If you are kidding in a cold climate, a warming barrel can help keep your baby goats from getting hypothermia when they are very young. By cutting holes in a 55-gallon drum, you can make a place for baby goats to come warm up at their leisure. Securing a heat lamp in the warming barrel reduces fire hazard risk because the dam cannot access it.
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We breed our goats to kid in January and February in Michigan so that they reach market weight for our mid-July county fair. The Michigan winters can be frigid and unpredictable, so we choose to reduce the risk of hypothermia by providing our goats indoor kidding jugs each equipped with a warming box or barrel.
Hypothermia in Goat Kids
Hypothermia is characterized by a drop in body temperature. A goat’s normal body temperature is 101.5 to 103.5 degrees Fahrenheit. A goat whose body temperature drops below 100 degrees is in serious trouble of succumbing to hypothermia.
Kids that are not quickly dried off after birth or too weak to nurse are the most susceptible to hypothermia. If you find a cold, wet kid that has a slow heart and respiration rate, it is best to take it inside and float it in hot water (in bag so that it doesn’t get wet) instead of putting it in a warming barrel.
The temperature inside a warming barrel can be 10-20 degrees warmer than the ambient air temperature but will not be enough to help revive a kid that needs emergency intervention. The warming barrel is for helping kids that already have a good start not expend too much extra energy on staying warm.
What is a Kid Warming Barrel?
A warming barrel, made from an inverted 55-gallon drum with a 10×10 inch door cut into it, serves as a place for baby goats to come warm up at their leisure. The warming barrel should have a small entrance so that the heat stays in and the dam doesn’t try to enter with the kids. Your long-legged kids may have to kneel or duck to get in, but they figure this out quickly. We raise large breed goats, Boers and Nubians, and one warming barrel can easily accommodate triplets.
Our warming barrels have a 6-inch hole cut into the top where a heat lamp is suspended, out of reach of both the goat kids and their dam, which helps reduce fire hazard risk. The barrel should be secured to the wall of the kidding pen with rachet straps or heavy duty bungee cords.
For more information on our kidding jug set up, click here to read our other article.
Materials Needed for Making a Kid Warming Barrel
We use the kind of 55-gallon drums that have lids for our kid warming barrels. We remove the lid and flip them upside down so that the bottom is completely open and can be bedded with straw or shavings on the stall floor.
You can use a Sawzall to cut the kid door and a 6-inch hole saw to make a place for the heat lamp on the top of the barrel. You will want to secure the heat lamp with wire and the barrel inside the kidding pen with a rachet strap or bungee cord. If your goats knock over the barrel or break the lamp it can start a fire in your barn.
Directions for Making a Kid Warming Barrel
- Invert a 55-gallon drum so that it has an open bottom
- With a tape measure, determine the size and location of the kid door. Ours measure 10 inches square, flush with the bottom of the barrel
- With a Sawzall, cut the kid door into the barrel
- Using a 6-inch hole saw, drill a hole in the center of the top of the barrel for your heat lamp
- Put the warming barrel in a corner of your kidding pen, near an electrical outlet
- Feed the heat lamp and cord through the kid door and out the hole in the top of the barrel
- Secure the heat lamp with wire so that it cannot move
- Using a rachet strap or bungee cord, secure the barrel to the kidding pen so that it is stationary
- Bed the inside of the warming barrel with straw or shavings
- Turn on the heat lamp
- Introduce your goat kids to the warming barrel
Mother, farmer, author, and teacher by trade… She loves tending to things and watching them grow!