Get Your Goats Through Winter

Check one: watch him pee

Who: wethers, especially ones getting grain. Time: two minutes at the water tank.

Urinary calculi, stones in the urinary tract, is one of the most common ways a wether dies in winter. The first sign is a goat straining, dribbling, or stretching out and nothing coming. By the time he's crying, you're racing the clock.

Check two: part the hair

Who: everybody. Time: thirty seconds a goat.

Lice show up when the days get short and the coats get long. You won't see them from across the pen. Part the hair along the spine and behind the shoulder and look at the skin. A rough coat, rubbing on fences, or a goat that's lost condition for no reason are the tells.

Check three: look under the feeder

Who: your hay budget. Time: ten seconds after morning feeding.

Goats pull a mouthful, drop half, and won't touch it once it's stepped on. If you could rake up a flake's worth under the feeder, that feeder is costing you a bale every couple of weeks, all winter. Fix the feeder, not the goats.

Check four: hooves before the ground freezes

Who: everybody. Time: an afternoon.

Frozen ground doesn't wear hooves. Whatever's overgrown in November is usually a lame goat by February. Trim now, then again before spring.

Marc isn't a vet. If an animal is down, straining, or off feed, call yours. The checks above are for catching things early enough that you don't have to.