My girls are all due within a few days, and we're having record high temps. No heat lamps, but is there anything I should be doing for newborns with temps at 100° give or take a few degrees?
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So far, I haven't had to worry... that first 100 degree day was the last one... temps have been in the high 80's at their worst, and the flies haven't been interested. (thankfully!) I had two more does kid today, so my kid count is up to SIX!! One buckling out the the batch! One doe to go. She's due next week. Thank you all!! I actually put on the heat lamp for one of the does today. She kidded at about 11:00, and one of the kids got cool, and started the Eeyore pose, so I put the lamp on, and held her for a while on a heat pad until the inside of her mouth warmed back up, and I got her to latch on a few times. Everyone seems to be doing well, and the heat hasn't bothered anyone *yet*. I need to get into town for a box fan. I think just a good breeze in the barn would keep the flies down. We're past the fly hatch time of year here, so they aren't terrible right now.
Rachel, It was 97 degrees here in FL when my doe kidded in May (with the heat index being around 103 degrees). We set up a box fan about 4 feet high (so it wasn't blowing on wet newborns) which helped keep me cool and helped a lot with the flies. The fly sticky traps were also great to help with that. I had feed bags under all the straw so as soon as the birth was over I just scooped up all the bedding that had birth goo/uneaten placenta on it and put fresh bedding down and flies were not too much of a problem. The babies handled the heat better than I did. As an experiment I also had cool molasses water in my fridge to see if my doe would want that or regular tap water with molasses (they were sitting next to each other) and she chose the cold water right after labor then switched to the room temp water about an hour later.
This was my first kidding so it was a lot of experimentation.
Sorry to hear that! I'd get a fan out there and figure out how to safely place it so that the goats don't knock it over. Also, you will have to worry about flies. They just love birth goo and blood and placentas. I've never had a case of fly strike in a goat, but I have had it in a lamb, and it's not something I'd wish on my worst enemy. Extremely difficult to deal with!
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Awesome! :-)
Woohoo! Congratulations!
So far, I haven't had to worry... that first 100 degree day was the last one... temps have been in the high 80's at their worst, and the flies haven't been interested. (thankfully!) I had two more does kid today, so my kid count is up to SIX!! One buckling out the the batch! One doe to go. She's due next week. Thank you all!! I actually put on the heat lamp for one of the does today. She kidded at about 11:00, and one of the kids got cool, and started the Eeyore pose, so I put the lamp on, and held her for a while on a heat pad until the inside of her mouth warmed back up, and I got her to latch on a few times. Everyone seems to be doing well, and the heat hasn't bothered anyone *yet*. I need to get into town for a box fan. I think just a good breeze in the barn would keep the flies down. We're past the fly hatch time of year here, so they aren't terrible right now.
Rachel, It was 97 degrees here in FL when my doe kidded in May (with the heat index being around 103 degrees). We set up a box fan about 4 feet high (so it wasn't blowing on wet newborns) which helped keep me cool and helped a lot with the flies. The fly sticky traps were also great to help with that. I had feed bags under all the straw so as soon as the birth was over I just scooped up all the bedding that had birth goo/uneaten placenta on it and put fresh bedding down and flies were not too much of a problem. The babies handled the heat better than I did. As an experiment I also had cool molasses water in my fridge to see if my doe would want that or regular tap water with molasses (they were sitting next to each other) and she chose the cold water right after labor then switched to the room temp water about an hour later.
This was my first kidding so it was a lot of experimentation.
Sorry to hear that! I'd get a fan out there and figure out how to safely place it so that the goats don't knock it over. Also, you will have to worry about flies. They just love birth goo and blood and placentas. I've never had a case of fly strike in a goat, but I have had it in a lamb, and it's not something I'd wish on my worst enemy. Extremely difficult to deal with!