow all the recommendations, your pets will easily survive the winter. With this we say goodbye to you, all the best and see you again on our website!