# Which type of goat coat?



## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Hello,

I want to relay a problem/question from one of my customers. 

She has goats and drives with them. The goats live in a stable during the winter and therefore don't develop a thick winter coat. The stable will be warmer than the outside temperature but not heated. Just the heat that the goats themselves create.

When she first called me she wanted to buy some goat coats that she could take with her during the drives to put on the goats (without un-harnessing them) while taking a break to avoid that the goats would cool down too much. We spoke about the fleece goat coats and the nylon goat coats and she decided to go with the nylon coats which I ordered for her. Now that she has them she's sceptical that the "thin" nylon coat will work for the intended purpose of keeping the goats warm during a break of about 20-30 minutes in low temperatures (let's say 14Â° F) and/or wind.

I'd say that a fleece coat would be too warm for this because the goats will have worked before the break and therefore the muscles will be warm but I haven't used the coats for that purpose, yet.

She doesn't want to have both types of coat which would solve the problem in a way.

What would you suggest?


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

It sounds like she wants "coolers" such as we use on warm horses after or between exercise. Those are usually made of light wool (the cheaper ones are cotton knit) and are designed to whisk away the moisture without allowing the horse to be chilled. Goats don't sweat, so they are at a much lower risk of becoming chilled after exercise, but a light wool blanket would still do the same job of keeping the body heat in while not allowing condensation to build up underneath. You're probably right about fleece being too warm. I might suggest buying a horse cooler and cutting several goat coolers out of it. If they're lightweight enough, wool army blankets might also do the trick very inexpensively.


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

that would be an idea but she wants to have weather protection, too.


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

Wool is some of the best weather protection you can find. It is really good at blocking wind, and it's dense enough that it will keep moisture out unless it's a downpour. Even then, it retains its insulating properties. I can't say enough good things about wool. The only drawback I see is that it's heavy. But for something as small as a goat blanket that shouldn't matter.


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Well,

I wrote my first posting in a hurry so I forgot to mention that she doesn't want to sew anything by herself and she wants to have one of the mentioned coat types.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

How about something in the mini horse line:

http://www.sstack.com/horsewear_mini-wear/


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

I made temporary packs using some tarp clamps.

I suppose if you just cut a wool blanket from Harbor Freight to size, Clamped on six of the tarp clamps and tied them with a strap they'd work great. 

I'll try it and let you know.


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## Terri S (Nov 30, 2008)

The nylon cuts the wind and rain but offers little in the way of insulation. They work best for warm rainy weather where you need to keep the goats dry. The fleece will retain more heat so if her main concern is heat loss during the break I'd stick with the fleece. The outer shell is still waterproof so she gets the best of both.


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Thanks for all you insight.

I'll have to speak with her again and maybe offer her to refund the coats if she doesn't want to keep them.


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