# Bed time and winter coats....



## StaceyC (May 13, 2013)

Hi, I have two questions. 1) Do your goats have their winter coats? 2) What time do you put in your goats for the night and let them out in the morning?


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## Catahoula (Feb 12, 2013)

Right now none of my goats have their winter coats yet. They will when it gets colder. I usually let them out when the sun comes up and lock them up before it gets dark. In Summer, they can be out around 6 and can stay out till pass 8. In winter, they come out around 8 and can be locked in by 5.

We lock ours up because we have bears and mountain lions. we have other smaller predators but the larger ones are the ones we lock the goats up for.


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

It all depends where everyone you lives. We are all in such different areas and well like we are all flooding here and other areas are cooler then normal. They will get their coats to a point at some time. Now depending on what kind of goats you have they might not get a thick one so if they don't get straw to bed them down.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

No, my girls have not grown their winter coats yet, but they should be doing it soon. It's already down to the 40's at night here. I don't lock my goats in a barn or shed at night. They are free to come and go as they please 24/7/365. I learned a very long time ago that the quickest way to make a healthy animal sick is to lock them in a barn, so I don't do it - ever.


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## StaceyC (May 13, 2013)

I live in western New York, nights are down to 38 already. Their coats have gotten thick and fluffy, I thought it was a bit early. 
I have coyote and fox around here so I thought locking them in was the safest thing.


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## mmiller (Apr 3, 2012)

My goats coats are alil longer than they was a few weeks ago. I locked my goats in a lot until my LGD got big enough to protect them. Now I no longer lock anything in except for my young up an coming does. I don't have a LGD for them an they are only 5 an 6 months old. Do you have a lot you could lock them up in with access to their shed?


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## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

I don't put coats on my girls, their bodies always seem to know when to grow more fur. Right now they're already starting to grow their winter coats.

I do lock them up at night though so they aren't exposed to the cold. I let them in at dusk and they go back outside at dawn. So in the winter that's probably 5pm-7am


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

we lock ours up in the winter but right now they come and go as they please and mostly they please to spend the nigbt in their stalls. in winter we let them out when the sun comes up and they are always locked up by dark. we have too many predators and not enough horns to protect the does. they have not gotten their winter coats yet but they are working on it.


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## AmyBoogie (May 20, 2013)

Everyone gets locked in near dusk and they let me know it if I'm late. It's of course getting earlier and earlier right now. So they all get let out about 630-7 and they come in about 630-7 but mid winter it will be about 430-5 when we'll lock them in because it's getting really dark then. Like Enchanted, we have predators (fierce feral coydog pack)


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## GreenMountainNigerians (Jul 3, 2013)

My goats are starting to get fluffy. It's been in the low forties. Mine are let out into there pen at sunrise and locked up at dark. We have a bear ,coyotes (huge) and cougars on the place. We have electric around the pen but can't be too careful!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Depends on the weather changes. That will trigger their coats to thicken. All area's are different, so it varies from place to place, year to year.


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

This morning was our first cold morning of the year. Got down to like 42 degress! Thats about a 20 degree temp drop from just a day before. Should start to see some heat cycling but no coats yet. As for letting em out and locking em up, out a day break, in at sunset. Those are the times I feed so works out good.


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## WillowGem (Aug 3, 2011)

I just noticed that my boys coats are getting thicker.
The nights here have been pretty cold lately, frost already too! 

I usually lock them up just before dark, which is about 8 pm here now...but getting earlier every day.


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## loggyacreslivestock (Mar 5, 2013)

Mine are not locked up, but I put up 7 strand high tensile fence with a mean juicer, so the coyotes are staying out. 

They have started growing winter hair. One of mine gets really curly thick hair in winter, and she is already showing signs of that. 

Yesterday, it was 35 in the morning and we had frost...Pennsylvania


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## Frosty (Feb 13, 2010)

I guess I am to protective. lol. Mine go in the stall around four pm. That's when they start hollering. Getting ready for winter as it gets dark here around four pm. I let them out in the morning after the grass it started to dry up some. I tend to them about seven in the morning grain and hay and they are usually out by ten. They are still babies to me.


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## Riverside Fainters (Feb 6, 2013)

My girl gets penned up before dark due to coyotes. She is normally long haired but got a shave for summer and I noticed she's getting really scraggly.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

StaceyC said:


> I live in western New York, nights are down to 38 already. Their coats have gotten thick and fluffy, I thought it was a bit early.
> I have coyote and fox around here so I thought locking them in was the safest thing.


You need to do what you think is best for your goats, especially when it comes to predators. I have predators, too, but so far they have not bothered my girls. If and when that happens, I will have to rethink how I do things. For now, my pens are as predator proof as I can make them.


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## CAjerseychick (Sep 21, 2013)

! You guys~!! as a newbie it took me a minute to figure out we are not actually putting them in Coats!!!!!! 
I thought, I have to do _that _too?!!!


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

:lol: Some people do that under certain circumstances. You can also buy pajamas for the kids. I can't remember if it is Caprine Supply or Hoeggers that carry them, but they are cute as the dickens! Goat pajamas.

http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/Goat-Pajamas.html


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## CAjerseychick (Sep 21, 2013)

GoatCrazy said:


> :lol: Some people do that under certain circumstances. You can also buy pajamas for the kids. I can't remember if it is Caprine Supply or Hoeggers that carry them, but they are cute as the dickens! Goat pajamas.
> 
> http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/Goat-Pajamas.html


Thats a Hoot! I am probably the person to purchase these actually ( I have seen the puppy version in action as well)....


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