# When to shave goats for summer?



## cajunmom (Apr 29, 2013)

I'm wondering when to shave my goats. I'm in Louisiana and it's going to warm up fast. We are mostly having high 70's already during the day and mid 50's at night with the occasional mid 40's. Are those night temps still too cool to shave them? When would you recommend to do it?


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

I do mine late April or early May.


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## cajunmom (Apr 29, 2013)

Ok. Thank you


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## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

Why would you shave your goats? Do you shave them only once for the entire season or shave them throughout the summer? How short do you shave them? Do they get sunburned?

I am in Texas and the temps are a little warmer than your area. I noticed one of my bucks was shedding last night. Maybe I need to shave mine too.


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## LadySecret (Apr 20, 2013)

At gwith, I'm in Oklahoma and I have only needed to shave one of my goats. Most of them shed out and have a short sleek summer coat. One of my Pygmy mixes didn't really shed out. She looked and acted so miserable I decided to shave her down. Her coat was about 2 to 3 inches long. I used a pair of dog shears and cut her coat down to maybe half an inch to an inch. She acted much better afterwords. No more panting all the time. She didn't sun burn. I will probably shave my bucks this summer since the have longer coats than my does and I'd like to take conformation photos without all that fur.

Edited to add that I shaved her in June when the nights were in the high 70s or 80s.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I wait until late April or May, usually mid May, here in California. Goats with pink skin will sunburn, so they'll need sunscreen, in some cases, sunscreen and a shirt if you clip them without a guard. Sometimes even the goats with darker skin will sunburn if they spend a lot of time in the sun, so the first day or two, I'd put sunscreen on them. 
Pink skinned goats will need sunscreen a lot longer though, like 2 weeks.


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

A goat in condition will shed out its under coat. Once it does that, its a good indication they dont need their hair for warmth anymore. I wouldnt shave em till that starts to happen.


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## cajunmom (Apr 29, 2013)

gwith said:


> Why would you shave your goats? Do you shave them only once for the entire season or shave them throughout the summer? How short do you shave them? Do they get sunburned?
> 
> I am in Texas and the temps are a little warmer than your area. I noticed one of my bucks was shedding last night. Maybe I need to shave mine too.


This will be my first time shaving them. I want to shave them because I feel it be cooler for them in the humid weather. One of my girls came to me shaved last year and seemed to be cooler because of it. I will probably only shave them once, hers lasted the whole summer and started getting long just in time for fall. I have a number 10 clip guard, from what I've understood this is a good all around length. I honestly didn't know they get sunburned, according to the below comments I'm guessing they can, lol. Which if light colored horses can I guess they can.


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## cajunmom (Apr 29, 2013)

TDG-Farms said:


> A goat in condition will shed out its under coat. Once it does that, its a good indication they dont need their hair for warmth anymore. I wouldnt shave em till that starts to happen.


They have been been shedding out their coats for a couple weeks now. I've been brushing them and quite a bit will come out on the brush.


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## cajunmom (Apr 29, 2013)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> I wait until late April or May, usually mid May, here in California. Goats with pink skin will sunburn, so they'll need sunscreen, in some cases, sunscreen and a shirt if you clip them without a guard. Sometimes even the goats with darker skin will sunburn if they spend a lot of time in the sun, so the first day or two, I'd put sunscreen on them.
> Pink skinned goats will need sunscreen a lot longer though, like 2 weeks.


I'll be clipping with a #10 and they have plenty of shade also, do I still need to be concerned about them sunburning?


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

I clip all mine with a 10, never had sunburn.


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