# How well do they see at night?



## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

I was wondering tonight how well goats see in the dark.
I know that horses see far better than we do at night, but my goats tend to naturally settle into a sheltered spot to sleep when it gets dark. But it's a little confusing here because I have lights out in front, to the side and behind my house that stay on all night. And while Mindy (Queen) was here she would rarely let Pan sleep in the goat barn with the rest of the herd. Instead Pan would come up to the house, bang on the door a few times (breaking my heart!) and then settle down in the feed shed in front of the house.
Then, the other day I noticed that Pan was sleeping on top of my AC unit! LOL! He was laying right on top of the big fan unit, blowing warm air up around him. It is pretty noisy and I was very surprised that he decided that it was a good place to sleep LOL.
Today though, I completely cleaned out the goat barn, re-bedded it with fresh pine shavings, put in fresh ceramic crock bowls of baking soda and loose minerals, put in a new bale of peanut hay (my goats always get free-chioce hay) and two clean, wide feed pans and a new, clean bucket of water.
I'm so stressed abour Summer not eating enough that I decided that with sweet Mindy now gone I would start shutting all three goaties in the barn every night, just before dark.
I'm wondering how late I can wait to shut them in? And should I try to provide them with some sort of night light? In the goat barn most of the ambient light from my house is blocked off.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

They should be fine without a nightlight. Our babies sleep without a nightlight -- no complaints from them (=


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Really you could shut them in whenever you want but I guess that would depend on how much room they are given. They could probably see at night but I have to admit that I have nightlights in my barn. I think it makes me feel better more than they need it.


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Their barn is plenty big (12' x 24'), but right now I have SO much green pasture and browse. I hate to lock them away from it.
I do kinda want to work out a nightlight for them though. (Every once in a while I feel an overwhelming need to go out and hug Pan LOL).


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

They probably don't graze at night anyway so locking them up is no big deal.


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

ksalvagno said:


> They probably don't graze at night anyway so locking them up is no big deal.


Cool, I thought that might be the case .


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## Goober (Aug 21, 2009)

My guys seem to see pretty well at night, but they typically don't graze much, if any, then. Pretty much just work on everything they stored up during the day. If you want a light out there when you go out, (assuming it is not wired for electricity) maybe try one of those battery operated bulbs. They used to call them "stick-up bulbs", now it's the "insta-bulb". Kinda like a flashlight that you don't have to hold, although you could. My mom locks her goats in the barn on occasion, and they seem to enjoy it. I don't have a barn right now, but will in the future.


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

I could actually run and bury an extention cord out to their little barn. It's only about thirty feet from my feed shed (which is wired).
It's just something else to put on my budget's "wish list" . Right now the more important thing is to get Summer back up to snuff.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Hehe. when we first got ours they were locked in barn at night. One night I shut the lights off & stayed with hem. After awhile they were up eating hay; it was pitch black.


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## FARMER_RON (May 6, 2017)

I ran an 80 foot wire to the goat site by getting an extension wire from Harbor Freight and 1/2 inch pvc pipe with str8t, 45 and 90 degree connectors from Home Depot. This was very clean and durable when I buried it 2 inches deep. My cost was around $50, because I went 85 ft. I did cut the wire to thread through pvc parts, then reconnected with 3 wire connectors. It's working great and protected from weather.


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## lisanne (Apr 14, 2017)

I would not recommend burying an extension cord. They are not meant for that, and especially if you connect them underground you could have problems with them shorting out. Electric cable through PVC pipe like Farmer Ron did is the way to go.

About night-time: My goats are only 2 months old, but they definitely feel like it's time to come in at dusk. Eventually I'd like to get it set up so they have access to the barn AND to their browsing/grazing areas during the day, so they can come in when they feel like it. We do lock them up in the barn at night for protection though. Without a night light.

According to this, goats sleep only about 5 hours out of every 24. https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chasleep.html


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Put in a pvc pipe first is just fine to bury.


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## wndngrvr (Dec 10, 2011)

We have cameras in the barn with night vision. I see goats butting - eating - so they can see in the dark. But if I go out there they are usually curled up together in family units sleeping.


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## olfart (Mar 7, 2013)

+ 1 on the PVC pipe for your electric line. Gophers seem to love electric lines and will cut one buried bare. I've lost the well pump line and a yard light line to gophers, and having to go back and dig them up to replace them in PVC is a pain. As someone else said, NO extension cord underground. Buy whatever length of 12/2 with ground you need, and run it from your electric panel with its own circuit breaker.


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