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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Brutally Cold


Temperatures approached almost -20F last night, you could hear the trees popping. When I opened up the goat shed only Becca Boo was there to greet me.


Note the igloo to the right in the picture, it isn't too big. As I called the goats they slowly made their way out of the igloo until only Addison was missing.


My heart was in my throat as I imagined the worst, but then she appeared - whew. I was afraid she had frozen to death. The goats were all shivering so I gave them a good rub down while they ate their grain on the milk stand.


I made sure they had a healthy helping of hay before I left them, they may have been cold but they were still hungry!


When I put the goats up for the night they were hedging their way toward the igloo, it must have been nice and warm in there with the body heat of five goats.

12 comments:

  1. hey baby! you dont have to publish this... but consider giving everyone some nutridrench and/or molasses and water...and/or B1 to help them with the stress of the cold. you can mix it up and give it to them orally from a syringe. great work with the extreme cold!

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    1. OFG - Good advice is always worth sharing, thanks!

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  2. It does take a lot of extra food to stay warm in that cold weather. Be careful.

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    1. Teresa- Lots of extra food and grain for everyone today. The problem is every time I got outside the water bucket is frozen solid.

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  3. It doesn't look big enough for 5 goats! Good grief, I can't imagine how someone didn't end up squished.

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    1. ADoC - That is what I was thinking when I first saw (or didn't) see them this morning. I couldn't imagine they all had fit themselves in there.

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  5. goat igloo = clown car! :P I'm glad everyone is ok...we had duck casualties the last cold snap.

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    1. Stacy - I can't believe we haven't lost any chickens yet (knock on wood). There isn't enough room in the igloo for the five of them, that explains why they were all in there of course.

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  6. Minus 20?! The trees were "popping"??!!
    Oh.my.God. Who knew African goats were so hardy? So glad everyone is ok...you are such a wonderful goat mama. That's hilarious that they were ALL in that little igloo! :-)

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    1. Danni - Thanks! The trees "pop" because of the sap freezing and expanding inside the limbs. Some days I go out to see the goats and they have frost on their fur (hair?), but they seem to keep each other warm by snuggling.

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  7. Dang that's cold! Poor goats and poor you.

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