# winter kidding



## sabine

Hello all from Canada. Have not been on here to much to busy haying! So it looks like I'm probably going to be kidding Dec and Jan. We live in pretty cold winters. How hardy are goats for kidding in the winter. Do I need an insulated facility and if a have more than one doe going at once do they all have to be separated. We have some fair size nice 3 way shelters is that good enough of not? Do the does ever get their babies mixed up? How do you know what kid goes to what mom? I'm going to have probably 10 plus does going at once! I have never done this before!


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## KW Farms

I'm not a big fan of winter kiddings. If you don't have a nice big insulated barn, I don't recommend breeding for winter kids, but if they're already bred then I would make sure you have secure shelters with no draft and no place for snow or rain to get in. I also would hook up a couple heat lamps. New babies do very poorly in cold weather and can freeze very quickly once born. 

Does can get their babies mixed up if they have them at the same time or around the same time...like within a day or two. Most does won't do that though. However, I have had does that will let any baby nurse and will clean them and whatnot. If you have 10 does kidding then I would get small kitten collars or string with a certain color for each "set" and once they're born put it on the babies and mom and that way you can tell who came from who. 

Also, I would try putting maybe 2 does together per pen at least one month before and try and pair them up with goats they like so they won't fight all the time. And that should work fine, but I probably wouldn't just put them all together with only a few shelters.


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## sweetgoats

WOW, 10 plus does all due at once and you do not have separate pens? That would be way to scary for me. I had two does had babies at once (I was not home). My hubby went out and found 5 babies on the ground. Two with one mom and two with the other and no one wanted the third. She must of gotten in both of the mom's birthing fluid and they both smelled the other mom and said NOPE not mine. 

Also, I do not know about every9one else but my mom's will butt away other babies and I do not trust them NOT to hurt them.

Now I do all my kidding in Jan if possible. Yes it is the coldest time of year for us, but I have never lost a baby due to it, I have never had a Cocci problem, I have never had a sick goat. I truly believe they are hardier because they have to be. I will put a little "sweater" on them if I feel they is needed, but in the 10 years I have done this I have used a sweater twice. Now all that said I do not live in Canada and I do not know what the weather is like there that time of year.

As for the barn, NO it does not need to be insulated. It needs to be a draft free area. It is not the cold so much that will kill the babies as the wind.


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## nancy d

We have always kidded in Feb & its cold enough for humans.
The barn is not insulated but most importantly newborns need to be out of drafts & wet conditions.
Ours have done just fine with no heat lamps (dont trust them) and moms have never gotten their kids mixed up tho I sure have! 
That is easily solved by putting the mystery kid in front of a mom's face. If it isnt hers she'll let you know.
Some of them had kidding stalls. Two FF sisters got put in a bldg with no divisions.
One other kidded outside. Never did bring her or her kids in they are tough cookies. 
Ooowee please take time to post during kidding if you can think! (hehehe)
Last yr had my hands full with only 6 all going in 4 days. I'd get on to report & someone else would start up, or I'd think the one who had trips was done, go back out with the iodine & find #4.
Or think I would get a day off or two; noooo they all had to go I dont know why that buck had to be here a whole month!


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## AlaskaBoers

my does pretty much only kid in the winter. close to same climate as canada....cold. lol.

the does that look close go into a heated area and stay there with the kids until i need it for the next doe, then kids go outside. maybe if it gets real cold give them a lamp in the shed that they all use.


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## cathy page

I only have 15 does and I always have them kid in dec-jan as the kids will be ready for market before it gets too hot, I have a very large barn and each goat has her own stall, they stay in the stall until the kids are at least 2 weeks old, works very well for me, have been doing that for at least 12 years.


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## cathy page

As for an extra cold day of a birthing I keep little sweaters available for small babys or single birth, the sweaters are made for little dogs, large old socks work and I also have used legg warmers.


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## toth boer goats

This is a old post. 2009~!


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